Elyria, OH (near) Bus And Truck Collision, Apr 1934

DRIVERS HELD AS 6 DIE IN CRASH.

OPERATORS OF BUS, TRUCK BLAMED FOR FATAL COLLISION.

GRAND JURY CALLED TO PROBE TRAGEDY NEAR ELYRIA IN WHICH 15 OTHERS WERE INJURED; BUS CAREENS OFF PARKED TRUCK, HITS SECOND.

Elyria, O. -- Two drivers were to be charged today in manslaughter warrants with responsibility for the bus crash yesterday that killed six persons and sent 15 others to Memorial hospital.
They were WILLIAM DANIELS, 33, of Pittsburgh, driver of the Nevin Western bus, and A. W. SCHAFFER, 34, of Norwalk, driver of a big truck that was parked in Center Ridge road where the tragedy occurred, halfway between Elyria and Cleveland.
E.L. KIRKPATRICK, 26, of Columbia, the driver of a second truck and trailer into which the careening bus crashed, was absolved from blame.
C. W. Dick, sheriff of Lorain county, gave a terse official account of the bus-truck crash, one of the worst road tragedies in northern Ohio in recent years.
"The Norwalk Truck Line truck was parked more than five feet from the edge of the road," said the sheriff. Witnesses say its driver, SCHAFFER, was asleep in the truck. Witnesses also say the tail light on the truck was not lighted.
"DANIELS, the bus driver, is to be charged because he did not have his bus under control and because he was not maintaining a proper lookout."
Sheriff Dick and Lorain County Prosecutor Frank Stevens said the warrants would be obtained from Joseph Petro, a justice of the peace. The two drivers were to be given a preliminary arraignment before the justice.
A special session of the Lorain county grand jury will convene Thursday to investigate the crash, Prosecutor Stevens accounced.
The crumpled chassis of a night bus told the tragic story of the crash, in which one woman was perhaps fatally hurt and 14 other persons received minor injuries.
The men who died in the collision in the dark hours of early morning yesterday on U.S. route 20, east of here were:
JOHN SERBON, 35, of Holiday Cove, W.V.
EARL KELLOG, 35, of Lansing, Mich.
SAM NOVAK, of Duquesne, Pa.
FLOYD STALNAKER, of Akron, O.
CHRISTO VASILOVICH, 40, of Massillon, O.
MICHAEL FRYDRYCH, 29, of New York City.
All were passengers on the bus.
A blood transfusion was resorted to in Elyria Memorial Hospital in an attempt to save the life of MRS. MARIE KASER, of Huntington Park, Calif., whose skull was fractured.
The injured, besides MRS. KASER, included DANIELS, driver of the bus, and KIRKPATRICK, driver of the eastbound truck, neither of whom was seriously hurt.

The Mansfield News Ohio 1934-04-16

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!