Here is a 1948 Pontiac Silver Streak.
This horrific crash was a terrible shock to the college and the community.
I felt it personally, although I did not know any of the students in the crash. In June 1948, I graduated from high school and the first class of Paul Smith’s College graduated in May 1948.
I knew some of those guys in that class of 200, because the Hotel Alpine where I was working as a bellhop in 1946 was a dorm for some of them. More than 100 of those guys were World War II veterans and attending college on the GI bill. They were my heroes, and some became my friends. That style Pontiac was a big, powerful car with a straight eight engine. Plenty of room for three in the front (bench) seat and room for four in the back seat. My cousin Jack McKillip, in our teenage years, had pretty much unrestricted use of his dad’s identical 1946 Pontiac.
(Provided photo — Greg Gjerdingen/Wikimedia Commons)
“Two students from Paul Smith’s College were critically injured and five others badly hurt at 1:30 o’clock this morning when their automobile rammed into the engine of a northbound freight train extra at the Lake Clear Junction railroad crossing on the main highway, Route 86.
“According to the engineer the freight was proceeding slowly over the crossing having just pulled out of the Lake Clear station en route to Saranac Lake. The car, carrying the seven students, was proceeding from Saranac Lake toward the college and crashed into the middle of the engine.
“So great was the force of the collision that the automobile, a 1948 Pontiac coupe, was jammed together ‘like an accordion,’ the conductor reported. Conductor White, from Utica, jumped from the train while other crewmen ran for help.
“The injured were extricated from the car’s interior and laid out along the road sides until the arrival of a doctor and ambulance. The car was all but demolished as the crash sent the engine into the front seat and jammed the front and rear seats together. The body was a tangled mass of steel.
“The injured were entangled with the interior and rescuers had a difficult time to extricate them from the wreckage. Three of the most seriously hurt were brought to the hospital by ambulance and the others taken in taxis and a station wagon.
“Most seriously injured and in ‘very critical condition’ today is John Samuel Peterson, 18, of Chateaugay. He suffered a fractured skull, possible fractured jaw, lacerations of the skull, avulsion of the left ear and internal injuries.
“Also listed in critical condition is John Warren Miller, 21, of Schenectady. He sustained head injuries, lacerations of the scalp, a fractured jaw and injuries to the right knee.
“The car was the property of Dorothy C. Hopkins of Canandaigua. It had been borrowed by Richard Leonard Strassmann, 22, of Rochester, who was operating it at the time of the crash. He suffered lacerations of the head, chin and hip.
“Other occupants of the car were Gordon Harvey Cooper, 19, of Rochester, Jean Clair Coots, 18, of Canandaigua, Halcyon Elizabeth Hopkins, 16, of Canandaigua and Joyce Tamion of Geneva.
“Cooper sustained lacerations of the hip and left finger; Miss Coots had lacerations of the right cheek and shock; Miss Hopkins suffered a brain concussion and multiple bruises while Miss Tamion had lacerations of the left eye and leg. Their condition was listed as ‘fair’ this morning at the hospital.
“The freight engineer was Walter Houser, of Tupper Lake, who assisted in rescuing the injured. None of the train crewmen were injured. State police investigated the crash.
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Placid Hospital Drive
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“Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cutler and Miss Elizabeth Cutler, by a subscription of $15,000, have established a living memorial to Frank E. Cutler, the brother of Mr. Cutler and Miss Cutler, in the new Placid memorial hospital for which a$400,000 building is being assembled.
“This was announced by Mrs. Raymond C. Prime, chairman of the memorial gifts committee of the fund, who added that this subscription has brought the total obtained so far to $328,867. The contribution will build and equip the staff lounge on the first floor of Lake Placid’s new voluntary hospital.
“In announcing the memorial, Mrs. Prime said: ‘The staff lounge will play a most important part in the service of our new voluntary hospital to the residents of the area. It will be directly connected with the operating suite, as well as with the main corridor of the hospital, and thus may be used for informal conferences and staff meetings.”’
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Gabriels Grange has big night
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“Members of the Brighton and Harrietstown Grange observed silver anniversary night in conjunction with a booster night program at the recent meeting in the Grange Hall.
“Thomas McDonald, master, opened the meeting followed by Mrs. Eunice McDonald, lecturer, who directed the program. After singing of ‘America’, a booster night message from the State master was read by Mr. McDonald.
“J. Frank Stevens, county 4-H club agent, gave a short talk on the work of the 4-H clubs in this area. These clubs were well represented at the meeting and several members gave summaries of their various activities.
“Those giving reports and demonstrations, were Ruth Ann Oliver, Kenneth Wright, Joseph Bova, Richard Pillow, Marion Patnode, Elizabeth Buckley, Irene Darling and Leah Swinyer.
“The silver anniversary part of the meeting opened with the singing of ‘I’m a Granger.’ Mr. McDonald presented silver certificates to the following:
“Mrs. Clara Carley, Mr. and Mrs. George Carley, Sr., Mrs. Mattie Colon, Miss Geraldine Drew, Mrs. Charles Gleisner, Mrs. Maude McDonald, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Donnelly and Mrs. Pearl Sargent.
“Tokens of 44 years of Grange work were presented to J.J. Fitzgerald and Arthur Leavitt.”
