Bizarre Crashes
Kill 3 in Nicholas
A grotesque sequence of wrecks killed three Nicholas Countians at midnight Saturday.
First, a head-on collision killed one person and injured four others.
Then a passerby came upon the wreck and rushed away to call an ambulance, after which another witness loaded two of the injured into his pickup truck and started to drive them to a hospital.
As the first witness started to return to the wreck scene, his car collided head-on with the truck bearing the injured. Both drivers were killed and the original victims were hurt more. (As a further irony, the wife of one of the killed drivers accidentally shot herself to death only last month as she tried to kill a snake in her lawn.)
State Police Cpl. C.C. Lively and Trooper B.E. Kirtley said the two wrecks happened on W. Va. 39 at Little Elk Mountain near Swiss, Nicholas County.
THE FIRST CRASH happened about 11:20 p.m., Cpl. Lively said. A car driven by Bill Richard Rader, 29, of Lockwood, Nicholas County, collided with another driven by Darrell Kenneth Carpenter, 28, of Drennen, Nicholas County.
Rader was alone in his car. Carpenter was accompanied by his brother, Rayne Delmas Carpenter, 22, also of Drennen; the brother's wife, Wanda Lee, 17; and Ernest Paul Friend, 20, of Gasport, N.Y.
Rayne Delmas Carpenter was killed outright. Rader suffered critical head injuries. The other three were less seriously injured.
Next, the police said, John William Holbert, 57, of Lockwood, saw the wreck and drove away to call an ambulance.
MEANWHILE, another witness, Thurman Chilton Cantrell, 49, of Swiss, lifted Friend and the elder Carpenter into his pickup truck and started to drive them to Laird Memorial Hospital at Montgomery.
A mile down the road, at 12:10 a.m., the pickup truck collided with Holbert's car as the latter was returning after calling for help.
Holbert was killed outright. Cantrell died shortly afterward in an ambulance en route to Laird Hospital. Friend and Carpenter suffered further injuries.
Ambulances finally took all the injured to Laird Hospital, where Rader was listed in critical condition with severe head injuries and a broken right arm. The other three listed in satisfactory condition, although Friend had a broken right arm, Carpenter has a broken left knee, and all had facial injuries.
SERVICE and burial arrangements were made Sunday for each of the three dead victims.
YOUNG Carpenter was a timberman.
Surviving besides his widow, and brother are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Carpenter of Drennen; five other brothers, Wendell of Webster Springs, Junior of Drennen, Harley of Akron, Ohio, Dewey of Gasport, N.Y., and Genis of Swiss; a sister, Mrs. Geneva Friend of Gasport.
Service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Carpenter of Drennen, with the Rev. Cecil Preast officiating. Burial will be in Poplar Ridge Cemetery near Sutton.
The body will be taken from Combs Funeral Home at Gauley Bridge to the home of his parents at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
-Charleston Gazette, Charleston, WV, Monday, October 26, 1964, p. 1, 15
parents: Oscar Carpenter and Rosie Knight
spouse: Wanda Lee Miller
Kill 3 in Nicholas
A grotesque sequence of wrecks killed three Nicholas Countians at midnight Saturday.
First, a head-on collision killed one person and injured four others.
Then a passerby came upon the wreck and rushed away to call an ambulance, after which another witness loaded two of the injured into his pickup truck and started to drive them to a hospital.
As the first witness started to return to the wreck scene, his car collided head-on with the truck bearing the injured. Both drivers were killed and the original victims were hurt more. (As a further irony, the wife of one of the killed drivers accidentally shot herself to death only last month as she tried to kill a snake in her lawn.)
State Police Cpl. C.C. Lively and Trooper B.E. Kirtley said the two wrecks happened on W. Va. 39 at Little Elk Mountain near Swiss, Nicholas County.
THE FIRST CRASH happened about 11:20 p.m., Cpl. Lively said. A car driven by Bill Richard Rader, 29, of Lockwood, Nicholas County, collided with another driven by Darrell Kenneth Carpenter, 28, of Drennen, Nicholas County.
