Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-08-27
2 Killed, 10 Hurt
in Plunge Of Bus


to run down hin. The Valley Forge
road State highway. dips. sharply
beyond Devon. and runs through Il
thick woods. There are SIX sharp turns
on the way down the hill, each one
banked with n thick stone wall 10 pre-
vent just such accidents a. hat which
occurred.
Two Of the turns had been made
safely when apparently something went
wrong with the brakes.
Slow to Realize Danger
As the third turn was reached, with
the bridge just beyond. the truck began
to gather speed, in spite Of the driver \
efforts to control II.
The passengers on the truck appar-
entity did not realize their danger at
first. The driver, however, saw that
there was serious threat ~ the lives
OF those aboard in the next turn, and he
worked his hardest with the runaway
machine. finally throwing it into re
verse in his effort to stop.
In spite of what he could do, how
ever. the truck struck the turn, and he
partly made it. Then he saw the bridge
loom ahead. with the necessity of
throwing the truck over to the other
side of the road. He swung the wheel,
and the truck responded. but before he
could straighten out again, the heavy
machine had smashed into the stone
coping of the bridge, ripped out n sec
tion twelve feet long. and was plunging
over into the dry bed of the creek
twenty five feet below
A shrek OF terror went up from the
passengers as the truck leaped out into
the chasm, then turned in air. In tho
descent the truck turned completely
over, and would have turned again as
It landed II it had not been caught by
tree trunk and the bank Of the creek,
which held it upright
The spot where the accident occurred
is one Of the loneliest bits of road on
the way to Valley Forge, with the
nearest house POO yards away.
MOtorist TO 1,!e Rescue
The oul ysalvatiOn of the injured was
the prompt arrival of George Florey.
brick manufacturer Of uaverford. who
was following close behind the truck in
his touring car. He stopped when he
saw the truck go over and lcQpcd down
into the creek bed.
He found the passengers thrown TO-
rether in heap, several Of them I'M
conscious, almost all Of the twenty
checked and bruised. many of them
bleeding and grooming. lie realized
he could do nothing unaided. and ran
bac kto his machine, turning it and
speeding back toward Devon.
lie remembered passing garage
about a quarter Of a mile back, and
made for this TO telephone. lie got the
Bryn Mawr Hospital on the telephone
six miles away, and notified it Of the
accident, asking it to prepare to receive
many victims and to send out all avail
able ambulances.
Then Mr.. Florey asked the operator
to call up oil the physicians of the
neighbOrhoOd and ask them to hurry to
the scene of the accident. lie got into
his car again, and with some vo,un
teers from the garage, sped back once
more TO the wreck.
Several physicians already were com.
ing up IN their cars. One of the first
to arrive was woman, DR.. Della Will
liams, of Berwyn, who gave first aid
to many of the victims. Mr.. and Mrs
Woods, the husband and wife fatally
hurt, were still breathing when Mr..
Florey arrived.
He put them into his machine. with
the aid of another man, and rushed
them 10 the hospital. They were the
first of the injured to arrive. They
were carried to the operating room. but
the surgeons found that they had died
on the way.
A steady stream Of injured then be. .
gan to pour into the hospital. Fell's
Garage, at Devon, responded 20 the
call for help by sending all the motor
cars In the garage at the time, six, to
carry the injured.
Other car owners volunteered their
conycyances. and in sRart time the
last Ot the injured had been Married over