TEAGUE RESIDENT SWEPT TO DEATH DURING FLOOD
Sunday’s flash floods swept one man to his death near the old Wortham Road underpass in Mexia as swift waters tumbled his automobile down a creek under the Southern Pacific railroad trestle and slammed it into a bridge abutment on the old Wortham road.
The victim, Marcus R. Seely, 77, of Teague, who had just been released from Wortham Hospital and was on his way home to Teague. The accident occurred about 6:45 p.m.
Captain John Pilant of the Mexia Police Department, an eyewitness to the tragedy, had been called out when a Fort Worth woman ran into the underpass, about 200 years south of where the Seely tragedy occurred. The woman managed to get her four children to safety from the underpass before rapidly-rising water submerged her car.
Jimmie Porter of the Corley Funeral Home, who chopped a hole in the top of the Seely car to free the body said Mr. Seely, according to eye witness accounts, turned off of Highway 14 at a creek bridge just south of John’s Snack Bar, apparently thinking it was the old underpass, 200 yards to the south.
Turbulent waters swirled his automobile, a 1956 Ford, down the creek, under the railroad trestle and slammed it into the bridge abutment. The car was completely submerged as workers attempted to rescue the body. The old bridge is just east of the railroad.
Policeman Kenneth Cox reported finding the car by probing with a piece of pipe. It was submerged under three feet of water. The body was freed about 8:30. Workers at the scene included Mr. Porter, Captain Pilant, Mr. Cox, Game Warden Jack Schuh and Policeman Roger Black.
The car was swept a distance of about 100 yards. Swift waters ripped the hood off the car, which was going south prior to the ill-fated turn.
Water was at creek level and was reported to be 20 feet deep at the underpass.
Mrs. Earl Jones, Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4, rendered a verdict of “accidental drowning.”
Workers, attempting to free the body of Mr. Seely, termed the earlier escape of the Fort Worth woman and her children as “miraculous.” Twenty minutes later, the woman’s care was completely submerged at the underpass.
Funeral services for Mr. Seely will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. in the First Methodist Church at Teague. Officiating will be the Rev. Bill Webb, pastor, and the Rev. Tome I. Sandlin, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Teague, and the Rev. H.L. McKissick, pastor of the Cedar Baptist Church, south of Teague.
Burial will be in Union Cemetery (Freestone County), under direction of the Ham Brothers Funeral Home.
A native of Hamilton, Miss., Mr. Seely was a member of the Teague First Methodist Church. He was a retired carpenter and had been a farmer. He had resided in Freestone County since 1908.
Surviving are his wife, of Teague; three daughters, Mrs. P.M. Penrod of Odessa, Mrs. I.D. Jackson of Odessa, and Mrs. John J. Sury, of Arlington; two sons, Otto Seely of Little Rock, Ark., and A.M. Seely of Vidor, and seven grandchildren.
Published in The Mexia Daily News, (Mexia, Texas) Monday, April 18, 1966 front page
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