The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-27
CRUSHED ID DEATH
 BY AUTOMOBILE Yale Student Victim of Bridge
 Accident HIS COMPANIONS INJURED The Young Man and He Friends Were Taking an Early. Morning Trip and the Auto skldded and
 Turned Over.
HIS COMPANIONS INJURED

New Haven, Conn.,, June 26.-A frightful automobile accident occurred, causing the death of one undergraduate and slight ly injuring two other students and guest casting gloom over the commence ment exercises at Yale university today. The victim was D. Leet Oliver, son of s. J. E. Oliver of Pittsburg, Pa. and senior In the Sheffield scientific school, a member of St. Anthony's fraternity, and one of the most prominent socially of the upper classmen. The injured are w. Strothers Jones of Redbank, N. J., a Sheffield junior, and J. G. Colston of Baltimore, a senior in the same depart ment, and L. Hudson, q commencement guest of the others, all of whom live at St. Anthonys house
 Oliver died from a broken back, being crushed under his automobile after it had jumped off a bridge in Centerville, about four miles from the college The others are suferlng from manifold bruises and Colston has his nose broken.
 The party were coming into the city just about daybreak and the machine ap- parently skidded off the end of the bridge which spans a small stream. As the ma chine took It's flight into the air it turned over and landed just at the edge of the water the crushing weight coming on Oliver, who was driving and he was al- most instantly killed. The others in the party sought help from nearby houses and Messrs. Jones, Hudson and Colston were carried into New Haven for hospital treatment.
 The autmobile was of the French type and was under Connecticut registry, in MT Divers name. It is not known whether the speed of the machine was high ac the time but the approaches on both sides are straight and on a level The roadway on the bridge, which is of a single truss pattern, is part taken up by the street car tracks. The supposi- tion is that the automobile ran on the bridge at high speed and that OllYer in trying to keep clear of the car tracks, swerved just a trifie and the wheel skid ding at the end, sent the machine into the air.
 Details of Accident.
 A story of the accident was told after the survivors had recovered from the shock. The party Slarleu oul dl all Sai y hour to take a pleasure ride in the cool air and intended to go out Whitney ave nue through Centerville to Cheshire, a straightaway distance of about ten miles. Divers machine was of the thirty -horse- power racing type and the party went ou. Whitney avenue at a high speed. A nile this side of the bridge there Is d II ard down this the machine went In
 gray light of dawn it is thought Oli-
 did not realize that the bridge was
 rrow ahd as he vas in the car tracks
 turised out to travel over the space
 ervett for vehicles, but the swervng
 the machine and the skidding of the
 | wheels brought the machine against
 ence A short distance from the bridge
 tl" momentum impeding the machine
 ward sent it against a stringpiece of
 bridge The machine then went into
 air. The flight was so great that the
 CT flew clear across the stream and
 ded fifteen feet on the other bank,
 II turning a somersault, fell towards
 water. The flight of the machine
 ew Gut Divers companions, but Oli-
 came down with the machine and was
 she'd
 uring the morning the injured men
 1t to St Anthonys hospital and after
 gcal attention. they were declared to
 not seriously hurt.