Evening star., 1941-12-25
Christmas Eve
Accidents Take
-Four Lives
.. Girl, 5, Crushed
To Death as Car
CoIIides With Truck

-Four persons were killed in
Christmas eve traffic accidents In
and near Washington. One of them
5-year -old Diane Marie Holt, 1916
Bay street Sc, was crushed to death
when the automobile in which she
was riding with her mother ant!
other members Of the family on a
last-minute shopping tour collidcd
with a truck at Fifteenth and D
streets NE.
Her death raised the 194l traf-
flc toll to SO.
John Spinks, 25, of 9O4 Fifth street
NE, was killed, Fairfay County
police said, when an automobile he
was driving left the road about
miles north of Tysons CT~ner, Va,
and crashed into an embankment.
Pvt. Leroy Nicely, %, colored, sta
toned at Fort Belvoir, Va, was pro-
nounced dead at Alexandria Hos
pital last night of injuries received
in an accident four miles south of
Alexandria on U. S. Route l.
Andrew Crawford, 38, colored, OF
40l8 Defense highway, Bladensburg,
Md. Mr. Crawford was pronounced
dead at Casualty Hospital shortly
after 7 pm, where he was taken
by the Bladensburg Rescue Squad
after an accident on the Washing
ton Baltimore boulevard in Bladens-
burg.
Mother Was Driving.
Mrs. George Holt was driving the
car in the accident fatal to her
daughter. Her husband, employed
IN the mail room of the Washington
Times Herald, was at work when
notified of the tragedy. He said his
wife had just bought a Christmas
tree and was on her way to get some
ice to put in the ice box with the
turkey and other Christmas dinner
delicacies.
The other three Holt children,
Marlene, 7; Shirley, 6, and George,
4, and a cousin. Catherine Mudd,
13, also were in the car. Mrs. Holt
and Catherine Mudd were slightly
Car Hurled Into Post.
The impact hurled the Holt car
toward the northeast corner and
into lamp post. Apparently, Diane
was crushed between the vehicle and
the post when she fell from the
automobile.
Driver of the truck, according to
police, was Robert Russell, colored.
Of 66 Pierce street NV. He was
ordered held for the action of the
coroner.
Fairfax police said the accident
that caused Mr.. Spinks' death oc-
CURED on straight stretch of road.
Riding with Mr.. Spinks was Francis
Shipman, 25, of AIS P street NV,
who was brought to emergency
Hospital with severe lacerations and
possible skull fracture. Both are
employed by the Maloney Concrete
Co. here.
Mr.. Spinks was recently married.
Mr.. Shipman's mother said she
thought the two were driving to
Leesburg, Va, to get a Christmas
tree.
Two Seriously Hurt.
Two other persons were seriously
hurt in traffic accidents in nearby
Maryland last night and early today.
Miss Harriet E. Stull, 64, of Silver
Spring, Md, received a broken leg
In head-on collision near that
town. She was admitted at Wash
ington Sanitarium.
Jones E. Jarrett, 2, of Indianhead.
Md, was admitted to Providence
Hospital with head and internal
injuries after an accident on Liv-
ingston road near Oxon Hill, Md.
injured. but doctors at Casualty
Hospital permitted them to return
home after treatment.
Police say the Holt car was going
north on Fifteenth street and COL
lided with a truck owned by the
Merchants Transfer and Storage Co.
proceeding east on D street at the
interSpctiop