CHAFFEE MAN, 91, DIES WHEN CAR HITS DUMP TRUCK NEAR DUTCHTOWN

DUTCHTOWN -- A Chaffee man was killed in a two-vehicle accident Wednesday.

John B. Spencer, 91, was killed when his car hit an empty dump-truck. The driver of the truck, Bill Sadler, 53, of Broseley, was uninjured.

The accident occurred when Spencer's vehicle, traveling northbound on Highway 25 just south of the Highway 74 intersection, went onto the shoulder and swerved back onto the road and into the path of the southbound dump-truck.

The accident occurred at 11:05 a.m.

Don Gast, deputy coroner of Cape Girardeau County, said Spencer died instantly.

Spencer had worked for 55 years in the railroad business. From Aug. 29, 1928, when he was hired by the San Francisco Railroad (Frisco) in St. Louis, until 1983, when he retired from the same company, now the B&N and Sante Fe, he mostly worked the line between Chaffee and St. Louis. He also spent some time during the 1930s working for Union Pacific in California.

Spencer is survived by his wife, Jean, a son and grandchildren.