This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: WILSON,THOMAS,CRAWFORD Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/HZB.2ACI/768.1.1.2.1 Message Board Post: Albert Wilson THOMAS b. 29 Jan 1873 Cleveland,Cuyahoga,OH d. 05 Oct 1936 Lorain, Lorain, OH m. 30 Jun 1898 Cuyahoga, OH to Mary "May" Ellen CRAWFORD In Lorain in 1928, also at 558 Lakeside (1905,1909 directory). Worked for Steel Mill in Lorain, Deputy City Auditor (1909), and had own grocery/butcher shop (Bailey & Thomas) 1905-1909. Mr & Mrs Bert W Thomas of Lorain spent Sunday at his home. Mr Thomas returned home Monday, Mrs Thomas remained for a few weeks visit. - Medina Newspaper 06 Oct 1898 THE LORAIN JOURNAL, Lorain, Ohio, Monday, Oct 5, 1936, page 1 GROCER, WIFE KILLED IN CRASH ELDERLY COUPLE DIE AS CAR HITS VAN ON LAKE-RD 11-Year-Old Girl Meets Death in 2 Lorain -co Traffic Tragedy; Truck Driver Held for Questioning in Thomas Fatalities Lives of two widely-known Lorain residents were snuffed out Sunday night and an 11-year-old Cleveland girl was killed yesterday afternoon as the county’s 1936 traffic toll jumped to 28. A. W. Thomas 63,, 670 Lakeside-av, Lorain grocer for the last 25 years, and his wife, Mae Thomas, 62, were killed when their automobile crashed into a broken down freight truck at Stop 84, B. Lake-rd. The Cleveland child, Alice Wise, was killed instantly when the automobile in which she was riding overturned on Route 20, five miles west of Oberlin. Lorain-co deaths brought the state week-end traffic toll to 12 deaths. The Lake-rd crash brought a tragic end to a happy occasion for the Lorain couple, who were returning to Lorain from Geauga Lake, where they had helped celebrate the fourth birthday of their grandson, Billy, son of William Thomas. The crash occurred, according to sheriff’s deputies and state patrolmen, when the Thomas automobile hit the rear end of the truck, which was parked partially off the road. The truck had stalled with a broken axle. The truck driver, Frank Elmer, Monroe, Mich, is being held in county jail pending further investigation. He is an employee of the General Mills Supply Co., Detroit, owner of the truck. ‘Sideswiped’ Earlier Sheriffs department investigations hinged upon the question of whether the broken down freight truck was adequately guarded with warning flares. The truck had been parked in the same position since Tuesday night, and earlier on Sunday night was sideswiped by two other cars, but no serious damages resulted from the early accidents, according to W. B. Lytle, state highway patrolman. The crash occurred at 11:30 p. m. Mrs. Thomas was killed in (continued on page 8) page 8 GROCER, WIFE DIE AS CAR RAMS INTO TRUCK ON LAKE-RD Cleveland Child, Killed Near Oberlin, Brings Toll to Three (Continued from page 1) stantly, her skull fractured, chest crushed and injured internally. Her husband died in St. Joseph’s hospital at 4 a. m. He had deep cuts and bruises about the head, a fractured skull, severe cuts about the face and arms, and internal injuries. The hood of the Thomas car smashed under the left rear end of the truck, which was loaded with several tons of bailed paper. The automobile was smashed, practically demolished, the shattered windshield and its framework being crushed back to within a few inches of the back of the front seat. All of the windows were shattered. Mrs. Thomas’ body was thrown partially out of the machine. One of her shoes, strings still tied, was found in the car, another was on the running board. Thomas was taken from behind the steering wheel, which remained intact. According to L. Mason, 420 Lakeside-av, co-proprietor of the East Side garage, Elmer, the truck driver, called him when his truck broke down Tuesday night. Mechanics were sent to the scene. Elmer had put three flares behind the truck, according to Mason, who said he added three more of his own. These flares were constantly being run over by passing motorists, until six had been demolished, Mason said. Just before the accident, a resident near the scene telephoned to Mason that only one flare was burning. He said the others had been run over. Two mechanics, Eugene Wingate and Jerry