GAINES, James W.

The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, AZ August 18, 1966, p. 1 & 2 Car, Bus Collide Fatalities Now 12 In This Area The eleventh and twelfth fatalities of the year on state maintained highways and streets within the Wickenburg state highway patrol area were recorded at 43 minutes after midnight last Thursday morning. Killed instantly when the westbound 1966 Chevrolet in which they were riding collided head on with an eastbound Greyhound Bus 7.5 miles west of Aguila were two Phoenix brothers, Melvin R Gaines, 41, the driver of the car and James W Gaines, 44. Mrs Lavesta Gaines, 38, wife of James Gaines, was brought to Community Hospital here with a fractured left leg and severe facial injuries. She was later removed to a Phoenix hospital. There were no other passengers in the Chevrolet. Driver of the bus, Richard B Shield, age 62, of Youngtown, Ariz., was also brought to Community Hospital. His injuries were diagnosed as possible fractured ribs, bruises and abrasions. None of the 37 passengers on the bus headed for Flagstaff were treated at the local hospital attendants said. Highway Patrolman Gerald Bowers in reporting on the accident said there was no indication of excessive speed on the part of the westbound Chevrolet. The bus driver told him, he said, that the car suddenly crossed the center line and crashed into the eastbound bus head-on. The force of the collision, Bowers said, was such that the top, the left door and left fender of the passenger car were completely severed from that vehicle which he described as a total lose. Greyhound officials, early at the scene, told Bowers the damage to the bus would exceed $22,00. It went 75 feet off the highway but did not roll over. It was to be towed to Los Angeles. The Flagstaff bounded bus would normally have turned north off Highway 69 on to Highway 71 just this side of Aguila. The two fatalities of last Thursday were added to the seven in one crash in Wittmann several weeks ago and three other single fatalities prior to that.