- THE TIMES TRAVELLER by BARNEY MOORHOUSE For Reproduction Rights call Access 1.800.893.5777
FLASHBACK – 937. December 1953
Readers may recall this item.
CAR CLIMBED BRIDGE GIRDER THEN FELL 18 FEET TO FLOOR
“I guess we are lucky to be alive,” was the comment by Thomas Elliott, 30, of Highland Grove, owner and driver of a dynamite-laden car which Tuesday afternoon, Dec.22, plowed into Keller’s Bridge on Highway 62 north of Madoc, caught fire and then exploded.
Four other men in the car, William Rowley, Alphonse Hogan, Wm. Ayotte and Emerson Lewis, were pulled from the wrecked car before the dynamite detonated and were safely away before the blast.
Two of the men, W. Rowley and William Ayotte are in Bancroft hospital, Rowley with internal and other injuries and Ayotte with a broken cheek bone and facial laceration. Hogan suffered a sprained back and the other two men received facial cuts.
Going Home From Madoc
The five men, employees of a mining company, had been to Madoc to do some Christmas shopping and Mr. Elliott had purchased the case of dynamite for use in his mining operations.
On their way home during a dense fog as they approached the one-lane Keller’s Bridge, Elliott noticed an oncoming car and had to choose between hitting the car or striking the bridge. The car was moving at about 45 miles an hour the driver said.
“It was either a head-on collision with the approaching car, or hit the bridge.” Mr. Elliott said “I chose the bridge.”
The car ripped out seven guard rail posts at the approach of the bridge, climbed the slanting girder to the top of the bridge and then dropped on its top 18 feet to the floor of the bridge.
Occupants Dazed
All occupants of the car were dazed except the driver who started pulling the other men out of the car. Ronald Johnston, 17, assisted in getting the injured men out. Rowley, the most seriously injured of the men, was carried on the car cushion to a nearby store.
Spilled gasoline from the fuel tank of the wrecked car was responsible for the blaze which detonated the dynamite. The blast ripped a four-foot-hole in the concrete floor of the bridge and reduced the car to scrap metal.
Approximately 100 windows in six houses within 100 yards of the bridge were broken by the blast of dynamite.
Traffic over the bridge has been re-routed until the damage to the bridge is repaired. Barricades at both sides of the bridge were erected diverting through traffic. – The Ontario Intelligencer, Belleville
MORE TO THE STORY
Recently Layne Moore, of The Ridge, told me the Mac Wilson was present at the time of this incident and I had occasion to chat with Mac. Here’s what he recalls.
“I was returning from Madoc with a load of hay when the car in question passed me.” Apparently the driver had just picked up a new car that he had won. In addition to the case of dynamite and gifts they had also purchased some whiskey.
“Apparently the car that they met on the bridge was driven by a school teacher.”
Gas and oil from the collision spilled and the resulting fire engulfed the bridge.
Mac had parked well back from the bridge and was standing watching the fire when a couple of policemen came along wanting to know what had happened.
“I explained that there was a case of dynamite in the blaze,” said Wilson. One of the officers proceeded to say “not to worry” on the account he had seen a person break a stick in half and put a lighted match to it without a problem.
“No sooner had he finished saying that when the dynamite exploded. I felt like there wasn’t a bone in my body as I fell to the ground. The two policemen were on the ground, face down.”
As reported in the Intel only a blackened frame remained of the newly won car.
CANUCKIANA – Bear Repellent
Cathy Lee reminded me that Pharmacist Don Shaw’s black fly repellent, “Reel & Creel”, expounded the motto – “Have you ever seen a black fly on a black bear?” If memory serves it smelled like the dead bear I encountered while portaging in Temagami.