Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-29
WEEK END TRAFFIC
CLAIMS q LIVES
Grade Crossings, Reckless
ness and Defective Bridge
Take Heavy Toll.

Half dozen traffic accidents, result
ing from carelessness at grade cross
ings, reckless driving and a defective
bridge, claimed a total of 81 lives
throughout the country yesterday Six
teen persons were critically injured
At Richmond, Va, a young man was
killed and two girls were seriously in
jured when two automobiles skidded
and overturned. The body of Joseph
c. Davis, IT. of Glen Allen, Va. was
found beneath his overturned automo-
bile near Greenwood Church. about 5
miles south of Richmond. Miss Flor
ence Coleman. 10, of Durham, N. c.,
and Miss Ruth Mende, 20, of Richmond,
suffered serious internal injuries when
their car skidded from the Petersburg
pike, near Richmond and turned over.
Nine of Family Killed.
Nine members of one family were
killed instantly and the tenth serious
~ injured at Middletown, NJ Y, when
Antonio Vianchi. father of the family,
drove his automobile into the path of
the weStbound New York-Chicago ex-
press after he had waited at the cross
ing for an eastbound train to pass.
Besides the father, Mrs. Vianchi and
seven children, Lucy, Is; Marian, IA
Minnie. 10; George, 8; Louise, s; Rose,
3, and Helen, 10 months old, were
killed. Frank, a 12-year-old son, was
badly injured, but Is expected to live,
Mistaking the frantic signals of police
and wreckers for threatening gestures
Of fighwaymen, Eric Forcetti, 10, of
Brewster, Conn, stepped on the gas
and was killed when his automobile
plunged through bridge over the
tracks of the New Haven Railroad,
which had been inadvertently destroyed.
His 22-year-old brother Fred is in a
hospital at Mount Kisko, N. Y, with a
fighting chance to live.
The accident occurred shortly before
midnight Saturday, near Danbury,
Conn.
Crane Tears Bridge Away.
The wreckers. officials of the railroad
and police, had taken a wrecking car,
with a crane, to the scene of a freight
crash at Towners, N. Y. They were re-
turning to Danbury when the crane,
which had not been lowered swept
against the highway bridge and tore it
away, leaving only the approaches at
either end.
The entire group hurried to the road
way above and stationed themselves at
both ends of the bridge so they could
signal approaching motorists.
The Forcettis were returning home
from a visit. AS the headlights Of their
car flashed down the roadway several
men ran to the bridge approach and
waved their arms for the boys to stop.
Fearing bandits, Eric Forcetti stepped
on the gas.
His car struck the torn edge Of the
approach, bounced several feet In the
air, and then hurtled down the 20
feet to the railroad. Eric died instantly
OF a broken neck when he was thrown
against a stone ahutment at the side.
Fred suffered internal injuries.
A head-on crash yesterday between
an automobile and passenger bus r1ear
Elkhart, Ind. resulted in the deaths Of
five persons. four Of them of one family.
and the injury of II others.
The dead are Mrs. Ural Mabie, Il:
her l7-year-old son Charles, IT.: her
two daughters, Vaughn, 10, and Ruth,
"a, and Daniel Pape, 20 years old. All
lived in Elkhart. Ten passengers on
Mabie a twin sister OF Ruth, Is not
expected to live.
Say Car Hit Bus.
The Mabie family. their automobile
driven by Papa. friend, we're en- route
to Burr Oak, Mich. A. r. williams, bus
driver, said the Mabie automobile
crashed into his bus at high speed on
the wrong side of the highway and on
a curve. His story was substantiated by
passengers on the bus. Ruby, the only
survivor Of the party in the automo-
bile, could not give an account of the
tragedy.
A father and his three sons, return
ing home from church services, were
killed instantly at Marysville, Ind,
when the parent drove his automobile
in front of the fast-traveling Cincin-
nati-Louisville flyer. The dead are Ed
gar Snodgrass, 20, and his sons, How
ard, IT; Henry, is, and Wilbur, S. The
train demolished the automobile, hurl-
ing the four occupants a hundred feet
down the roadway.
Charlie Yocum of Marion, S. c., was
killed and I. G.. Smith, also of Marion,
was badly injured when their autono-
bile collided with an ambulance on a
curve near Sumter, S. c. Two men in
the ambulance received broken noses,
while a patient escaped injury.
A second automobile, called to the
scene to carry the patient to Florence
overturned on a curve near the ma
chimes.