Duwamish River, WA Automobile Crashes In River, Mar 1915

FOUR KILLED IN CAR ACCIDENT.

Riverton, Wash. (AP) -- On March 30, 1915, shortly after 5:00 p.m., four prominent Washingtonians died when the car in which they were backseat passengers plunged off the Riverton Draw Bridge into the Duwamish River.
Killed in the accident were:
THOMAS W. PROSCH.
VIRGINIA McCARVER PROSCH, his wife.
MARGARET LENORA DENNY.
HARRIET FOSTER BEECHER, an artist.
The driver, chauffeur PAUL KUMAI, and the frontseat passenger EMILY CARKEEK, survived the accident. The owner of the car, a large Pierce-Arrow touring car, was EMILY CARKEEK. The friends were driving home to Seattle from Tacoma, where they were attending a meeting of the Washington Historical Society.
The accident occurred on the west side of the Duwamish River, midway between Allentown Bridge and a footbridge to its north. The Riverton Draw Bridge is a wooden swing-span bridge. A trestle runs beside the bridge carrying the Interurban track. The turn onto the bridge is a sharp right angle.
As the driver began making the sharp turn onto the bridge, he saw two children and swerved to avoid them. At the same moment, MRS. CARKEEK directed him to pass by the bridge and continue straight along the west side of the river. He corrected the steering wheel and applied the brakes, but the heavy touring car did not respond quickly enough. The car crashed through the railing of the bridge. It turned completely over as it dropped 30 feet into the water. The river is ten feet deep at this point.

From www.historylink.org
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!