Pt. 2: The Short Life of Alois F. Petrasek
Part 2 of a 2-part story about my great-granduncle.
Alois was my father’s granduncle, whom he never met, who was never talked about and, as it turns out, no recent relative even knew existed! If you missed part 1, you can check it out here.
A Leap that Results in Tragedy
The train accident on Christmas Eve put Alois in the hospital for four months. At the same time, the investigation surrounding the accident was wrapped up within just four days (including the Christmas holiday). The official ruling? Inconclusive. “The switch must not have locked properly even though examination showed that it was not faulty.” Alois was considered the most severely injured in the accident and clearly had incurred hospital bills and lost wages. It is possible the railroad compensated him in some type of financial settlement.
At the time of the accident, the newspapers reported Alois as a “Kansas City tire shop clerk,” so it’s unclear why he was in Iowa. Was he just passing through on his way home to celebrate Christmas with his family? Or was he planning to move to Iowa all along? Those questions remain. Regardless, probably because of the long recovery, Alois did stay in Sioux City from that point forward.
About the time he was released from the hospital in April 1931, Alois rented a unit in the newly constructed Argonaut's Apartment and soon invested as partial owner of Kavanaugh's Cafe, which was located on the ground floor of his building.
By the summer of 1932, things were looking good for Alois. In a few weeks he would be 24 years old. He was making a slow and steady (although painful) recovery from a horrific train accident and now he was well on his way to becoming a successful restauranteur. To celebrate, he took the time to vacation at nearby Crystal Lake Resort, temporarily escaping the heat, the strain of physical rehabilitation and the pressures of owning a restaurant.
Perhaps to impress the friends he may have been with -- maybe even a special friend -- on 9 July, 1932 he climbed to the top of the high-diving water tower at Saunder's Beach and "leaped off". He struck shallow water and his head penetrated three inches of mud in the lake bottom. He broke his neck and incurred serious back injuries, but remained semi-conscious while he was dragged from the lake. He was taken to St. Vincent's hospital where he was listed in "critical condition” with a fractured cervical spine resulting in immediate paralysis. A laminectomy procedure was performed, but Alois died at 3 p.m. on 11 Jul, 1932.
He never married, never fathered children and never made it to his 24th birthday.
But, on this day he met his mother for the first time.
In my next post, I’ve shared a sad footnote to Alois’ story. (As if there can be anything more sad to mention.) Check it out.
Wow, hard life. You write so well. So interesting!
Wow . What a life.