I am an avid genealogist. The past is very important to me. I spend a lot of time in cemeteries photographing tombstones to upload on website the FindAGrave.
I enjoy recognizing long dead people by putting memorials to them online. However, every once and a while something grabs me about a specific grave. It could be the name, or the dates or a ceramic photo. In those cases, I feel compelled to dig a little deeper. That's what this series of blogs is about: The tales behind those graves. Some of my subjects will be heroes. Some will be villains. Some will be victims. And some will linger in between, like most of us. However, don't be surprised if the tales are inherently tragic. These are grave tales. They all end in death.
This grave tale takes me to Baltimore Cemetery, an eighty-five-acre, non-sectarian, public cemetery located at the eastern terminus of North Avenue. It is the second largest cemetery within Baltimore. Established in 1850, it served as a low cost alternative to the snoottier Green Mount Cemetery for the working class families of East Baltimore. By 1880, over 44,000 people had been buried on its grounds. I have no idea how many tens of thousands more have subsequently followed them. Some burials are still being conducted today and I was pleased to see that the grounds are well-maintained. The owners must have managed their perpetual care fund wisely.
My wife Deborah and I ventured into the cemetery to find the grave of Oscar N. Slitzer, a lieutenant in the Baltimore City Fire Department, who died in a terrible collision between fire trucks. I first heard about him in a post on the Northeast Baltimore History Roundtable on Facebook by Chris Muldowney. The post featured a clip from a newspaper story about his death and indicated that Slitzer's funeral was the first one televised live in Baltimore. I had to learn more about the tragedy that earned him that distinction.
Of course, it couldn't be a grave tale without an actual grave. The prospects of finding Slitzer's grave in that massive cemetery without help were slim to none. Fortunately, I called the office and the guy was able to tell me where to find it. He offered to take me to the grave if I couldn't find it on my own, but that wasn't necessary. My wife and I found the grave easily. (You'll have an even easier time if you have the Findagrave app on your phone. I marked the grave with the GPS function.)
Here's the story, and, trust me, I went deep into the rabbit hole on this one. My investigation into the accident that killed Oscar Slitzer took me places I didn't expect to go.
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 19 April 1953, Sun:
1 KILLED, 9 OTHERS HURT
AS FIRE TRUCKS COLLIDE
AT CAROLINE, BALTIMORE
-----
Third Such Accident In 4 Years
Is Fatal To Engine Lieutenant
------
One fireman was killed and nine other persons were injured yesterday when a Fire Department engine and a Salvage Corps truck collided at Baltimore and Caroline streets.
The two vehicles, on the way to a small blaze in an abandoned house at Orleans and Eden streets, crashed into each other with a loud "thud," witnesses said, and the firemen were "thrown into the air like baskets with their arms and legs stretched out."
This was the third such accident in 3 1/2 years. On November 9, 1949, four firemen were killed when two engines collided at Park Heights and Rogers avenue.
Latest Crash Last June
On June 4, 1952, two firemen lost their lives in a collision of two emergency vehicles at Charles and Thirty-fourth streets.
The fireman who was killed was identified as Lieut. Oscar N. Slitzer, 52, of No. 34 Engine Company, who lived in the 3300 block of Chesterfield avenue.
Seven of the injured were members of the Fire Department and Salvage Corps crews. The others were Abraham Letvin, a 73-year-old tailor buried beneath falling debris when one of the vehicles crashed into his shop, and George Dungee, 15-year-old Negro pedestrian who was standing on the corner and was struck down by No. 34 engine.
Policeman Collapses
A policeman, who witness the accident from several blocks away and who summoned ambulances collapsed later while directing traffic at the scene of the crash. He was treated at Mercy Hospital for shock.
The Salvage Corps truck was west bound on Baltimore street and No. 34 engine was driving north on Caroline when they crashed.
"As soon as the damned things hit," reported Patrolman John Voelker who saw the crash and later collapsed, "they [the firemen] fell down in the street."
After the impact, No. 34 engine hurtled across the intersection and rammed into the tailor shop. The Salvage Corps truck also went out of control and rolled across the sidewalk on the west side of Caroline street.
Several of the firemen who were thrown from the vehicles lay moaning in the street in the falling rain. Others wandered about dazed.
Five Ambulances Arrived
A crowd quickly gathered as five ambulances arrived at the scene along with about two dozen policemen.
