The daily Alaska citizen., 1919-10-25

IItDN Lh LINE ikl SHED TO
 DEATH WHEN BIG AUTO TRUCK DROPS ON HIM FROM GRADE
 NEAR SALCUA STATION
 Adyices received in town early yes t.-lay morning from the saIcha te.a- graph station 0rot information of the death of Oscar Johnson. interior trail manager for the Brewer Stag. line. . M. Johnson was crushed to death when a big Jcrfery quad which he was diving left the road on the -rade as the trail enters the valley jusr outh of the Salcha hill, drop ped down an ombnkmcnt about nr- teen feet and the front wheels land l sd -quarely on the driver. probably causing instantaneous death.
 The unfortunate man left Munson's roadhouse Thursday afternoon about .a.3O o'clock When if wa di-coy- cred yesterday morning that he had not passed the Sucha telegraph sta uCn. searching parties from Nun sons and the station Jeff to see what was wrong. Segeant KinIo.b. oper- a,or in charge at SaIcha. hradina the latter party found the body beneath the truck. An examination revealing the fact that life was extinct. he i'm mediateIy returned to the telegraph station and informed the 1oca, mar shaTs office of the accident Deputy U. S. Marshal John Wood was sent to the scene al once in Tom Gibson's car The outbound trip was made in about three hours, and returned to town shortly after ' o'clock last evening with the remains which were taken to the local undertahin4 par lors.
 According to Mr. Gibson, the truck had apparently been out of control for a distance of about 60 feet be fore it left the road It began to swing away from the ruts at the Jop of the grade which i~ at the end ol a slight curve, and as il descended the grade it kept cutting away from the hill and down toward the valley. It seems from this that the driver, who undoubtedly had plenty of time to jump, was confident that he could bring the truck back into the road
 Where it finally dropped oyel the embankment is almost perpendicu- lar with a drop of approximately tif- teen feet The outer wheels dropped down until the aNels touched the grade when the truck which had most of it's load on that side turned From the position in which the body was found, it is believed that the driver either jumped or was hurled back ward and down, falling with his head against a fallen tree at the bottom of the fill and the truck apparently struck him before he could rise, or else he was stunned by the fall and Was uudDlt JO uLON t. iI' u Ut h landed with two wheels down on the earth fIatwise and the opposite side in the air. The front wheel was damned against the drivers left leg and hip doubling it up and forcing it into his stomach and the hub of the wheel resting in the groin, all of the weight being on the hip and body of the victim. The head was iammed against and partly under the tree against which it had been hurled.
 MT. Johnson is a recent conner in Fairbanks, bringing his family here from Chitina where he had been em- ployed by Mir Brewer since last year. He leaves a wife and two children to whom the sympathy of the entire town goes out in their bereavement No arrangements for the funeral and burial which will be held here, have been made, but an announce ment will probably be made today.