Daniel Harrison Blake

Birth: Aug. 8, 1913 Illinois, USA Death: Apr. 25, 1952 Coquille Coos County Oregon, USA

TEC 12 Med Depot Co. World War II

Obituary Notice – Western World – 1 May 1952

HEAD-ON SMASH TAKES LIFE OF HARRISON BLAKE

Daniel Harrison Blake, 40, a resident of Bandon, was instantly killed in a traffic accident Friday evening at 6:10 as he was driving home from work. He was employed as a truck driver for Barton Brothers, Myrtle Point.

Blake's 1948 sedan struck the front end of a loaded log truck driven by Earl Hartley, 492 Carter Avenue, Coquille, on the log truck's side of the highway a short distance from the south end of the Coquille River bridge at Coquille. The truck is owned by Fred Parry, Coos Bay, and was hauling two logs from Humbug Mountain to the Coquille Plywood Company.

State Police said there was no question that the point of impact of the two vehicles was on the log truck's side of the highway.

Hartley told investigators that he saw Blake's car come around an easy turn on the highway several hundred feet away as he drove up the dike road at 40 miles per hour. The passenger car swung into the opposite lane, then back to its own side, and then gradually drifted again into the log truck's path. The tire marks the truck made as it slowed down were visible for 350 feet on the asphalt pavement, and just before the collision there are 24 feet, 8 inches of skid marks chewing up the asphalt as the truck driver put on all the brakes he had.

Hartley was blowing his horn for a considerable distance also, he said.

The truck driver said he clearly saw Blake's face through the two windshields, and it seemed that the motorist was looking at him - yet the auto kept on coming, and even seemed to Hartley to pick up speed.

Hartley was not injured but the front end of the truck was damaged extensively. The auto is a total loss. Blake's body was pinned in his car and it was necessary to pry the wrecked vehicle apart in order to remove the body.

Services were held at the Schroeder Bros. Chapel in Bandon Wednesday at 2:00 p.m., the Rev. George Kmeckik officiating, followed by military rites at the IOOF Cemetery.

Blake was born August 8, 1912, in Pontiac, Illinois. He was a World War II veteran.

Burial: IOOF Cemetery (Bandon) Bandon Coos County Oregon, USA