HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1958-12-23, Page 3ri_affic Tn
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.EXETER„ ONTARIO, DECEMBER 23, 1950
THREE ESCAPED DEATH FROM THIS WRECKAGE
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Five ambulances, two cars remove victims from fatality scene
CORONER DR. J. C. GODDARD, R. C. DINNEY, JOHN HENDRICK REMOVE 'BODY FROM WRECK. AT RIGHT, PC'S MITCHELL AND REID
31'
4.4
•
FOUR OF FIVE IN THIS CAR WERE KILLED
Launch Two Enquiries,
Bury One Victim Today
While police and RCAF autho-
rities continue investigation and!
funeral arrangements are being!
made for the four victims of this
district's worst traffic smash!
early Saturday morning, hospi-
tal authorities report that the
four survivors are out of danger.
Two, previousfy reported in I
critical condition in! Westmin-
ster Hospital, London, are now
expected to live. LAC R. W. Ca -1
meron, 23, only survivor of the
Centralia car, has a fractured
arm and wrist but apparently
. no serious internal injuries.
Three in the Clinton car, all of f
whom escaped death, have'
passed critical stages although '
• i• LAC Emerson L. Rodgerson, 27,
Four found lammed in front seat of southbound vehicle, on left
believed tn be the driver of the
ear, is still listed as "serious." I
VIEW FROM THE SOUTH SHOWS BELANGER LYING ON THEVV
HIGHWAY, BLOOD RUNNING DON HILL
ALONGDITCH
ON WEST SIDE' lie is suffering from a fractured,
Inpact driyes steering • wheels of both cars through' windshields
ThL•$cette*. PROM THE. NORTH SIDE, :SHOWS HEAVY IMPACT :ANO ONE OP VICTIMS, WAVEDTO BE SORENSEN, bRIVER. OP CAR
,
jaw, lacerated face, fractured
left femur and left ankle.
Passenger LAW Elizabeth J.
Taylor, 18, of RCAF Clinton, has I
a fractured right arm and frac-
tured pelvis. The other passen-!
ger, LAC Matthew Meron, 20,
has only superficial ,Injuries,
Coroner Dr. J. C. Goddard,
Hensall, has announced there
will be an inquest but indicated
it may not be for two months
since it will probably take that
long before Rodgerson's injuries
heal sufficiently to allow hint to
appear. Meanwhile PC George
Mitchell, in charge of the hives.
ligation, continues his probe
dahalytUrday. RCAF authorities 8. et
up a
Saturday
board of enquiry,
headed by F/L Livingston Fos-
ter, Exeter, which is conducting
You Are There
By DON SOUTHCOTT, Editor
We anticipate the dismay of our readers at
the publication of the pictures on this page. They
are brutal scenes of the district's worst traffic tra-
gedy.
Our first reaction, a yours will Undoubtedly
be, was that such a stark presentation of death on
the highway should not be depictee, on the pages
of a family newspaper such as burs particulai ly at
Christmas time.
• Yet, what short of this will drive home the
realization of the danger that. lurks on highways,
especially during holidays? Millions of Waft of
warning, written and spoken, have not stopped the
mounting ton. Perhaps pictures such as these will
be more effective.
We publish those scenes with only one hope
and for oily one reason.° We pray that over this
festive season ahead they will prevent tragedy.
Every driver should have boor. with me early
Saturday morning. They should have accompanied
the coroner, the doctors. the police, the ambulance
drivers. These pictures will help to place you at the
scene which shook even these men, hardored to
tragod as they are by their vocations.
. My stomach became ill at the scenes I saw.
Perhaps yours will as you look at tivse pictures,
gut don't turn the page until you realize that this
could happen to you.
All of us who violate the rules of highway
safety—and '4we are in the rnajori4,--need to be
shocked into realizing the folly of our carelessness,
a separate investigation.
Four airmen killed are:
LAC K. C. Sorensen, 35, Cen-
tralia, believed to be the driver
of the southbound car. Father of
a seven-year-old boy, Sorensen
had just moved his furniture
into a home at Huron Park and
was preparing to bring his wife
and boy here from their home
in Stanhope, Quebec.
LAC Walter Dobko, 23, single
stationed at Centralia, whose
home is in Grand Prairie, Al.
beLrtaC.
AJ. G. Y. A. "Harvey" Bel*
anger, 24, single, and a well.
known figure at Centralia, whose
home is in Montreal.
LAC Metro Walthuk, 24, mar-
ried, stationed at Moose Jaw,
Sask., who had flown to Centra.
Ila by aircraft earlier the mho
day.
Bodies were shipped from two
local funeral homes Saturday and
Sunday to their home towns.
RCAF officials said funeral, ara
n ements for onl • one Bel.
a g
I anger, had been confirmed Mond
I day. Ile will be buried in Mon.
treat Tuesday at aan,
The traffic tragedy, a head-on
collision over one mile south of
Exeter on No. 4 highway, was
the worst in the district's his-
tory. Both front ends were crum-
pled to the windshields. The
cars were 1033 models, one a
Ford, the other a Meteor.
First persons to the scene
found Cameron and the three
people in the Clinton ear alive
and one believes Walebuk was
still breathing when he got there.
Sorensen had fallen brad first
out the north side of the Lar.
Walchuk and Belanger were
partly outside the south side and
Dobko was buried under them.
• At first, police thought..., there
were only two dead but later
discovered the third and fourth.
ten Fisher, Exeter, who had
been on the Kirkton road prior
to the accident, rushed to town
to notify authorities. Ile later
returned to help Len Harvey d
Harvey's tavi, take Hodgerson.td
South Huron Hospital,
LAt.! Pete Whetstone, Centrala, who was driving north, took
Cameron- to hospital in hi g ear
after he bad driven to Exeter
after Fisher to get help.
Hopper-Hoekey ambulance took
Moron to Westminster Uospital5
London, and the HMV ambu.
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