1954 — June 7, Cars collide head-on, Rt. 416 (MD 4) Lyons Creek, Calvert County, MD–10

–10  AP. “10 Killed Headon 2-Car Crash…Curve…Hilltop.” News, Frederick MD, 6-7-1954, p1.

–10  Evening Capital, Annapolis, MD. “Crash among worst ever in state.” 4-25-1979, p. 10.

 

Narrative Information

 

June 7: “Owings, Md., (AP) Eight men and two women died in a flaming head-on auto collision near Lyons Creek early today when one of the cars approached a curve on the crest of a hill in the wrong lane of traffic. One of the cars, a convertible, was in ‘full blaze’ when Thomas Eozzolo, assistant chief of the North Beach volunteer fire department, arrived on the scene. The automobiles were so mangled it was difficult at first to determine in which direction either one had been traveling. All but one of the passengers in the two cars were thrown from the wreckage. The other died in the burning convertible. There were no survivors.

 

“Police said the vehicle driven by Robert E. Abell, 24, Silber Spring, Md., was in the wrong lane of traffic on Maryland Route 416 [today’s MD 4][1] and caused the crash. The driver of the other car was Clarence M. Thomas, 34, Olivet, Md.

 

“Other victims in Abell’s car, were identified by police as John P. Schweinhout, 24, Robert Lee Schweinhout, 20, Milton E. Stottlmyer, 20, all of Silver Spring, and an unidentified boy about 19.

 

“Victims in the other car, beside Thomas, included Earl S. McCreagy, 24, and Mrs. Benjamin Thomas, 55, both of Olivet, and Norman T. Carey and Helen P. Carey, 25, both of Baltimore.

 

“The crash occurred on Maryland Route 416 in Calvert County, just south of the Anne Arundel County border….The bodies of all the victims were taken to an Owings funeral home.” (AP. “10 Killed Head-On 2-Car Crash On Curve At Hilltop.” The News, Frederick, MD, 6-7-1954, p. 1.)

 

1979, Evening Capital, Annapolis: “….The record for the most fatalities in a single crash…was set on June 7, 1954 when 10 people died in a two-car collision in Calvert County, according to State Police Lt. Meryl I. Morgan with the Central Accident Records Division in Pikesville.” (Evening Capital (Fran Krzywicki), Annapolis, MD. “Crash among worst ever in state.” 4-25-1979, p. 10.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “10 Killed Head-On 2-Car Crash On Curve At Hilltop.” The News, Frederick, MD, 6-7-1954, p. 1. Accessed 7-23-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/news-jun-07-1954-p-1/?tag

 

Evening Capital (Fran Krzywicki), Annapolis, MD. “Crash among worst ever in state.” 4-25-1979, p. 10. Accessed 7-23-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/annapolis-capital-apr-25-1979-p-10/?tag

 

[1] “In the 1960s, MD 4 took over MD 416 (Southern Maryland Boulevard southeast of Sunderland and joined MD 2 all the way to Solomons.” (Wikipedia. Maryland Route 4. Accessed 7-23-2017.)