Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 11-29-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–14 AP. “Identify Last of Victims of Hopewell Bus Tragedy.” The Bee, Danville, VA. 12-23-1935, 1
–14 Assoc. Press. “Probe Death of 14 in Bus Plunge,” The Bee, Danville, VA. 12-23-1935, p. 1.
–14 UP. “14 Drown As Bus Crashes Through Open Drawbridge.” Dubois Courier, PA. 12-23-1935, p.1
Narrative Information
Dec 22, UP: “Hopewell, Va., Dec. 22. 22 – (UP) – Fourteen persons died when a Greyhound bus hurtled through an open draw-bridge, police said late tonight after all bodies had been recovered. One by one the bodies were hoisted in baskets up to the bridge from which the abus plunged early today after smashing through a wooden gate guarding the draw. The bus was on a barge below the bridge….” (United Press. “14 Drown As Bus Crashes Through Open Drawbridge.” Dubois Courier, PA. 12-23-1935, p.1.)
Dec 23. AP. “Probe Death of 14 in Bus Plunge,” The Bee, Danville, VA. 12-23-1935, p. 1:
“HOPEWELL, Va., Dec. 23. – (AP) – An inquest was ordered for Thursday in the deaths of fourteen persons who lost their lives in the plunge of a bus through an open drawbridge into the Appomattox river yesterday….
“A sixth body, meanwhile, was tentatively identified as Mrs. T. H. Fairfax, of…Superior, Wis…. Five others of those who died in the river’s icy water were identified before daybreak today as Virginians and North Carolinians.
“Mayor D. L. Elder and Commonwealth’s Attorney John Goodman agreed this morning that the inquest would be a mere ‘formality’ in the full investigation as to why the Atlantic Greyhound bus smashed through a safety rail and into the draw which had been opened for a tug and barge. ‘All we can do is to say they are dead, sign the death certificates and say it was an accident,’ Mayor Elder declared.
“An autopsy at 11 o’clock on the body of the driver, L. G. Alford, 38, of Five Points, N. C. was expected to shed light on the moot question of whether he was conscious at the time of the accident. Mayor Elder said the fact that the brakes were set on the bus indicated he was conscious, but D. D. McAfee, district superintendent for the bus lines at Raleigh, said: ‘I can’t believe the boy was alive when the bus went over.’ McAfee said the driver had been employed six years and had had five years prior experience, his whole record being excellent….
“Commonwealth’s Attorney Goodman said he believed the driver was either asleep or not watching the road ahead. He said skid marks appeared to extend back only 18 feet from the open draw span….
“Lacy McNair, bridge tender, did not think the bus showed any sign of slowing up in the brief instant he saw it before the fatal plunge. He said he did not hear the brakes screeching.
“H. Lester Hooker, of the Virginia Corporation Commission, investigated the accident in person and said he was told by witnesses that the bus approached the draw at less than 22 miles an hour. He said icy pavements might have been responsible.
“The identified dead were announced as follows:
Mrs. Anne W. Duncan, Pittsboro, N.C.
- G. Alford, 38, Five Points, N.C.
Mrs. J. W. Massey, Hopewell.
Captain John B. Belch, Hopewell.
Mrs. Ruby Matthews, of Richmond.
“The body of one woman was identified as Mrs. John Cizler 22, of Clarendon, Va., but it was learned later that Mrs. Cizler was not a passenger on the bus.
“Police found four other names from belongings, which they said served as tentative identifications. These names were:
Miss Lillian Fairfax, with the same address as that of Mrs. T. H. Fairfax, of Superior, Wis.
Alma Parkham, 363 W. 119th street, New York.
Gertrude Fisher, of McKenney, Va., a package evidently in the possession of Miss Fisher
bore the name, Elizabeth Fisher.
“Although eight remained unidentified, baggage was found on the bus bearing names of Mrs. Gertrude and Elizabeth Fisher of McKenney, Va., with either Miss or Mrs. Andrews, of Pittsboro, N.C.
“Of the unidentified dead four were white women one a white man and two negro women.
“The bus was raised from the water more than twelve hours after Captain Lacy McNair, the bridge tender, heard it crash through the guard rail and saw it hurtle twenty feet into the river channel with its screaming cargo.
“Men worked with ice coated ropes in a snowstorm which became a blizzard with low temperature while Salvation Army lassies and Red Cross nurses served them with hot coffee and soup. ‘It’s the worst thing I ever saw – bodies were tumbled in with baggage and chairs were torn loose from the floor,’ said Bill Henderson, Hopewell policeman, after inspecting the bus….
