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CRASH VICTIMSyFamily Wiped Out By Tram-Auto CrashRITES MONDAYIEntire Family Wiped OutIn Tragedy At HaythorneAvenue Crossing.Funeral services for the fivevictims of the truck-express train crash at the Havthorneavenue crossing of the New- York Central Railroad FridayIIwill be held Monday.Twowere- and two diedkilled outright en route to theZr*hospital and the fifth died inCnion Hospital yesterday afternoon three hours after thefaFATAL BLASTINVESTIGATEDcrash.One entire fami! was wiped out and the fifth person was a neign-; bor The accident victims were:Kendall Hooker, 24 years old.P R. 6, Terre Haute, EhrmandaLe. driver of the truck, who died at Union Hospital at 2:20 o'clock es-terday afternoon.lrs. Betty Hooker. 2his wife, who was killed instantly. _ , . . A ,Larry Eugene Hooker. 8 montns F©dera I Housing Author-old, their son, who died en route to Union Hospital.Connie Sue Hooker, 18 months , A ...old. their daughter, who also died 6dy At Vincennes.|en route to Union Hospital.Harry Patterson, 31 3 ears old R R. 6. Terre Haute, a neighbor who was riding in the truck andwho was also killed instantly inFour of the five persons who were killed in the train-truck crash ,at H.iythorne avenue andthe New York Central Railroad yesterday included the membersof one family, Kendall Hooker, 21.(right*; Mrs. Betty Hooker. 21, (left*, and Larry Eugene Hooker. 8 months old. and Connie Sue Hooker. 18 months old (centeri.ccF• %caa{ITWO TRAPPEDtn1SEVERE STORMIN COAL MINEtity Officials Probe Trag-STRIKES WESTRescuers Dig FuriouslyarTo Reach Brothers En-* itombed Underground.tVINCENNES. Ind , .Jan 14Blizzards Roar Out ofA new investigation into a hous-Pacific Northwest IntoBELLI TINIthe crash. Services forfamily will beban chapel at afternoon. The two childrening project unit explosion herethe entire Hooker held at the Calla-2 o’clock Monday father, mother and will all be buriedwhich killed five persons Thursda'Rocky Mountain States.1 4towas underwav todav after twoother probes blamed natural gasState Fire Marshal Alex Houg-side by side at Roselawn Memorial Park.Hooker and Patterson were both veterans of World War II. Hooker was a miner at Victory Mine, and Patterson was an employe of the Quaker Maid plant.Yesterday morning they left Ehrmandale in a truck whichland and Knox County CoronerPaul Strafe agreed that the blastwas caused by “an accumulation of natural gas’’ under the floor of theBv Th^ Associated PressThe winter season's worst storm dealt staggering blows over wide areas of the western and centralof the country toda\.partForces of FateOfficers who investigated the tragic crash were reminded of the grim forces of fate that were at work yesterday.Still intact on what was left of the dash board of the cabof the Hooker truck was dangling a rabbit's foot ... an amulet thought to bring good luck. Rut yesterday was Friday, the 13th, a day of ill omen.two-family house.Vincennes Fire Chief Dewev Shepherd disagreed, however, saying that it never will he known whether it was natural gas or backed-up sewer gas. No one was able to explain how the gas was ignited.Strate said his official verdict today will be “death from an ex-plosion of natural gas accumulated under the floor of the house.’’Government Investigates.Honker owned .jointly with hisI brother-in-law, Rov McClelland, and were en route to North Terre Haute to spend the day with Hooker's father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Hooker. All five j were sitting in the cab of the truckas it approached the railroad cross-ing. Hooker, who was driving, apparently did not see or hear the express train which was coming at 80 miles an hour and drove onto I the tracks in front of it.Federal Housing Authority officials from Washington started then-own investigation today. Robert Webb, Chicago, an FHA official on the scene, said he could make no statement until the Washingtoninvestigators concluded then-probe.jar anied by wjnds ofApparently in fear of other ex- 1plosions in the 42-unit Major Bow-' man Terrace housing project, several families already had movedA snow-wind storm, after striking with full force across the Pacific northwest, roared into the Rocky Mountain states. Oregon. Washington, parts of Idaho, northern California and northern Ne\a-da reeled from the impact of the hlusterv weather. At least 5 deaths.*rattributed to the storm were reported in Washington.Blizzard conditions were forecast for Montana and Wyoming. The storm hit western Montana last night, with strong winds and blowing, drifting snow. Temperatures .ranged from 20 to 25 below zero in northern Montana.A blizzard blew into Minnesota and colder weather spread across most of the north central region.The storm which struck over the northern Great Lakes region was40 to 501Smiles an hour throughout t lie north central stales and gusts of 60 to 80 m.p h. HeavyMAHANOY CITY . Pa.. Jan.— p—Rescue workers trying reach two brothers trapped in a mine cavein reported today they heard a dynamite bla^t far belowthe surface of the earth.The rescue men said the blast, shortly before noon, seemed proof that at least one of the men trapped was alive and was attempting to dynamite a path tosafety.j:Ptiot!db' 125.iTerrific Crash.Witnesses who saw. the crashsaid the truck was knocked high into the air and bodies were scat-jtered along the right-of-way for 200 yards. Parts of the truck were carried almost a mile from the scene of the crash before the express train was brought to a stop.'John Callahan of Callahan's Fu-;neral Home and Frank Knipmeyer. iout and others kept police, firemen and project officials busy answer-1ing calls to investigate “gassmells.”The explosion, which shattered the unit and killed two mothers and their three children, apparently occurred because four ventilators were closed, cutting off air circulation beneath the floor and allowing the gas to accumulate.were reported in upper Michigan, entombedMAHANOY CITY. Pa Jan 14 (UR)—Grimy rescue w.trkei' du, through tons of rock, coal and dirt todav in an effort to reach two brothers entombed by a mine cave-in-One of the men. Edward Burda. was trapped 120 feet deep in an independent anthracite working at the old New Boston Colliery at nearby Morea. His brothgr, Joseph. 