1958 — Feb 12, Auto (5) and bus collide headon on foggy highway 501 near Conway SC– 5

–5 AP. “5 Perish In Fog as Car Hits Bus.” The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. 2-12-1958, p. 1.
–5 Florence Morning News, SC. “Bus-Auto Collision Kills 5 Horry Men in Morning Fog.” 2-13-1958, 1.

Narrative Information

Feb 12, AP: “Conway, S.C. (AP) – An automobile and a bus collided headon on a foggy road three miles east of here today and the impact killed five men in the car. Horry County Coroner Littlejohn Blanton said that bus driver Julius M. Gainey of Myrtle Beach told him that the car, headed east, was attempting to pass another and rammed into and under the westbound Trailways bus. The bus ran onto the wide shoulder of highway 501 and turned on its die. Gainey was slightly shaken up. The only passenger, a…woman, was uninjured, the coroner said. The crash occurred on a straight stretch of level highway.

“Coroner listed the five dead men, all of whom lived in or near Conway, as James Louis Hughes, 20; Mack Brown, 34; Clem H. Hudson, 25; Kenneth H. Causey, 22, and Roy Edward Brown, 27, a nephew of Mack Brown. All of the men were en route to work at Myrtle Beach when the crash occurred about 7:24 a.m. Their 1951 Ford car was demolished as it jammed beneath the front of the bus.” (Associated Press. “5 Perish In Fog as Car Hits Bus.” The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. 2-12-1958, p. 1.)

Feb 12, Florence Morning News: “Conway, Feb. 12 – Five Horry County men – on their way to work in Myrtle Beach – were killed instantly near here this morning as their car smashed head-on not a bus on fog-shrouded Highway 501….Coroner Blanton said the fog was ‘unusually heavy’ and that his investigation showed that the auto was attempting to pass another car when the crash occurred…. ‘It was so foggy [the bus driver said] you couldn’t see over 15 feet. I had to cut the speed down to 35 miles pre hour. The fog got so heavy and I saw two objects side by side that were meeting me. One car was passing the other in the heavy fog…When I saw them I went for my breaks, but before I could get my foot on the brakes, the hit me head-on.’….” (Florence Morning News, SC. “Bus-Auto Collision Kills 5 Horry Men in Morning Fog.” 2-13-1958, p.1.)

Sources

Associated Press. “5 Perish In Fog as Car Hits Bus.” The Robesonian, Lumberton, NC. 2-12-1958, p. 1. Accessed 2-10-2023: https://newspaperarchive.com/lumberton-robesonian-feb-12-1958-p-2/

Florence Morning News, SC. “Bus-Auto Collision Kills 5 Horry Men in Morning Fog.” 2-13-1958, p.1. Accessed 2-16-2023 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/florence-morning-news-feb-13-1958-p-13/