JACK BAKER INSTANTLY KILLED
"Jack" Baker, well-known Bingen young man, was instantly killed at
about 5:30 Monday afternoon when his car ran off a twenty-five foot grade on
the highway east of Lyle.
The cause of the tragedy was a tire blowout. Mr. Baker was returning
from a trip to Yakima and was driving alone in a comparatively new
Studebaker that he used for taxi purposes.
It so happens that we (the writer of this - Michaelson) was returning
from Goldendale and chanced to be at the scene of the tragedy within a few
minutes after Mr. Baker had been killed. Apparently his car had been
overturned, perhaps several times, and he was caught to thereunder. At the
time we arrived at the scene Mr. Baker had been extracted from beneath the
car and his pathetic body was resting face downward. Truly he - a few
moments before a sturdy young American with brimming health - appeared not
unlike a tired child asleep.
Study of the pavement at the point where the car ran off the grade
indicated that Jack must have been driving with considerable speed which, it
is currently said, was characteristic of him when alone and on a clear
highway. In several places of the highway gravel had been torn, indicated
that he had set his brake. The tracks "wabbled" down the highway and then on
to the point where the car hurled over the grade. The car was badly wrecked.
The highway where the tragedy occurred is approximately straight and
downgrade. All of which is another reminder of that, according to
statistics, a straight, down-grade highway that invites excessive speed is
the most dangerous of all.
Jack Baker is said to have been 28 years of age and he had been living
at Bingen during the past seven years or more. He came to this community
from Arizona.
Mr. Baker's relatives were notified. His sister, Mrs. Gene Tisdail,
Delano, Calif., and his mother, Mrs. O.B. Bailey, McF___, Calif. arrived in
Bingen on Wednesday.
Other relatives are: his father, J.W. Baker, Sweet Grass, Montana, and
a brother, Roy Baker of the New Deal, Montana.
Funeral services will be held at the Bingen church this Friday
afternoon at two o'clock. Burial will be made in the White Salmon cemetery.
Mr. Baker will be remembered by his acquaintances as a most worthy
young man, and those who knew him intimately will recall that he was
unusually keen of mind. Truly it would be seem, Mr. Baker had much to live
for.
The Enterprise, White Salmon, WA., July 21, 1939, page 1
BINGEN TAXI DRIVER KILLED IN AUTO ACCIDENT
Jack Baker, Bingen taxi driver, was killed instantly Monday
afternoon near Smithville, 7˝ mies east of Lyle, at about 5:00 p.m. when a
tire on the rear of his car blew out while he was traveling at an estimated
70 miles an hour, by officials.
Baker was traveling from Yakima where he had taken four young people
who had wrecked their car at 12:30 a.m. Monday morning when they hit the
parked car of Miss Mary Ellen Aitken. Lights on the Aitken car had blinded
the Yakima car driven by Gordon Bender, 24. Three other occupants of the
Bender car were unhurt when it rolled down the 40-foot bank. Mrs. Doris
Chenaur, riding with Miss Aitken was unhurt. The Yakima young people besides
Bender were Elaine Thomson, Rudy Opp and Lewis Miller.
Both of the accidents occurred near Smithville. Baker's just 7˝ miles
east of Lyle and the Bender-Aitken crash 8˝ miles east of Lyle.
Miss Aitken was parked off the road and was cleared of all blame for
the Bender collision.
Baker's car had been braked for 150 feet and then tracks showed he had
let go of the brakes as the car swerved from one side of the road to the
other. The car threw him out and then rolled onto him. He was found in a
sitting position with his knees against his chest.
The Mt. Adams Sun, Bingen, WA., July 28, 1939, page 1
NEIGHBORS PAY FINAL TRIBUTE TO MR. BAKER
The fact that the business houses of Binge closed Friday during the funeral
hour set apart in honor of Jack Baker was a fitting tribute to the esteem in
which the young man, who lost his life in a car wreck, was held by his
neighbors hereabouts with whom he had has been associated a number of years.
The mother and sister of Mr. Baker, who came from
California to be present at the funeral, expressed to the representative of
The Sun deep gratitude for the consideration paid to their departed son and
brother -- and to them.
It will be recalled that the young Mr. Baker had been
“on his own” quite a number of years while hereabouts. He mingled with all
classes and, being without family responsibilities, was subjected to no
unusual restraints. But, on account on his record, he earned the well
grounded respect of his associates as evidenced by the homage paid him when
he came to an untimely end. No doubt his people will long retained this
fact in cherished memory.
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© Jeffrey L. Elmer