The Alpena News, July 2, 1932
Nelson Herron, aged 21, was burned to death and his father, Frank Herron of Spratt, was seriously injured at 12 o’clock Friday night when the truck in which they were riding is reported to have collided with a sedan, overturned and caught fire near Bay City. The accident occurred on US-23 between Pinconning and Bay City.
Complete details of the accident were not available, but Mr. Herron and his son were said to be en route to Detroit with a truck load of strawberries.
Both were pinned in the wreckage, Nelson being fatally burned before he could be extricated. The father was removed from the wreck in an unconscious condition. The extent of his injuries is not definitely known.
An ambulance left Alpena this morning for Bay City to return the youth’s body here. The father was brought to his home in Spratt early this morning.
Besides his parents, Nelson is survived by two brothers, Orville and Eldon Herron, and three sisters, Alva, Doris, and Florence Herron, all at home.
The Alpena News, Monday, July 4, 1932
Woman Dies of Injuries
Following Herron Crash
Funeral services for Nelson Herron, the 21-year-old son of Mr. And Mrs. Frank Herron of Spratt, were held this afternoon at 2 o’clock at the home Rev. Mrs. Emma Lenheiser officiating. Interment was in the Spratt cemetery.
Mr. Herron’s death occurred Saturday, July 2, in an auto collision on US-23 between Pinconning and Bay City. Mr. Herron, accompanied by his father, was driving a truck load of strawberries to southern Michigan, when they were struck by an auto traveling north on the highway. Frank Herron received injuries but his condition is not deemed critical.
When the cars collided the truck was overturned and Nelson Herron was burned to death before he could be extracted. Mr. Herron was thrown clear of the truck.
The occupants of the other auto were:
Ernest W. Dungy, 19, 43 Mill Street, Oxford, Mich.
Charles Turner, 23, Drayton Plains
Miss Ilean Moon, 16, Drayton Plains
Mrs. Ardes Choisser, 26, 913 Big Four Street, Eldorado, Ill.
Turner in Samaritan hospital with the other three accident victims, was believed the most seriously hurt, although he is expected to recover. He received severe lacerations about the face, tongue and scalp. He was semi-conscious.
Mrs. Choisser, Turner’s sister who also was badly cut, died Monday as the result of her injuries. Dungy received a fractured arm. Both Miss Moon and he were expected to be released from the hospital today or tomorrow. She was cut about the face.
Herron, with his father, Frank Herron, were driving south on US-23 with a load of strawberries, according to Coroner Henry M. Simon of Bay City county, who investigated the accident. The automobile driven by Turner and occupied by the other three injured persons, was traveling north. The truck overturned in the collision and caught fire. Nelson Herron was pinned beneath the burning wreckage. The father, who escaped injury, told Coroner Simon he was sleeping when the accident occurred and could not account for it.
Because of their condition, neither Turner nor Mrs. Choisser could be questioned Saturday morning by Prosecuting Attorney George P. Weadock. Mrs. Choisser was riding in the front seat with Turner. In the rumble seat of the car were Miss Moon and Dungy. The four were bound for a cabin near Luzerne, Oscoda County to spend the week-end.
In an automobile traveling directly ahead of them were six other members of their party. They are: Oren Dungy, brother of Ernest; Mina Dungy, Elaine Haines, and Harold Titus all of Oxford, and Athel Choisser, Eldorado, and Althea Turner, Drayton Plains.
Oren Dungy told the prosecutor that he noticed Herron’s truck “was about in the middle of the road” and he was forced to keep well to the right to avoid hitting it. Other occupants of his car corroborated his statement.
Oren said he did not know that the car in which his friends were riding had figured in an accident until he saw the flash of light when the truck overturned and caught fire.
He said he and other members of his party left the car and ran back to the scene of the accident. It was not known until later, he told the prosecutor, that Nelson Herron was underneath the burning truck.
Deputy Sheriffs Clete O’Hara and Frank Mahoney, Harold J. Hand, assistant prosecutor, and Trooper Clayton VanAuken of the Bay City state police post, also responded to the accident call.
Buried: July 1932, Spratt Cemetery, Green Township, Alpena County, MI
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[Quoted from The Herron Family of Alpena County, Ruth Ann Cochrane and Clyde A. Morrison, June 26, 1998, in the Alpena Public Library, R Gen. 929.1 Herr]
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