1959 — Dec 25, Car collides with concrete abutment, Hwy 9-W near Haverstraw, NY      —       8

1959 — Dec 25, Car hits concrete abutment, Highway 9-W, near Haverstraw, NY — 8

— 8 Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY. “Car Plunge Kills 11.” 11-4-1963, p. 1.
— 8 Troy Record, NY. “8 Killed in Haverstraw Auto Accident.” 12-26-1959, p. 1.

Narrative Information

Dec 26: “Haverstraw (AP) – A family’s Christmas visit to a state prison ended in tragedy yesterday when their car smashed into a concrete abutment. Eight of the 11 occupants – including 3 children — perished. The party had been visiting an inmate at Wallkill State Prison north of here, included were the prisoner’s six children, his mother, sister and brother-in-law. The children were being returned to a home for children south of here when the car went out of control on the wet concrete and slammed into a concrete and steel entranceway to a stone quarry. All five adults and three of the children died immediately. The three other children were taken to Good Samaritan Hospital at Suffern. One was not expected to live.

“The children’s father, Pedro Cruz, 35, had been sentenced to prison for the fatal stabbing of his wife in 1958. He was transferred to Wallkill, a medium security prison, last June. Since then he had been writing St. Dominic’s Home at Blauvelt, to get permission for the children to visit him in prison. ‘But we couldn’t permit that,’ said Sister Thomasita, head of the school’s social service. ‘We told him that if the children went to see him they would have to be taken by relatives.’ She said the six Cruz children were picked up Christmas morning, by their aunt and grandmother. She said she didn’t know where they were going. ‘It was a Christmas weekend,’ she said. Authorities at Wallkill said the children, indeed, visited their father yesterday – ‘along with his mother, his sister and brother-in-law.’ Two other persons, not identified, stayed in the car….

“The dead were listed as the car’s driver, Eugenio Colon, 51, of the Bronx; Cruz’ sister, Aida Pagan, of New York; his brother-in-law, Segimundo Pagan; Cruz’ children, Jose, 5, Violetta, 3, and Peter, 8; and two unidentified adults, one of whom was believed to be the prisoner’s mother, Mrs. Leopolda Cruz, of New York. The survivors were Maria, 9, Louis, 7, and Eugenio, 4.

“Haverstraw police said the can – a 1953 or ’54 sedan was coming south on Highway 9-W when it went out of control on a turn and hit the abutment – part of a concrete pillbox just off the highway. The structure – about 10 feet square – is used by a rock quarry firm for access to a conveyor belt which carries stone under the road to Hudson River barges nearby. Haverstraw is on the Hudson about 35 miles north of New York City.

“The eight deaths skyrocketed the New York State holiday fatality toll to 15 thus far on the Christmas weekend. Five persons had lost their lives in accidents on Christmas eve and two men had died in separate crashes earlier yesterday….[in] 1955, the last comparable three-day Christmas holiday, 27 persons were killed in traffic accidents in New York State….” (Troy Record, NY. “8 Killed in Haverstraw Auto Accident.” 12-26-1959, p. 1.)

1963: “The highest previous death toll in an automobile accident was eight near Haverstraw on
Christmas Day 1959.” (Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY. “Car Plunge Kills 11.” 11-4-1963, p. 1.)

Sources

Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY. “Car Plunge Kills 11.” 11-4-1963, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=18565711&sterm

Troy Record, NY. “8 Killed in Haverstraw Auto Accident.” 12-26-1959, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=90413392&sterm