BARDSLEY, Donald H.

Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, Arizona May 30, 1968 Holocaust Claims Life of Trucker The death of Donald H. Bardsley in a two truck collision 14 miles west of Wickenburg shortly after 4 a.m. last Friday brought to four the total of fatalities within the Wickenburg Arizona Highway Patrol area this year. Two other highway deaths, both within the town limits, are not counted in the four. Bardsley, age 33, of Santa Ana, Calif., lost his life when the truck-trailer he was driving west, unloaded , crossed the center line on Highway 60-70, according to investigating officer Bill Roller, and collided with an eastbound Hopper truck-trailer loaded with oil products in drums and cases. The westbound truck continued on in the eastbound lane and burst into flames. Bardsley died in the holocaust which followed. The intense heat and fire from flaming oil even ignited the pavement, Roller said. When it became obvious that Bardsley’s body could not be removed from the fiery wreckage the patrolman radioed his dispatcher who in turn called Fire Chief Chester Davis. The rural fire truck, manned by Davis, Coney Orosco, Dan Thrasher, Buck Walters and Russell Willis reached the scene shortly after 5 o’clock, and extinguished the flames. Theo W. Lochausen, 43, Southgate, Calif., driver of the eastbound truck was not seriously injured. Roller estimated the material loss at $52,000 which does not include the oil burned.