Bystanders and police covered the injured firemen with tarpaulin from the trucks and and made small pillows for them while waiting for ambulances to arrive.
"Bodies were lying all over the street," Patrolman Voelker said afterward. "The men were in agony. Some were yelling."
The injured firemen treated at South Baltimore General and Mercy hospitals are:
MICHAEL S. POLEK, 30, of No. 34 Engine Company; admitted to the hospital with chest injuries.
ANDREW F. PRUCHNIEWSKI, 30, of No. 34 Engine Company; admitted to the hospital with chest injuries.
EDGAR CANNON, 55, the driver of No. 34 Engine; held for observation with bruises of the arm and an eye injury. WILLIAM JONES, 44, of No. 34 Engine; held for observation with cuts of the face.
LIEUT. ROBERT COSTIN, of the Salvage Corps, released after treatment for an injured arm.
JAMES GASKELL, 19 driver of the Salvage Corps truck; admitted to the hospital with a fractured shoulder, cuts of the head and possible fracture of both legs.
Treated At Scene
The tailor, Mr. Letvin, was treated at the scene for cuts and shock and later taken to South Baltimore General Hospital for observation.
Dungee was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital with a back injury.
Another man, the operator of an automobile, escaped injury when his car was struck by one of the fire vehicles. He was identified as Paul J. Grace, 24, of the 200 block of East street.
Patrolman Voelker, of the Eastern district, said he was standing near the No. 34 engine house in the 300 block of South Caroline street when the fire alarm was sounded for the blaze at Orleans and Eden streets.
The policeman stopped traffic as the engine came onto the street and headed north on Caroline street. He said he watched the engine head up the street and slow down at Baltimore street, ringing its bell as it approached the intersection.
Runs To Call Box
He saw the two vehicles crash and immediately ran to a police call box at Caroline and Lombard streets. Patrolman Voelker pulled the emergency button on the box and told a dispatcher at police headquarters to send all possible assistance.
He then ran up to the scene of the crash and directed traffic until the ambulance arrived. A few minutes later he collapsed, thrown into a state of shock by the horror and excitement at the scene.
Mrs. Roselyn Block, of the 1500 block of East Baltimore street, said she heard the sirens of the two vehicles just before the crash. She said she ran outside in time to see the accident.
"The men were thrown into the air like baskets," she said. "with their arms and legs stretched out."
Mrs. Block said she then ran back inside and called for ambulances.
Mr. Letvin said he was inside his shop when the crash occurred. He reported that he did not hear anything "until the walls came down."
And then he suddenly found himself lying face down on the floor covered by bricks and mortar after No. 34 engine had rammed through the front of his store.
Neighbors extricated him from the pile of debris. He was treated at the scene by a private physician and later transferred to the hospital for further examination.
The fire in the abandoned house at Orleans and Eden streets was put out by another Fire Department crew. It was a small fire of undetermined origins.
 |
| Oscar N. Slitzer |
In Department Since 1923
Lieutenant Slitzer, who was married and had one married daughter, was appointed to the Fire Department in 1923. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1946 and was assigned to No. 6 Engine Company.
He was "on loan" to No. 34 Engine Company when yesterday's accident occurred.
With one fireman dead and two others in critical condition late last night, yesterday's accident appeared to be the third most serious crash in the history of the Fire Department.
Two of these accidents involved two vehicles which crashed at intersections and other occurred when two vehicles collided at the Johns Hopkins monument at Charles and Thirty-fourth streets.
In the Charles street crash the firemen were answering an alarm which was sounded after a mattress caught fire in a dormitory at Johns Hopkins University.
That sounded like a truly horrendous accident. From the way the witnesses say the firemen went flying, I assume they were hanging on the outside of the engine. That would place them in a very vulnerable position. I am surprised no one else was killed. (I would learn otherwise.)
Another story indicated that the fire was extinguished by another engine company. The fire was in an abandoned building and no immediate cause was determined. I would hate to think that this disaster was a result of arson or kids fooling around in an abandoned building. Needless to say, there would be a probe into the accident.
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 20 April 1953, Mon:
BOARD TO PROBE FIRE TRUCK COLLISION
Reports on exactly what happened Saturday afternoon when two fire trucks collided, killing one and injuring nine persons, may be brought before the Board of Fire Commissioners when it meets on Thursday.
Frank J. Bauer, president of the board, said today that a complete investigation is being made of the accident. "There's only one way to make an investigation," he added, "and that's to make it complete."
