Three West Texans Drowned After Auto Strikes Bridge

Services for Victims Are Held Today

Man, Two Women, All of Nolan County, Perish in Flooded Creek

Sweetwater, May 4 - Funeral services were to be held this afternoon for three Nolan County residents who were drowned in the sudden flooding of creeks near Albany Saturday night, when the car in which they were riding crashed into a bridge.

The dead were: Claud Hartgraves, 30, of Maryneal; Mrs. Mary E. Carter, 19, of Sweetwater; and Miss Wardene Rains, 20, of Sweetwater. Hartgraves was a brother of Mrs. Tempie Rogers of Big Spring.

Rites Today

Rites for Hartgraves were to be said at 4 o'clock at Maryneal, with the Rev. W. S. Garnett, pastor of Fourth Street Baptist Church of Big Spring, officiating. Miss Rains was interred here following funeral service at 4 p.m. Mrs. Carter was to be buried in the Roscoe Cemetery following rites at 2 o'clock. [Note: Mrs. Carter is buried in Sweetwater Cemetery.]

Mrs. Carter was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Jones. Miss Rains was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Rains.

A three- to five-inch rain had flooded the creek into which their car plunged after striking the bridge.

En Route to Fort Worth

The trio had left Sweetwater at 8:30 p.m. Saturday to take Mrs. Carter to Fort Worth, where she was to join her husband, Alfred W. Carter. Carter had obtained a job in a Fort Worth bakery and had sent for his wife.

The accident was discovered about 6 a.m. Sunday when a state highway patrolman noticed a pillar had been broken that crosses Snalum Creek, three miles east of Albany on Highway No. 1.

A watch found on Hartgraves, whose body was found about a quarter of a mile downstream, stopped at 1:45. The bodies of Mrs. Carter and Miss Rains were found in the automobile about 50 feet from the bridge. The machine was badly damaged.

From The Big Spring Daily Herald, Monday, May 4, 1936, Page 1
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SHACKELFORD COUNTY DEATH CERTIFICATE

Name: Claude S. Hartgraves
Death date: 03 May 1936
Death place: Albany, Shackelford, Texas
Cause of death: Accidental drowning; 3-1/2 miles southeast of Albany, Texas; on way to Fort Worth when accident occurred
Gender: Male
Race or color (on document): White
Age at death: 30 years 1 month 21 days
Birth date: 06 Mar 1906
Birthplace: Texas
Marital status: Single
Spouse's name:
Father's name: W. B. Hartgraves
Father's birthplace: Mo.
Mother's name: Mary E. Pelton
Mother's birthplace: Texas
Occupation: Tire Dealer
Residence: Sweetwater, Texas
Cemetery name: Maryneal
Burial place: Maryneal, Texas
Burial date:
Informant: Louie C. Hartgraves, Sweetwater, Texas
Film number: 2116935
Digital GS number: 4166731
Image number: 2818
Reference number: cn 27699
Collection: Texas Deaths, 1890-1976
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