“The bus hurtled down the 200-yard approach to the drawspan at 8:55 yesterday morning. Captain McNair, standing on the open pivot span looking down stream as a tug and its barge tow started through heard the bus crash through the guard rail. ‘It was a half minute I will never forget as long as I live’ he said. ‘I will always remember those screams and cries of women and children on the bus as it hung on the edge of the bridge before the final plunge to the icy waters of the river.’ The bridge tender was standing approximately 30 feet from the point where the bus plunged nose first into the water, trembled a minute and submerged amid bubbles of air.
“Captain Belch was thrown through the windshield and after what Captain McNair thought was an effort to swim, was picked up by Captain Ben Alexander of the tug Stanley and his helper, James Gromsley. The captain said he did not believe Belch was dead when first pulled from the water.
“The water was between 25 and 30 feet deep where the bus sunk….
“Larkin Glazebrook, investigator of the state motor vehicle division, shortly after the accident occurred, expressed the opinion the brakes on the bus were frozen and the driver was unable to stop.
“The drawbridge had been opened to allow a tug and barge to pass. McNair said he was looking down the river when he heard the bus crash through the guard gate ten feet from the edge of the drawbridge….’I saw the bus just as it was crashing through the barrier. The driver never seemed to slacken his speed and the bus continued to the lip of the draw. Here it slackened for a few moments as the rear undercarriage caught on the end of the bridge. Its nose was pointed toward the water. People – at least a dozen, but it looked like more to me, were tumbling in a heap to the front of the bus. Several were thrown against the windshield and those in the rear piled on top of them. Women, children and even men were screaming – I could hear them plainly….I could see the white top of the bus floating above the surface, for I guess fully 15 seconds and then the huge machine slowly disappeared into the muddy water….”
Dec 24, AP: “HOPEWELL, Va., Dec. 24. – (AP) – Virginia’s worst bus accident – the drowning of a driver and his thirteen passengers in the Appomattox river here early Sunday morning – evolved into a Christmas tragedy today as complete identifications of the victims revealed that many were bound home for the holiday.
“The grim task of naming the last unknown body hinged on a sodden Christmas card across which was written ‘Miss Laura Davis,’ and the signature ‘J. Jones.’ From that, and a recognition by L. E. Gunn, of Meredithsville, Va., the body of a young woman was tentatively identified as Laura ‘Haney’ Davis, of Meredithsville. Gunn said she often visited at Greensboro. A baggage check in the name of Laura Davis was for Greensboro.
“Also identified were the bodies of Miss Ruth Poetine [unclear] Goodwin, 21, of Route 2, Cary, N.C. A brother, Kermit Goodwin, said she was en route from New York to her home to spend Christmas. She will be buried there, probably tomorrow, he said.
“Another victim, Mrs. Alma Parham, of New York and Lumberton, N.C., was on her way there for a surprise Christmas visit to her eight-year-old son.
“One of the Richmond residents who died in the crash was Mrs. Ruby Mathews. She had been given a week’s vacation by her employers and was on her way to spend Christmas with her parents and three-year-old daughter at Durham, N.C. She also will be buried Christmas Day….
“In addition to Alford, Mrs. Parham, Miss Davis, Mrs. Matthews and Miss Goodwin, the death list includes: Mr. and Mrs. Martin E. Smith, Richmond; Mrs. Anne W. Duncan, Pittsboro, N.C.; Captain John Belch, Hopewell; Mrs. J. W. Massey, Hopewell; Mrs. T. H. Fairfax, Superior, Wis.’ Miss Lillian Elizabeth Fairfax, Superior, Wis., Elizabeth Fisher and Gertrude Fisher, negroes, McKenny, Va.” (Associated Press. “Identify Last of Victims of Hopewell Bus Tragedy.” The Bee, Danville, VA. 12-23-1935, p. 1.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Identify Last of Victims of Hopewell Bus Tragedy.” The Bee, Danville, VA. 12-23-1935, p. 1. Accessed 11-29-2024 at:
https://newspaperarchive.com/danville-bee-dec-24-1935-p-1/
Associated Press. “Probe Death of 14 in Bus Plunge,” The Bee, Danville, VA. 12-23-1935, pp. 1, 4. Accessed 11-28-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/danville-bee-dec-23-1935-p-1/
United Press. “14 Drown As Bus Crashes Through Open Drawbridge.” Dubois Courier, PA. 12-23-1935, p.1. Accessed 11-29-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/dubois-courier-dec-22-1935-p-1/