Bonsor, were sent to the truck with new flares and fuel. Bonsor went down the road to flag oncoming automobiles while Wingate placed the flares. According to Wingate’s story to Mason, the Thomas automobile came directly toward the rear end of the truck. Wingate waved a flashlight but had to jump for safety as Thomas crashed into the heavily-loaded vehicle, Mason said. Mason said that he was putting flares around the truck “on his own hook,” that the driver did not tell him to do so. Find One Flare Burning Deputies Ed Monroe and Chalmers Davidson said that when they arrived at the scene of the crash, one flare was burning 37 paces from the truck. The truck, parked at the Johnny Risko filling station, was partially obscured from westbound traffic by a slight rise in the road grade. Ironically, the new part for the truck, which would have sent it on its way, arrived from Louisville, Ky, at midnight, 30 minutes after the fatal crash. Thomas had lived in Lorain 35 years, and had been in the grocery business, a partner of C. R. Bailey, 226 Georgia-av, since 1909. Their store has been located at 1302 9th for the last five years, prior to that it was on E. Erie-av at California-av. Mrs. Thomas, born in Cleveland, had lived in Lorain more than 40 years. According to Mrs. C. B. Green, 664 Lakeside-av, a neighbor, the tragedy brought grief to the entire neighborhood. Mrs. Green explained that Mrs. Thomas had baked an elaborate birthday cake for her grandson, placed four candles upon it, and inscribed it with “Happy Birthday,” Widely Known in City The couple is survived by a son William Thomas of Cleveland and a daughter, Mrs. R. Norris Heyer, Painesville. Thomas also has two sisters, Mrs. Nettie Whacker, Medina and Mrs. C. T. Collister, Cleveland. Mrs. Thomas has three sisters, Mrs. Ralph Hunter and Miss Elizabeth Crawford, both of Linwood Cal., and Mrs. F. W. Blakelee [Wakelee], Lakewood, and two brothers, Joseph Crawford, Linwood, Cal, and Charles Crawford, St. Petersburg, Fla. Thomas was affiliated with the Lorain Elks lodge and Mrs. Thomas with the Elks auxiliary, Church of Redeemer, and the Women’s Republican club. The bodies are at the Royce funeral home and funeral arrangements are incomplete. In the crash in which the Cleveland child was killed, five other occupants of the car, driven by John Cronin, Wooster, Mass., were injured, none seriously. According to the sheriffs deputies, Cronin said the accident occurred, when he attempted to avoid hitting another car north-bound on the Norwalk-Vermilion road. Cronin told deputies he swerved, struck a culvert abutment and the car careened across the road, hit a tree and overturned. END THE LORAN JOURNAL, Lorain, Ohio, Monday, Oct 5, 1936, page 1 OPERATED FIRST PHONE EXCHANGE Traffic Victim ‘Pioneer” in Lorain Company Mrs. Albert W. Thomas, killed with her husband in last night’s Lake-rd automobile tragedy, was Lorain’s first telephone operator. Her husband had been an independent grocer in the city for many years, associated in the business with Charles R. Bailey. Their store, now located at 9 and Brownell-av, formerly operated at California and Erie-av. The local phone system was organized in 1894 under the name of the Black River Telephone Co., with 25 phones in the city and cardboard sheets for directories. There was no long distance service. Her brother was the first night operator. Mrs. Thomas was replaced by Nellie Beckett in 1898, when she married Mr. Thomas, after four years on the job. Miss Beckett has been employed by the company for the past 39 years. The first telephone used in Lorain was the hand-ring type with the old time manual switchboard. The system was a wide variance with modern electrical setup and a much greater strain on the operators. Mrs. Thomas frequently told friends in talking over the old days at the switchboard. Before her marriage, she was Miss May Crawford. Medina Gazette Vital Statistics Deaths Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Thomas, 63 and 62 respectively, 670 Lakeside av. Thomas died in St. Joseph’s hospital at 4 a.m. today from injuries received in an auto accident yesterday in which Mrs. Thomas was killed instantly.