NELSON, William E.

The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, AZ March 19, 1954 Highway Tragedy Caused Death of Officer and Son Failure of an automatic safety device is blamed for a tragic highway accident five miles east of Wenden last Thursday afternoon which claimed the lives of a young Air Force officer and his 3½-year-old-son. The wife and 18-month old daughter, not seriously injured, were hospitalized here and later discharged. Killed in the accident was Second Lt William E. Nelson, 26, of Huntington, Ind., and his son, Larry. According to highway patrolmen, Lt. Nelson and his family were driving west and at the moment their car was about to pass an approaching Arizona Public Service Co., truck driven by Dan McKenzie of Wickenburg, a safety device on the truck’s two-wheel dolly, or trailer, failed. The trailer, loaded with seven utility poles, broke loose and smashed head-on into the Nelson car, killing the father and son instantly. The boy was in the rear seat of the car directly behind his father. A spokesman for Public Service told The SUN that the safety device should have thrown the trailer off the road to the right when the tongue broke but for some unknown reason the trailer went to the left and directly into the path of the oncoming car. McKenzie, who was badly broken up over the unavoidable accident, has never had a highway accident before and patrolman, say he is considered on the best and safest truck drivers in this area. Riding in the truck with McKenzie were Bradford Johnson, Ernie Hoggart and A. R. McCracken, all of the local Public Service line crew.