This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Hitchcock, Skinner Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/UW.2ADE/1766 Message Board Post: Point Arena Record Point Arena, CA April 7, 1911 Stage Accident The worst accident which has happened to the Cazadero stage since the line went into the control of the present management, occurred Saturday forenoon just below Stewart's Point. The stage was driven by Thomas Hitchcock and had just made the turn in the road on the grade at the school house when in some unaccountable way it capsized. The driver was thrown violently to the ground and rendered unconscious. The arteries in one of his legs were broken and evidently he was badly injured in the head for after regaining consciousness he became delirious at intervals and died at 9 o'clock next morning. Mr. and Mrs. William Bonney, of San Francisco, who were passengers for Stewart's Point to spend a few weeks vacation, were sitting by the driver. Mrs. Bonney received a compound fracture of one of her legs above the ankle. The break is a bad one, the bone having been thrust through the flesh. Mr. Bonney escaped with a few scratches. Four Italians were in the stage bound for Stewart's Point to work and were more or less shaken up, but none seriously hurt except Louis Bertinni, who suffered a dislocation of the shoulder. Immediately on hearing of the accident, Henry Halliday and Dr. Diddle left in the latter's automobile. The doctor set Mrs. Bonney's broken leg and with her husband was placed in a private conveyance and sent to the sanitarium at Alameda, where she arrived safely and without another mishap. Everything possible was done for Mt. Hitchcock, but his injuries were beyond medical skill and he passed away. The injuries of the others were attended to and they are doing well. The cause of the accident cannot be accounted for, but it is supposed that when the stage had made the turn in the road and entered the straight downhill grade, the wheel struck one of the bumps characteristic of the Sonoma county coast road and was overturned. William Thomas Hitchcock was born on the Garcia River February 26, 1872. On October 6, 1905, he was married in Oakland to Miss Eliza Skinner. To this union three children were born, two of them - John Issac and Thomas Malcom - survive with the mother. He also leaves a father and mother, three brothers and five sisters. Deceased was well liked by all who knew him, and his untimely and sad ending cast a gloom over the whole community. The funeral took place Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock from the Gualala church, Rev. C. Swithenbank conducting the services. A very large number of friends and acquaintances attended, and the floral offerings were many and beautiful. The remains were laid away in Gualala cemetery.