FIVE KILLED BY PLUNGE OF AN AUTO.

HUGE MACHINE BECOMES UNMANAGEABLE UPON A STEEP GRADE.

BECAUSE BRAKES SNAP.

CAR STRIKES ROCK AND GOES DOWN 35-FOOT EMBANKMENT, STRIKING ON A TREE.

TWO IN PARTY ESCAPE DEATH.

TRAGEDY OCCURS NEAR FASHIONABLE SUBURB OF SAN FRANCISCO -- MEMBERS OF TWO FAMILIES ARE AMONG THE DEAD.

San Francisco, Aug. 3. -- Five persons were killed and two were injured to-day near Burlingame, a fashionable suburb, when a large automobile, occupied by five women and two children, plunged down a steep embankment as the result of the snapping of the brakes.
The dead:
MRS. THOMAS A. McCORMICK.
MISS CLARE McCORMICK, aged 18.
ROBERT T. O'BRIEN, son of MRS. IRA G. O'BRIEN.
IRA G. O'BRIEN, JR., aged 3 years.
MRS. IRA G. O'BRIEN.
The injured:
MRS. McCAULEY, dangerously.
MISS ETHEL McCORMICK, painfully.
Coming down a steep grade near Crystal Lake, MISS ETHEL McCORMICK, who was at the wheel, endeavored to check the speed of the car by applying the footbreak. It failed to hold the automobile, which was rapidly gaining a dangerous headway down the hill, and MISS McCORMICK hastily threw on the emergency brakes. They snapped almost instantly.
Fearing that she could not guide the huge car in safety to the bottom of the grade on account of the sharp turns in the road, the young woman endeavored to steer it against the high bank on the right, believing that the friction on the wheels would bring it to a stop. The front wheel, however, struck a large rock, swerved sharply to the left and the next moment the car plunged down the steep embankment, striking thirty-five feet below against a large tree.

The Post-Standard Syracuse New York 1908-08-04
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!