Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-13
Capital Social Leader and
David Drage Killed in
Falls Church, Va.
LOST CONTROL OF CAR
ON CURVE, HITTING POLE
Couple Were Returning at Night
From Raccoon Hunt on
Warrenton Estate.

Failing to right her automobile wher
It left the road on dangerous un-
marked curve in Falls Church, Va.
early yesterday, Mrs. Elizabeth Walter
Converse, socially prominent young
WaShingtonian, and her escort, DaVic
Drage of Kansas City, were thrown
from the machine and almost instantly
killed when it crashed Onto telephone
pole at 20 miles an houW.
The couple were returning from a
raccoon hunt and barn dance at
Clovelly, the Warrenton estate OF
Mr.. and Mrs. Robert G. Winmill.
Skid marks left by the tires on the
roadway told of the woman'S desperate
efforts to avoid the crash, but appar-
emily the heavy machine went complete
" out of control, for it jumped 4-foot
ditch and struck the pole, on the right
side of the road, with the left front
wheel.
Two Men See Crash.
Two unidentified men who had stop
ped at a cross-road 200 feet from the
scene of the crash. were the only wit
nesses to the tragedy.
Mrs. Converse, ~ years old, was at
the wheel of the high-powered car,
they said, as it turned into the sharp
curve at high speed. The machine left
the road at the beginning OF the turn,
they said, and careened violently, with
two wheels in the ditch on the right
hand side. The woman, they declared,
stood up in the car as she wrestled with
the steering wheel, but was unable to
pull the. car out of the ditch.
The machine struck the pole, situ-
ated in front of the Old Falls Church,
with a crash that awoke residents OF
the town many blocks away.
Woman Dead When Found.
The man and woman were thrown rs
feet through the air by the force OF
the impact, and Mrs. Converse was
dead when the onlookers reached the
scene. She sustained a broken neck,
fractured skull, broken right arm, a
fracture of the left leg and crushed
chest and shoulder.
Drage died of a fractured skull at
Emergency Hospital, where he was
taken in a taxicab which drove up
shortly after the accident. He was
rs years old and a member of socially
prominent family in Kansas City.
The car struck the pole with such
force that the upholstertng in the rear
seat was torn loose. The pole, set In
a heavy concrete base, was driven back
ward IL inches.
Identified by License.
Mrs, Converse was IoenLlIeo py
drivers license found in her handbag,
the license having been issued to her
mother, Mrs. Emma j. Walter OF 10
Kirke street, Chevy Chase. Md :.
Drage was reported to be an OLD
friend of the Walter family and was
staying at the home as the guest OF
Beverly Walter, the dead Womans
brother. Another brother OF Mrs. Con-
verse, Donald M. Walter, was killed IN
an automobile accident on November "a,
1927, near Rockville.
Mrs. Converse was the wife OF James
Vail Converse, banker and sportsman OF
New York City Her FIRST husband was
r. Addison Brastow of the 1000 block OF
N street, a local advertising man. Mrs.
Converse was married to BraStow soon
after she made her debut in 1928 and
was given custody of their two chill
dren when the divorce was granted
several years ago. The children are
Frank Addison Brastow, Sd, and Jerome
Durean Brastow.
Married Again in 1928.
She married MIR. Converse September
IS, 1928, in the First Presbyterian
Church, New York City. He had been
married twice before.
Besides her mother and brother she
Is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Arthur
Brown and Mrs. Roland A. Waddin both
Of Washington.
Drage was a son Of Col and Mrs.
Frank Drage of Kansas City. Col.
Drage came to this country from Eng
land several years ago.