Verdicts of accidental death were returned late Wednesday by a Whiteside county coroner's jury which investigated the fatal accidents on alternate U.S. 30 east of Sterling early yesterday morning in which Robert V. Hey and Donald H. powell, both of Sterling were killed. Powell's chest, the jury found, was crushed, the facial bones broken and his arms and legs fractured. Hey died of fatal head injuries. Fred Vore, Chicago salesman, first to reach the scene of the accident, testified that he left Sterling for Dixon some time after 1 a.m. and that soon after he drove past the state police headquarters a car passed him at a high rate of speed, going toward Dixon, and that it struck another, bound for Sterling headon. The latter, it was learned, was driven by Hey. Seeing that two men were injured, he ran to the E.L. Muntean farm home nearby, to summon help. When he and Muntean returned State highway officer Kenneth Brubaker, Freeport, had driven up. Brubaker sent Vore back to the state police station to pick up another officer, Harold Vore and the two returned to the scene within a few minutes. Vore, the salesman, testified that the Trouth ambulance reached the scene about 35 minutes after he did. It was revealed later that the ambulance and a wrecker had been falsely informed the accident occured on U.s. 30 and wasted several minutes in locating it. It appears, Vore added, that Powell was dead when he first drove up. Hey was unconscious, he said, but moaning. Both men were dead when they reached Sterling public hospital.

Powell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Powell, was born in Sterling Oct. 19, 1921, and attended Sterling Community and Township high schools and St. Ambrose college, Davenport, Ia., before joining the navy in 1942. He was discharged in 1946. Services arranged at the Trouth funeral home will be held at the family home, 305 West 8th street, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday and at 9 a.m. at Sacred Heart church with burial in Sacred Heart cemetery. Hey, the son of Mrs. Carmel Hey, was born in Sterling, Dec. 4, 1924, was graduated from Sterling Township high school in 1942 and attended Northern Illinois State Teachers college, DeKalb, before entering the Navy. He was discharged in 1946. Surviving in addition to his mother, are a sister Mrs. Clair Book, Rock Falls,a dn two brothers, Derrill and John, Sterling. His father Ira, was killed in an automobile accident in 1932. Services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Trinity Evangelical church, the Rev. R.A. Dennert officiating. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery. Friends may call at the Melvin Funeral home.

Damages totaling $12,000 are being asked in a suit filed in the Whiteside County Circuit Court by Carmel Hey, administrator of the estate of Robert Hey, deceased, against Fred Aliai administrator of the estate of Donald Powell deceased. The suit is an outgrowth of an automobile accident between Sterling and Dixon on June 30, 1947 in which both drivers were killed. The plaintiff charges that Donald Powell drove on the wrong side of the road and caused the crash. The complaint asks $10,000 damages for the death of Robert Hey and $2,000 damage for the car he was driving.

Dixon Evening Telegraph January 28, 1948

A suit for $1,500 damages was filed Thursday in the office of John O. Shaulis Jr. clerk of circuit court by Elizabeth Bittorf of Sterling against Carmel Hey, administrator of the estate of the late Robert Hey Sterling. The suit was the result of an accident on April 30, 1947 in which Robert Hey and Donald Powell both of Sterling were killed. When the accident occurred, Donald Powell was driving a car owned by Elizabeth Bittorf and collided with another car driven by Robert Hey. The cars collided on alternte US 30 between Dixon and Sterling five miles east of Sterling.