Rader was alone in his car. Carpenter was accompanied by his brother, Rayne Delmas Carpenter, 22, also of Drennen; the brother's wife, Wanda Lee, 17; and Ernest Paul Friend, 20, of Gasport, N.Y.
Rayne Delmas Carpenter was killed outright. Rader suffered critical head injuries. The other three were less seriously injured.
Next, the police said, John William Holbert, 57, of Lockwood, saw the wreck and drove away to call an ambulance.
MEANWHILE, another witness, Thurman Chilton Cantrell, 49, of Swiss, lifted Friend and the elder Carpenter into his pickup truck and started to drive them to Laird Memorial Hospital at Montgomery.
A mile down the road, at 12:10 a.m., the pickup truck collided with Holbert's car as the latter was returning after calling for help.
Holbert was killed outright. Cantrell died shortly afterward in an ambulance en route to Laird Hospital. Friend and Carpenter suffered further injuries.
Ambulances finally took all the injured to Laird Hospital, where Rader was listed in critical condition with severe head injuries and a broken right arm. The other three listed in satisfactory condition, although Friend had a broken right arm, Carpenter has a broken left knee, and all had facial injuries.
SERVICE and burial arrangements were made Sunday for each of the three dead victims.
YOUNG Carpenter was a timberman.
Surviving besides his widow, and brother are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Carpenter of Drennen; five other brothers, Wendell of Webster Springs, Junior of Drennen, Harley of Akron, Ohio, Dewey of Gasport, N.Y., and Genis of Swiss; a sister, Mrs. Geneva Friend of Gasport.
Service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Carpenter of Drennen, with the Rev. Cecil Preast officiating. Burial will be in Poplar Ridge Cemetery near Sutton.
The body will be taken from Combs Funeral Home at Gauley Bridge to the home of his parents at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
-Charleston Gazette, Charleston, WV, Monday, October 26, 1964, p. 1, 15
parents: Oscar Carpenter and Rosie Knight
spouse: Wanda Lee Miller
Bizarre Crashes
Kill 3 in Nicholas
A grotesque sequence of wrecks killed three Nicholas Countians at midnight Saturday.
First, a head-on collision killed one person and injured four others.
Then a passerby came upon the wreck and rushed away to call an ambulance, after which another witness loaded two of the injured into his pickup truck and started to drive them to a hospital.
As the first witness started to return to the wreck scene, his car collided head-on with the truck bearing the injured. Both drivers were killed and the original victims were hurt more. (As a further irony, the wife of one of the killed drivers accidentally shot herself to death only last month as she tried to kill a snake in her lawn.)
State Police Cpl. C.C. Lively and Trooper B.E. Kirtley said the two wrecks happened on W. Va. 39 at Little Elk Mountain near Swiss, Nicholas County.
THE FIRST CRASH happened about 11:20 p.m., Cpl. Lively said. A car driven by Bill Richard Rader, 29, of Lockwood, Nicholas County, collided with another driven by Darrell Kenneth Carpenter, 28, of Drennen, Nicholas County.
Rader was alone in his car. Carpenter was accompanied by his brother, Rayne Delmas Carpenter, 22, also of Drennen; the brother's wife, Wanda Lee, 17; and Ernest Paul Friend, 20, of Gasport, N.Y.
Rayne Delmas Carpenter was killed outright. Rader suffered critical head injuries. The other three were less seriously injured.
Next, the police said, John William Holbert, 57, of Lockwood, saw the wreck and drove away to call an ambulance.
MEANWHILE, another witness, Thurman Chilton Cantrell, 49, of Swiss, lifted Friend and the elder Carpenter into his pickup truck and started to drive them to Laird Memorial Hospital at Montgomery.
A mile down the road, at 12:10 a.m., the pickup truck collided with Holbert's car as the latter was returning after calling for help.
Holbert was killed outright. Cantrell died shortly afterward in an ambulance en route to Laird Hospital. Friend and Carpenter suffered further injuries.
