Show oregon tourist meets tragic death when car crashes into gulch east of densem that life ie is but an ephemeral existence and its subject to the whim of fate ie is once more accentuated by the tragic death ot of a young woman sunday night and the seme severe injury of her husband M mr and mr mrs william darris departed parted from their borne home in gresham oregon ten days ago en ea route to kansas where they intended to remain until this summers wheat bar har 1 vest seat had been gleaned mr dorris thirty nine years of age and his wife twenty four year years of age at denver were to meet ft A son it lf mr dorris by a former marriage who wag was to join the couple sunday evening mr and mrs dorris arrived in vernal remained a brief time purchased gasoline and vent ment on to travel bv car to their destination shortly after ten clock that even ig 1 R a message was mas received from jensen that ft a tragedy had occurred in cow gulch ft a deep ravine located on U 8 no 40 high highway ay miles east of vernal the message over the telephone from jensen stated that a woman moman had been killed and a man severely and that both were ere pinned under a car that had failed to negotiate a bridge spanning the gulch and was as lying on uie the bottom overturned after toppling down don the perpendicular bark of the gulch tai arty feet deep deputy sheriff swain sain and a ehst clan cian at 0 ce hurried to the scene found the man had been taken to the ho el at jeri jensen s en and surgical at aid was a administered there n from cm jens jensen en and vernal other others hurried to the scene of the tragedy th facts of the tragedy are as a follows mr and mrs dorris traveled in an open touring car loaded with clothing as well as other paraphernalia from jensen east this car CRT was followed at a distance of 0 less than a quarter of a mile by a car ac aupied by leasil french and franci francis douglass both of meeker colo and I 1 according to a statement made by mr french reither of the cars at any t me between jensen and cow gulch traveled faster than fifteen to twenty miles en on hour at 1 time times the meeker car lost sight of the tall tail light of the dorris car while cunes I 1 bere ere being negotiated but always the distance of less than a quarter mile was mai bained between the two to vi vt hides just before the bridge across cow gulch li Is reached a curve in the himli alt i boy ay has to be negotiated tnt meeker men did this crossed the bridge traveled about ado feet and when they reached a straight stretch they failed to notice any tall light lauhead ahead mr french remarked to mr douglass that it seemed impossible that the car ah 1 had outdistanced them in a y w minutes both men had noted the dangerous condition of the bridge the structure being an open affair without protecting wings on either end the meeker men turned around and drove back to the gulch climbed down the precipitous bank and found that a m man a n and a woman wire cre birned under the overturned car an examination disclosed that the woman oman was vias dead ond the man pinned in such a manner mariner that although alive he was utterly unable to ext extricate hilI self the meeker men attempted to right the car and release the file man and take from under it the corpse of the woman oman but unable to accomplish the task they rushed to J jensen e risen at top speed on the way b back ck they met another car occupied by two men and ind mr douglass returned with them to the scene of the tragedy while mr french drove n to jensen to telephone for an officer and a when assistance arrived from vernal and jeneen jensen at the scene of deahn the airee men had succeeded in partly righting the car and mr dorris had been taken to jensen the corpse of mrs dorris had been takei from under the car and carried to the top and then swathed in a blanket the still form was placed by the side of the highway where shere tt at rested in the chill desert ri light until the physician and oft off came several hours later to authorize its removal boval moval to vernal venial no nurse being available at jensen in the emergency C y deputy sheriff assisted the physician in alleviating the suffering of mr NIT dorris I 1 on their return to vernal the oi 01 aicer and the physician took with them the corpse of mrs dorris and paced p aced it in the undertakers rooms the following morning mr dorris was as ought ill to a hospital in vernal chere he Is reco recovering sering from his injuries it appears like me unto a miracle that life we remains in his body after tak taeng ng the fearful plunge into the gulch the botton ct of which Is thirty feet below belo the level of the floor of the highway where here it approaches pro aches the bridge examination 1 of the car shows it to be smashed to flinders and in the wreck reck nothing Is left of the vehicle worth salvaging interment took place in the vernal cemetery where ahr grave was dedicated by elder hobert robert horrocks under the direction of bishop jemes joines IL continued on page eight I 1 OREGON TOURIST MEETS TRAGIC 11 alif ai C in crabel CRAb lL INTO COU continued from page 1 wallis oi of the vernal nut first ward mr dorri dorris had recovered ruffic c aly to be taken by car to the undertakers undertaker 6 rooms lor tor a lat last view of his wife ife it was as ascertained that the father of mr mrs awris george ballenger resides at akamba iowa ioa and a tele gram as sent to him informing him of his daughters tragic death up to the time of going to press no reply had been received mr donis dorris don Is has a son and daughter by a former marriage marr lage the former residing in okla ard the latter miss anna dorris residue in amarelo texas both have been communicated with monday noon mr str dorris lying in bed at the hospital hoe pital and in full posses don sion of his faculties although ing severe pain the following statement to a re of the express the car 1 I as driving was a heavy headed machine not easily manageable in and on abrupt cur curies es I 1 approached the curve ind bated by my lights in a cautious manner and was not driving fast as I 1 realized the character estice of the car between the time that I 1 knew something was as wrong and the time when hen the car went over oer the brink of the gulch or ravine the depth of wh ch was unknown to me and struck the bottom it seems to me only the flash of a second elapsed I 1 i the tracks of the death car as 83 pointed out by the meeker men show hat that instead of negotiating the curve at the west end of the bridge spanning cow gulch the machine crossed the highway from right to left at al mott mot t a right agle a gle struck one of the jimay flimsy limay posts masquerading 1 ss as a sort of whig wing and went sent down to destruction it is dear clear that for the flash of a moment mr dorris was confused or lost control ot of his car notwithstanding this and no matter what was the condition of the mind of mr dorris during this flash of a second the bridge spanning co cow gulch stated to in all 11 fairness is a death trap it is an open structure without railings and without protective wings rings it is located on a curve and is approached over cunes curies on both east and west vest ends on the west approach to the bruge bridge are set three on either side of the highway the last of the posts something like thirty or forty feet from the end of the structure it is true that the highway at that point is 13 wide and it Is true that the bridge is wide ide but it is also true that the bridge Is without railings and it is true that the posts are not connected with heavy planks or any other planks they stand there for no one knows what purpose that is five stand there for one of them was as torn down by the car which went sent down doun into the gulch sunday night the tragic death of a woman oman and the I 1 seere injury r c a man testifying to the fact that this particular post failed to eerie serve as any prote cetton whatever ha teer it Is apparent that m n matter whether hether or not the U V S no 40 highway at this particular spot is in permanent location the death bridge must be equipped with protective protect lie wings due to the fact that the bridge is on a curve and is approached on each end over curves in the highway must be of sufficient length lengh on both ends to effectively prevent a repetition of sunday nights tragedy no mak makeshift shift work will answer the purpose the U 8 no 40 highway Is attractive to tourists and more so each year and it must be made sate safe by eliminating death traps and other dangerous spots it is 13 true that it take money to do this no one denlea denies that but when human lives live are placed in the balance against a few dollars especially at tit death traps akin to the cow gulch bridge then no argument should stand to prevent correction of the crying evil the state road commission should be advised of the fatality of last sunday night and of the condition of the cow pitch it seems that an of the dangerous dae dag crous erous condition of the bridge by the proper author ries will sill quickly bring the desired results since the above was written george L goodrich state dovd foreman has hauled out cedar posts and 46 40 timbers to cow gulch snake john gulch powder springs gulch and will at once construct guards and approaches to the bridges spanning the theme gulches |