On the dark night in May 1934, Mr. Plymell was headed west
and was about ready to make a right hand turn onto 13th street.
What happened next, based on the Oregonian report, is that the
car “was struck by a machine driven by George D. Hoban.” All
men were hospitalized. “Plymell is in Portland General hospital
(sic) with a fractured left leg and internal injuries,” The Morning
Oregonian reported. The driver of the other car was treated
for fractured ribs at St. Vincent’s hospital. John Running was
treated at Portland General hospital (sic) and died on Tuesday
“as a result of a traffic accident” and it was “added to the toll of
the year’s traffic fatalities.”
A follow-up article from the Sunday Oregonian on September
9th, 1934, cites that 55 people were killed in the first eight months
of 1934. On the front page of the paper
is the image of an overturned Model
T, crumpled with littered debris. In
Portland alone, a chart shows a 44
percent increase in traffic fatalities
and a 26 percent increase statewide.
One-third of the Portland deaths are
in photographs on the front page,
faces and fashions of a different era
and time. In a sidebar article from
that front page, a safety campaign
is reported to be launched by the
“Charles P. Pray, superintendent of
state police; Martin T. Pratt, sheriff
of Multnomah county, and Mayor
Carson of Portland.” The need to
address “driving under the influence
of liquor” was reported. In 1934,
Portlander’s w