Ambulances finally took all the injured to Laird Hospital, where Rader was listed in critical condition with severe head injuries and a broken right arm. The other three listed in satisfactory condition, although Friend had a broken right arm, Carpenter has a broken left knee, and all had facial injuries.
SERVICE and burial arrangements were made Sunday for each of the three dead victims.
YOUNG Carpenter was a timberman.
Surviving besides his widow, and brother are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Carpenter of Drennen; five other brothers, Wendell of Webster Springs, Junior of Drennen, Harley of Akron, Ohio, Dewey of Gasport, N.Y., and Genis of Swiss; a sister, Mrs. Geneva Friend of Gasport.
Service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Carpenter of Drennen, with the Rev. Cecil Preast officiating. Burial will be in Poplar Ridge Cemetery near Sutton.
The body will be taken from Combs Funeral Home at Gauley Bridge to the home of his parents at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
-Charleston Gazette, Charleston, WV, Monday, October 26, 1964, p. 1, 15
parents: Oscar Carpenter and Rosie Knight
spouse: Wanda Lee Miller
Kill 3 in Nicholas
A grotesque sequence of wrecks killed three Nicholas Countians at midnight Saturday.
First, a head-on collision killed one person and injured four others.
Then a passerby came upon the wreck and rushed away to call an ambulance, after which another witness loaded two of the injured into his pickup truck and started to drive them to a hospital.
As the first witness started to return to the wreck scene, his car collided head-on with the truck bearing the injured. Both drivers were killed and the original victims were hurt more. (As a further irony, the wife of one of the killed drivers accidentally shot herself to death only last month as she tried to kill a snake in her lawn.)
State Police Cpl. C.C. Lively and Trooper B.E. Kirtley said the two wrecks happened on W. Va. 39 at Little Elk Mountain near Swiss, Nicholas County.
THE FIRST CRASH happened about 11:20 p.m., Cpl. Lively said. A car driven by Bill Richard Rader, 29, of Lockwood, Nicholas County, collided with another driven by Darrell Kenneth Carpenter, 28, of Drennen, Nicholas County.
Rader was alone in his car. Carpenter was accompanied by his brother, Rayne Delmas Carpenter, 22, also of Drennen; the brother's wife, Wanda Lee, 17; and Ernest Paul Friend, 20, of Gasport, N.Y.
Rayne Delmas Carpenter was killed outright. Rader suffered critical head injuries. The other three were less seriously injured.
Next, the police said, John William Holbert, 57, of Lockwood, saw the wreck and drove away to call an ambulance.
MEANWHILE, another witness, Thurman Chilton Cantrell, 49, of Swiss, lifted Friend and the elder Carpenter into his pickup truck and started to drive them to Laird Memorial Hospital at Montgomery.
A mile down the road, at 12:10 a.m., the pickup truck collided with Holbert's car as the latter was returning after calling for help.
Holbert was killed outright. Cantrell died shortly afterward in an ambulance en route to Laird Hospital. Friend and Carpenter suffered further injuries.
Ambulances finally took all the injured to Laird Hospital, where Rader was listed in critical condition with severe head injuries and a broken right arm. The other three listed in satisfactory condition, although Friend had a broken right arm, Carpenter has a broken left knee, and all had facial injuries.
SERVICE and burial arrangements were made Sunday for each of the three dead victims.
YOUNG Carpenter was a timberman.
Surviving besides his widow, and brother are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Carpenter of Drennen; five other brothers, Wendell of Webster Springs, Junior of Drennen, Harley of Akron, Ohio, Dewey of Gasport, N.Y., and Genis of Swiss; a sister, Mrs. Geneva Friend of Gasport.
Service will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Carpenter of Drennen, with the Rev. Cecil Preast officiating. Burial will be in Poplar Ridge Cemetery near Sutton.
The body will be taken from Combs Funeral Home at Gauley Bridge to the home of his parents at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
-Charleston Gazette, Charleston, WV, Monday, October 26, 1964, p. 1, 15
parents: Oscar Carpenter and Rosie Knight
spouse: Wanda Lee Miller
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