Atlanta, GA Taxicab Kills Margaret Mitchell, Aug 1949 - Injuries Fatal

Injuries Fatal to Margaret Mitchell

ATLANTA, Ga., Aug. 16. (AP)--Margaret Mitchell, world-famous author of "Gone With the Wind," died Tuesday, five days after she was struck by a speeding automobile.

Although her condition had been critical since she was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital the night of Aug. 11, the relapse that ended is death was sudden.

Hospital Superintendent Frank Wilson said her condition had been "without change and she was doing fine" up to 11 a.m. Tuesday. At that hour she began sinking suddenly and the hospital staff cast aside fears that she could not survive an operation and decided to risk one without further delay.

DIES ON TABLE

Her personal physician, Dr. W. C. Waters, was summoned but she died on the operating table just and hour later while being prepared for the operation. Waters had not arrived when grim-faced doctors stepped from the room and announced:

"She is dead."

Neither was her husband, John Marsh, Atlanta advertising executive there. He had kept almost constant vigil at the hospital but left for a while this morning when he was assured that no change in her condition was anticipated immediately.

The noted novelist was with her husband the night of Aug. 11 when she was struck down by a drinking taxicab driver's private car on Peachtree Street. Ironically, the accident was in the heartland of the most vivid action of her fabulous book about the South's "lost cause."

SAD TASK

Marsh did not hear about his wife's death for some time after it was announced. A neighbor heard the bad news by radio and rushed over to the family home and told servants to disconnect the radio. Dr. Waters was given the sad task of telling him that her fight for life was over.

Miss Mitchell's skull was fractured and her pelvis was crushed when she was dragged ten feet along the pavement by the speeding car, driven by Hugh D. Gravitt, 29.

Dr. Waters said he had not consulted the doctors on the scene but he assumed they had planned a "probing" operation to determine what if any pressure was on Miss Mitchell's brain.

Dr. Charles Downman, noted brain surgeon who was called in on the case earlier, was standing by to perform the operation.

The shy little Georgia woman who became world-famous by penning a single novel had been upper-most in the attentions of the people of her state since her tragic experience.

When the word of her death was announced. Gov. Herman Talmadge ordered a period of state-wide mourning until the funeral is over.

Abilene Reporter News, Abilene, TX 17 Aug 1949