MCKINNEY, Melvin

Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, AZ July 5, 1946 TWO DEAD, ONE CRITICAL, TWO OTHERS ESCAPE IN HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS, FRIDAY Death on rubber tires stalked the Wickenburg-Congress-Yarnell highway last Friday evening. The harvest was two dead, one critically injured and two dodging the grim reaper only through a miracle, in two spectacular accidents. Killed outright when the car he was driving crashed head-on into a southbound truck on a clear, straight stretch of highway seven miles north of Wickenburg, was Charles L. May, 34, of Phoenix, summer resident of Yarnell and driver of a blade for the Maricopa county board of supervisors. His brother-in-law Melvin McKinney, 23, died later of injuries in a Phoenix hospital. Driver of the truck, Charles H. LeClaire, of Prescott, also critically injured was still alive in the same Phoenix hospital Wednesday of this week. According to Highway Patrolman Everett Bowman, who investigated the accident, May and McKinney, driving north, turned out to pass a car driven by J. H. Allison of Hot Springs, N.M. and collided with the LeClaire truck. The accident happened in daylight at 8:15 p.m. After a passing doctor gave first aid to LeClaire and McKinney, they were taken to Phoenix by Howard L. Coffinger, Wickenburg, in his ambulance. Whether McKinney’s life could have been saved, had there been a hospital open to receive him in nearby Wickenburg, lies in the realm of speculation. Earlier Friday evening, a big semi, coming down Yarnell hill with Toby Cordova, 30, of Denver, at the wheel, missed a turn in the road and went into the bank, jackknifing and turning over. According to Patrolman Bowman, not far away at the time, enough merchandise was spilled over the surrounding countryside to stock a complete department store. Cordova making his second trip from Denver to California, and his relief driver, Phillip Jordan, 34, also of Denver, crawled out of the wrecked truck with only minor injuries which were treated in Prescott. The following day, when a blow-torch was being used to separate the truck from its trailer, fire broke out, a tank of gasoline exploded and fire spreads over the area.