A bus from the early 30s.
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ALIQUIPPA, Dec. 23 - A mangled mass of painted steel lying along the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie railroad tracks and a mass of massive rocks, mud and shale which completely blocks Constitution Blvd., is mute evidence today of one of Beaver County's most tragic calamities.
Twenty-two persons were killed and four injured when a road side cliff collapsed over an Ohio River Motor Coach Company bus enroute from Aliquippa to Pittsburgh at 5:10 p.m. yesterday on the boulevard about one-half a mile from the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge and directly across from Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation's coke ovens.
The towering 600 foot cliff had been weakened by recent weather conditions. As the bus passed along the highway at its base, 200 tons of rock and dirt, including one boulder weighing approximately 60 tons, smashed down on the bus which was loaded with home-going steel workers and Christmas shoppers.
Except for a bit of the rear of the bus, the machine was at the bottom of a 10 to 12 foot heap of rubble. Volunteers with shovels were joined by police and air raid wardens, finally, by a mobile railroad crane. Because the bus was smashed almost flat, the rubble had to be entirely removed before all the bodies could be extricated.
The bus was turned around and pushed off the road by the avalanche and it and the rocks on top of it hung precariously over the 30 foot bank above the railroad tracks making the digging operations more difficult.
At the time of the rock avalanche, Earl Baeuerlein, driving The Daily Citizen car, enroute to Aliquippa to deliver papers, saw it start and hurriedly threw on the brakes. The car stopped at the edge of the rocks. He, with Raymond McNees and Robert Rosensteel, who were in the car, were the first at the scene of the accident on the Ambridge side.
They witnessed the escape of Joseph Manko, Pittsburgh, from the wreckage, who crawled out through a window of the rear end of the bus with the aid of several motorists from cars which were behind the ill fated vehicle, and saw seven men lift a boulder from the near railroad track. McNees and Rosensteel drove the car to Ambridge notifying the Ambridge police of the accident.
Baeuerlein remained to render all assistance possible and to aid in directing traffic until the arrival of the police.
Ambridge and Aliquippa firemen, police, J. & L. workers and volunteers worked heroically until long after midnight in the precarious task of removing and extricating the injured and the bodies of the dead from the wreckage. BODY REMOVED
The driver, Dymtro Karapan, Fair Oaks, was thrown partially through the door and his body was one of the first removed. It was crushed and mangled, police said. He is married and has a three year old daughter. According to reports he was working on his day off as a favor for one of the other operators.
Ben Watkins, Pittsburgh, the sixth person to be removed died in the office of Dr. H. M. Hemming, Ambridge, where he had been removed in J. J. O'Donnell's ambulance. His leg had been severed and his forehead was crushed. Rescuers had to climb a ladder to the bus to get him out and carry another ladder to the boulevard. He was semi-conscious and kept repeating, "Let me up; let me up; I want to get up."
Clyde (Doc) White, Glenfleld, one of the victims was well known throughout the valley for his promotions in sports. For the past three years he has been employed in the sports department of the Pittsburgh Mercantile Company but during the holiday season has been working in the toy department.
The survivors all escaped through the rear window. They were in addition to Manko, Helen Phillips, 22, Aliquippa; John McCarthy, Monaca.
Manko described the experiences of those inside the bus as follows:
"It was a terrific crash. It sounded just like somebody hit a wash tub with a sledge hammer. I was knocked out. When I came to, I saw light coming in a broken window (the rear window). I crawled out and somebody took me to a doctor."
He was taken to the Aliquippa police station by a fellow J. and L. worker where he was given first aid and sent home.
Manko and his friend, James Burger, who also worked in the metallurgic department, were riding together in the rear seat as was their custom. Burger died in Rochester General Hospital at 8 p.m. last night.
Miss Helen Phillips, an employee of the P.M. store, suffered fractures of both legs. Her condition is reported as "fair" by Rochester Hospital attaches today.
The condition of John McCarthy, Monaca, also in the hospital, was said to be "fair".
Robert Espey, South Heights, was injured while assisting in the removing of bodies from the wreckage last night and is in the Sewickley Valley Hospital with a fractured skull. Espey has a wooden leg and is employed at an Aliquippa service station.
Miss Martha L. Gearing, who was killed, was a traveling supervisor for the Federal Housing Authority in New York City but resides at her home in Pittsburgh due to the serious illness of her mother. She leaves two brothers in Army service and a sister.
The stories told by the men who were engaged on the rescue work were blood curdling. Bodies were severed and heads were crushed beyond recognition. The roof was caved in to the tops of the seats over all but the last two rows.
A mobile railroad crane operated for many hours and lifted the crushed roof in order to remove the last eight bodies.
Jones and Laughlin Corporation had a large section of its fence cut and removed so that the bodies could be carried to the emergency hospital.
The old road, discarded when the present boulevard was built, was opened in order to relieve the congestion which existed following the accident and before the police arrived to regulate the traffic.
The Red Cross carried on canteen service until 2:30 a.m. today. They served coffee and sandwiches to the workers. The Aliquippa side was taken care of by Jean Dowdell, field secretary; Robert Stout, chapter chairman; and two girls. On the Ambridge side Mrs. George Kelley was in charge, assisted by Mrs. Charles Sachs, Mrs. Harry Greenberger, Mrs. Charles E. Meinard and Mrs. Peter Milheim.