Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Times-Union Staff Writer
LEESBURG - A farming accident Tuesday afternoon resulted in the death of a Leesburg man.
Herschel Wehrly, 72, of 5444 N. Pound Road, was pronounced dead at the scene of the 2:30 p.m. accident in a hay field, where Wehrly was found pinned beneath a tractor that rolled over on top of him.
According to a Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department report, Wehrly was cutting hay when his tractor apparently got stuck in soft ground. Wehrly had placed boards under the rear tires of the tractor and attached them to the tractor by running chains through the rear tire rims in an attempt to pull the tractor out.
While Wehrly was in the driver's seat, the tractor rolled over, pinning him to the ground, police believe. He suffered massive chest injuries, officials said.
Wehrly's wife, Nancy Wehrly, told police her husband came in for lunch and returned to the field about noon. She checked on him periodically by looking through binoculars into the field. At one point, she noticed the tractor was flipped over and did not see her husband. A passerby who saw the upside-down tractor stopped and helped Mrs. Wehrly call 911. Another motorist found that Wehrly was trapped beneath the farm machinery.
Assisting at the scene were personnel from the Kosciusko County Coroner's Office, Leesburg and Warsaw fire departments and Plain Township and North Webster emergency medical services.
Wehrly's obituary appears on Page 3A of today's Times-Union.
