| Notes |
- Two Killed In Collision
Four Others Injured When Hot Tar Truck Hits Farm Wagon
Berks County's traffic toll of lives mounted to five in three days with the deaths yesterday afternoon of a 49-year-old man and 13-year-old boy in a collision between a truck and a far tractor-wagon near Stouchsburg.
Killed instantly in yesterday's accident on the Harrisburg Pike was William Hassler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Hassler Sr., of Richland R. D. 1, John F. Ruth, of Stouchsburg, uncle of John E. Ruth, Berks County district attorney, died in the Myerstown Fire Company ambulance en route to a Lebanon hospital.
Dr. George Ruth, of Stouchsburg, a deputy coroner and a brother of the dead man, reported the boy's death was caused by a broken neck and internal injuries while John Ruth died of internal injuries and compound fractures of both legs.
Others Injured
Three other boys and the truck driver were injured in the collision. Richard Hassler Jr., 18, a brother of William, suffered burns of the body when he was sprayed with hot tar being transported in the tank truck. He was admitted to the Good Samaritan Hospital, Lebanon. Another brother, Martin, aged 11 years, was treated there for tar burns of the body. Gene Brightbill, 15, also of Richland R. D. 1, who suffered a possible fracture of the skull and cuts of the body, was admitted to the Lebanon Sanatorium. All were reported improving today.
The truck driver, Stephen Yanicheck, 33, of Phoenixville, who suffered multiple cuts of the body, was treated in the Reading Hospital.
State Trooper Carmen Chirico, of the Lebanon substation, reported that the truck rammed into the rear of the farm wagon, drawn by a tractor driven by Richard Hassler. Both the truck and the farm equipment were hurled down a 20-foot embankment on the north side of the highway and rolled over several times. Chirico said all occupants of the vehicles were thrown to the ground. He said Ruth, owner of the farm equipment, was riding in the wagon with William and Martin Hassler and the Brightbill boy.
Chirico said both the truck and the tractor were traveling west on the highway when the collision occurred about a mile west of Stouchsburg near the Ruth farm. He said the truck, carrying 3,900 gallons of hot tar, was en route to a road building project near Indiantown Gap.
Driver Faces Charges
Yanicheck was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one of aggravated assault and battery in connection with the deaths of Ruth and the Hassler boy. He was freed after posting $5,000 bail before Alderman Mahlon E. Shapiro. Chirico is the prosecutor. Shapiro said no date for a hearing has been set pending the recovery of the injured youths.
Ruth was a son of the late John E. and Annie (Zerr) Ruth. He is survived by his widow, Lillian (Reber); three children, June R., of Reading, and Barbara Ann and Shirley Mae, both at home; two sisters, Margaret, wife of George Stewart, and Mrs. Annie M. Rupp, both of Wernersville, and two brothers, William J. Ruth, of Sheridan, and Dr. George Ruth, of Stouchsburg. He was a member of the Stouchsburg Fire Company and the Lebanon Lodge of Moose.
Funeral services will be held on Friday at 2 p. m. in the Lamm and Witman Funeral Home, Wernersville, with the Rev. Martin L. Rothenberger officiating. Burial will be in Long's Church Cemetery, near Stouchsburg.
Hassler Survivors
The Hassler boy is survived by his parents, Richard and Ella (Reedy) Hassler; three brothers, Richard H., Martin J. and Carl K. Hassler, all at home, and a sister, Betty K. Hassler, at home; his grandmothers, Mrs. Sallie Reedy, of Landisville, and Mrs. Isabelle Hassler, of West Wyomissing, and his maternal grandfather, Samuel Noecker, of Sinking Spring R. D. 1.
Funeral services on Friday at 10:30 a. m. in the Lamm and Witman Funeral Home, Wernersville, with the Rev. Ralph E. Starr officiating. Burial will be in the Sinking Spring Cemetery.
Published in the Reading Eagle (Reading, Pennsylvania) - Tuesday, June 27, 1950.
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1937 - 1950 (13 years)
