In February 1943, on a return trip to the Lykens Valley from the Middletown Air Depot, a bus operated by the Williams Valley Transportation crashed into a bridge north of Halifax, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, resulting in injuries to five passengers, all of whom required medical care. Two of the injured later sued the bus company for damages.
The accident was described in the Lykens Standard of February 25, 1953:
Five Persons Are Injured In Bus Crash Sunday Morning
Middletown Air Depot Workers Injured in Accident Near Halifax Early Sunday Morning
Five persons were injured, one of them seriously, when a bus carrying thirty-five defensed workers home from Middletown crashed into a bridge along the River Road early Sunday morning about one mile north of Halifax.
The bus, owned by Williams Valley Transportation Company, Williamstown, was transporting workers at the Middletown Air Depot home from their shift after taking other employees to work at 11 P. M. Saturday.
Most seriously injured was John M. Grimm, 40, of 431 South Second Street, Lykens, an electrician’s helper. Suffering three fractures of the left leg and thigh, a compound fracture of the skull and abrasions and contusions of the left arm.
He was taken to the Harrisburg Hospital in the hospital ambulance.
Mrs. Agnes Fry, 32, of 435 West Market Street, Williamstown, a typist, suffered a fracture of the left leg.
Arthur Shoop, 38, Tower City, an airplane mechanic, suffered a fracture of the left leg.
Both Mrs. Fry and Shoop were in fair condition in the polyclinic Hospital, where they were taken in the ambulance of Halifax Post of the American Legion.
Mrs. Dorothy E. Rowe, 21, Spring Street, Wiconisco, suffered shock and bruises of the left side of the body and left arm, for which she received treatment at the office of Dr. Henry Hottenstein, Millersburg. The ambulance of Millersburg Post of the American Legion was summoned to the scene but was not needed.
Driver of the bus was Earl Fetterhoff, 22, of 213 East Broad Street, Williamstown. State Motor Police from Lykens Substation said that while the bus was traveling north, Fetterhoff blew his horn to pass an automobile ahead of him.
Sideswipes Bridge Wall
While the bus was passing the machine, the left wheels of the bus got off the road onto a soft shoulder. The driver was unable to get the entire bus back on the concrete, but got the front wheels back, police said, and the left side of the bus sideswiped the abutment of a bridge across Armstrong Creek.
The side wall of the bridge ripped open the rear half of the left side of the bus which stopped in the middle of the road about 100 feet north of the scene of the accident. The bridge is about sixty feet long.
The remainder of the passengers on the bus were taken to their homes by passing motorists and by another bus of the company which transferred the other occupants.
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On November 5, 1943, the Lykens Standard noted that a law suit had been brought against the Williams Valley Transportation Company for $25,000 in damages resulting from the accident
Sues Bus Firm For $25,000 In Accident Early In Year
A $25,000 damage suit was brought in Dauphin County Common Pleas Court Wednesday by Homer L. Kreider, counsel for Arthur W. J. Shoop, Tower City, against the Williams Valley Transportation Company, Williamstown.
According to Kreider, Shoop, an employee of the Middletown Air Depot, had his left leg broken, while a passenger on a crowded bus of the transportation company, which skidded into the sidewall of the span over Armstrong Creek, a mile north of Halifax, last February 21. Kreider claims that the bus driver did not have the vehicle under control.
This is the second damage suit to be brought against the transportation company as a result of the accident. Previously suit was brought to recover for the injuries allegedly suffered by Mrs. Agnes L. Fry, Williamstown.
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The suit by Agnes L. Fry was settled in January 1944 according to the Lykens Standard of February 4, 1944.
Damage Suit Settled Against Williams Valley Transportation Company
A damage suit was settled Monday on the opening day of the January term of Dauphin County Common Pleas Court.
Counsel informed the court that agreement had been reached in the damage suit of John A. Fry, and his wife Mrs. Agnes L. Fry, Williamstown, against the Williams Valley Transportation Company, Williamstown. It was alleged that Mrs. Fry, a passenger on a crowded bus of the transportation company, suffered a fractured left leg, when the bus conveying workers on the night shift from the Middletown Air Depot to the Williamstown area skidded into the sidewall of the span over Armstrong Creek last February 21.
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Additional information is sought about this accident and the parties involved.
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News article from Newspapers.com.
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