30, w as caught 60 feet undergroundby the rock fall.Another brother. Charles. 23. working near the surface, was bogged hig-high by the first swirl of debris. But he eased himself out of his boots and escaped with leg cuts.No one on the scene could aywhether the trapped men werealive. Faint tappings on rail linesrunning through the mine were snow falls | heard shortlv after the men wereTdJflt;tiwVafiF!tlJrrSirrifhtluvesterdaxCold Over Wide Area.at 2 p. m. . j After 5 p. m.. however, they ceased.The cold weather covered the: The rappings might havePacific northwest, the northernj stopped, rescuers said, because new Rocky Mountain states, the north-T3^ had covered the tracks andplains and the •*«»■»*»»• I muffled them- Thenern greatupperrescuers at-Mississippi and Missouri valleys. At Pendleton. Ore., there wasPOLICE PROBEitempted to push an air pipe down into the mine, but were stymied14 inches of snow on the ground, j^y I0C^ at 20 feet.Spokane's snowfall measured 21! The rescue crews, under pr-inches and the mercury dropped to sonaI command of State Mine In-six below. At Pendleton, Ore..1 sPec,or **• ^ Reinoehl. hoped that______ the men had reached gangways inwbclc!wisClContinued On Page 2, Column 2STABBING HERE AIRPORT CLERKlt;■-24 South Twenty-fourth street. Bonds of $1,000 w ere «et today in w ho were eye-witnesses to the the cases of two men implicated in crash, summoned ambulances from stabbing last night of Jame* I the Callahan Funeral Home andrendered first aid at the scene.Patterson and Mrs. Hooker were! killed outright. Hooker and the two babies were still alive and were rushed to Union Hospital.!The babies died en route to UnionIN AUTO CRASH!Edward Baker, 21 years old, of Pimento, and his uncle, Ervin Baker, 38 years old. also of Pimento. at the Montana Inn, 314 Wabash avenue.James Baker is in St. Anthony’sCondition of Miss Eleanor Walsh, 39 years old. 1300 South Ninth street, who was injured in a head-on crash at the intersection of State Highways 42 and 46 Friday evening, was listed as “fairHospital and Hooker died ato’clock without regaining sciousness.2:20con-Patterson Rites Monday.Funeral services will be held Monday morning for EJatterson at 10:30 o’clock at the Callahan chapel, and burial will be in Soldiers’ Circle in Highland Lawn cemetery. The Lawton-Byrum PostNo. 972. Veterans of Foreign WarsI will conduct full military rites. Paterson is survived by a sister. Mrs. Martha Knight. R. R. 6. Terre Haute: a brother, Eugene C. Pat-Iterson. Florence Ariz.; an aunt.Hospital suffering from five stab by attendants at St. Anthony's Hos-wounds in the back and his uncle pital today.was released after being treated Miss Walsh, clerk of the board for knife wounds on the throat, j of aviation, reportedly suffered a face and right leg. badly lacerated left knee and armClyde T. Long. 34 years old,'and severe bruises about the head and Wayne E. Rose. 33 years old. and left hip. both residing at a local hotel. She was enroute to herwere arrested by Officers Stevens and Bingham and are being held on vagrancy charges pending anthe alleged cut-home a car Frank R. 4.investigationting.According men becameofto police the fourfrom Hulman Field when driven east by WilliamStephens. 26 years old, R. swerved out of the lane of traffic to avoid ramming a truck and ran into the front of Miss Walsh's west-involved in an alter- 'bound 3Uto.cation in another tavern earlier in1 the evening. The parties metMrs. Myrtle Hamilton, R. R. G. again at the Montana Inn, police Terre Haute, and an uncle. Law- said, and renewed their difference Patterson of Terre Haute. enees touching off a free-for-all Kendall Hooker is survived by fight which was climaxed by the al-the parents. Mr. and Mrs. Oscar leged stabbing of the Bakers.Deputy Sheriffs ly said Stephens.severely lacerated he was following made a sudden turn in front of him and he cut around the vehicle to keep from crashing into it.Crock and Ree-who suffered a nose, told them a truck whichthe mine, where they perhaps could obtain air that would sustain them for hours.The task of reaching the men was painstaking. After clearing off the surface area of the slope in which the cave-in occurred, the volunteer* concentrated on opening a narrow escape hatch through the wall.The volunteers, many of them friends of the trapped miners, worked individually in relays to dig a sloping path toward the men.The job was bring done at the risk of their own lives. Subsequent rock falls remained a threat to them although they shored their dip” into the mine with heavy planking.The first alarm on the cave-in was sounded by Charles Burda. Hesaid he and his brothers working the mine as usual he heard a rumbling sound.“There were two minor falls, then came the big Charles said. “It trapped me by the legs, but I squeezed out of my boots and made my way to thesurface.”Joseph Burda is married and has a three-year-old son. Edwardis unmarried.rlt;o:eibuITV-«uhtaPwdistwerewhenrock-one.caclP;• %sibiMINE BLAST FOLLOWSMCiVIfKfoBiARREST OF PICKETSPITTSBURGH. Jan. 14—(UPrehiso
Newspaper Details
Terre Haute Tribune
Terre Haute, Indiana, US
Sat, Jan 14, 1950
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Vigo C.
IN, USA 12 Oct 2019
Other Publications Near Terre Haute, Indiana
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