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Another fatal accident occurred late Sunday afternoon on the Dean Hill, south of the Saline River on the Hays/Plainville sector of State Highway No 1. John Drawbridge of Alma, Nebraska, was thrown from a runaway truck and died a few hours later at the Protestant Hospital in Hays. J. F. Baker and wife, Mrs. Coe, the mother of Mrs. Baker, and Mr. Drawbridge, a brother of Mrs. Coe, were returning from a visit at the Cecil Smith home in Hays in Baker’s Ford truck when the accident occurred. The exact cause of the runaway is not known. Near Dean Hill, the brakes on the truck seem to have failed. Possibly, the engine stalled. In a moment, the truck was beyond the driver’s control and dashing around the curves of the hill to almost certain destruction. In some matter, Mr. Drawbridge was thrown out of the truck’s rear. Whether he had prepared to leap to escape the inevitable crash or was thrown violently as the truck careened on the curve will never be known for Drawbridge died without regaining consciousness. Halfway down the hill, the wild race ended when a front wheel on the runaway truck collapsed, throwing the truck over and over and penning Mr. and Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Coe in the cab. After a time, Mrs. Baker managed to crawl out of the cab and, with the help of a tourist, released her husband and mother from the cab, raising the truck enough to permit them to be pulled from the wreckage. An ambulancewascalled,and all were taken to Hays. Mr. Drawbridge’s’ head was found to be badly cut with a possible fractured skull, and his chest was crushed. Mrs. Coe, who is 84 years old, received many cuts about the head and was seriously weakened by the loss of blood. Her condition is still considered so critical that she has not been told of the death of her only brother. Mr. Baker was severely bruised, and Mrs. Baker had a severe injury to an arm. However, both are recovering as rapidly as could be expected. The State Highway Commission has recently surveyed for a new location for State Highway No. 1. The maintenance condition of the hill has been unsatisfactory for more than a year, with deep ditches at the inside of the curves and loose rocks at the end of the roadway. It is to be hoped that this death trap will be eliminated before it causes the death of another citizen.
