DAILY TIMES MAIL BEDFORD, INDIANA FRIDAY, DEC. 8, 1961 CHARLES BUSH OF OOLITIC IS KILLED ON HIGHWAY 37 IN TRUCK-CAR WRECK TODAY GASOLINE SADDLE TANK EXPLODES An Oolitic father of one and Army veteran of World War Two, Charles Robert (Bob) Bush, 34, became Lawrence Countys 14th traffic fatality of the year early this morning when he died instantly in a flaming car-truck smashup on the Salt Creek hill north of Bedford. He was en route home from bowling leagues when his 1954 Chevrolet went out of control on the hill. State police said the auto left the pavement and continued downhill for some 300 feet before shooting back onto the roadway and into the left front of a south-bound truck. The impact was at the south edge of the Salt Creek bridge. Troopers assisted at the scene by both city and county police, said a gasoline saddle tank on the truck exploded on contact setting the truck afire. Bush was thrown out of this auto at impact; his body was found over the bank 70 feet away; his laced shoes were still on the front floorboard. The car's engine and entire motor compartment were torn loose from the rest of the vehicle and found scattered along the right of way. A headlight wound up in a tree. One wheel came to rest in the creek. We pronounced Bush dead of a crushed chest and multiple skull fractures. Police said he was undoubtedly dead before being thrown clear of the wreckage. Crosswise of Road His car continued driverless into the bridge, finally crashing into a railing where it came to a stop crosswise the highway. The truck, a two-ton 1957 Chevrolet loaded with 26,650 pounds of shell corn and driven by Everett E. Stalcup, 45, R. R. 1 Bloomfield, was slammed into a high rock bluff just off the truck-lane and became engulfed in flames almost immediately. Stalcup, his hair and eyebrows singed from the flames, virtually pried his way to freedom. Troopers said the man couldn't get out the driver's door and the passenger side was crushed against the bank. Fortunately, however, the cab roof was so collapsed that Stalcup was able to place his back against the passenger door and force an opening just big enough that he was able to squeeze out between the cab roof and top of the door. His pressure and fight to extricate himself from the burning truck was so great that before he was returned home, his back was giving him extreme pain, however. Still Burning Flames reached into his load of shell corn, too, which was still burning at mid-morning. Police estimated the accident happened about 12:10 a.m. The wreckage hadn't been cleared away yet at 9:30. Fire trucks and State Highway equipment were dispatched to the scene and were still cleaning up debris at noon. Bush was taken to Day & Carter Mortuary where final rites have been set for 1:30 p.m. Monday, December 11, with burial following in Green Hill Cemetery. A member of Gillen Post 33 of the American Legion, military rites will also be accorded at the graveside. Long active in youth affairs and a coach of a biddy baseball team this summer, Bush had been employed as a storekeeper at the RCA Plant in Bloomington. He was born January 9, 1927, in Oolitic to William and Mattie Staley Bush. He married Peggy Sowders on March 12, 1949. The couple has one son, Danny Bob, at home. Survivors besides the wife, son, father and stepmother, include: three sisters, Mrs. Warren Jones, Oolitic; Mrs. Dolores Ladotto, St. Louis; and Peggy Jean Bush, Oolitic. A brother, William Bush of Louisville, also survives, along with the maternal grandfather, Cyrus Staley, of Oolitic. Friends may call at Day & Carter after 7 p.m. Saturday.