He said he hoped to have reports in from battalion chief, company commander, deputy division chief and chief engineer of the Fire Department in time for Thursday's regular meeting of the board.
Mr. Bauer explained that the routes taken by fire engines on the way to a fire must be variable, depending on the conditions of streets and traffic.
Drivers Must Anticipate
It would be "extremely impractical" to assign hard and fast routes which the engines should follow, he added, and as a result the driver of each engine must anticipate where other engines are likely to be and look out for them.
The two engines that collided at Baltimore and Caroline streets on Saturday were traveling at 90 degrees to each other, each seeking the quickest route to a small fire in an abandoned house at Orleans and Eden streets.
One man was killed: Lieut. Oscar N. Slitzer, 52, of the 3300 block of Chesterfield avenue, a veteran of 30 years in the Fire Department who was assigned to Engine Company No. 6.
He was "on loan" to Engine Company No. 34, however, and it was a No. 34 engine which was wrecked. The other truck belonged to the Salvage Corps.
Five Still In Hospital
Of the nine men injured in the wreck five still were in the hospital today in improved but still serious conditions, according to hospital authorities.
They were: James Gaskell, 24, driver of the Salvage Corps truck; Michael S. Polek, 30, and Adam Kupidlowski, 37, both of the Salvage Corps, and Andrew F. Pruchniewski, 34, and William Jones, 44, of the Fire Department Truck.
Edgar Cannon, 55, driver of the fire engine, was released from the hospital yesterday, as was Lieut. Robert Costin, of the Salvage Corps.
Mr. Bauer said that reports on the incident still were held up because of the condition of the two drivers.
Two Bystanders Hurt
The two others injured were bystanders: Abraham Letvin, 73. was treated for cuts and shock suffered when the fire engine rammed the front of his tailor shop after impact. George Dungee, 15, a pedestrian who was stuck by the engine, was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Patrolman John Voelker, who saw the wreck from a block away, collapsed from shock after directing traffic at the intersection and summoning police and medical help.
I couldn't find a story that indicated that Slitzer's funeral was televised, but the The Baltimore Sun ran a large photo (but no story) about the funeral:
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 22 April 1953, Wed:
The result of the review board wasn't published in the newspaper, but that wasn't the end of the story. The accident added fatality four years later....
The Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 07 July 1957, Sun:
Salvage Corpsman In Coma
Four Years Dies At Age 43
Adam Kupidlowski, Salvage Corps member who lay unconscious for more than four years after a 1953 collision, died yesterday in the Armacost Nursing Home. He was 43 years old.
Mr. Kupidlowski suffered severe head injuries when the salvage vehicle in which he was riding was in a collision with a fire engine responding to an alarm.
One fireman was killed and nine other persons injured in the crash which occurred on April 18, 1953, at Caroline and Baltimore streets. The two vehicles had been responding to a fire alarmin a small abandoned home at Eden and Orleans streets.
A fire department probe followed the collision.
For almost two years, Mr. Kupidlowski lay unconscious in Mercy Hospital before he was removed to the nursing home.
Born in Baltimore, the salvage corpsman had attended Holy Rosary parochial school. He served in the United States Navy throughout World War II, seeing action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. He had been with the Salvage Corps between five and six years at the time of the accident.
His home was at 620 South Washington street.
Surviving are four brothers and two sisters. The brothers are John, Leo, Joseph and Louis Kupidlowski. Mrs. Tillie Kowalewski and Mrs. Sophie Strychacz are the sisters.
Funeral arrangements had not been completed last night.The story wasn't over. In an accident of this sort, lawsuits are inevitable. Guilt had to be assigned and payments had to be made. Here's the result of one of the trials:
Negligence Ruled In Accident Case
-----
Judge John T. Tucker yesterday ruled that the driver of a Fire Department truck answering a fire alarm was negligent in the operation of the truck when it collided with a Salvage Corps vehicle at Caroline and Baltimore streets in 1953.
Judge Tucker awarded $5,000 damages to James P. Gaskill, driver of the salvage truck; $5,000 to Michael Polek, a member of the corps who was riding on the truck, and $4,168 property damage in favor of the Fire Insurance Salvage Corps.
The verdicts were against Edgar L. Cannon, driver of the Fire Department truck. The city itself could not be legally sued as a result of the action. Judge Tucker ruled that while both emergency vehicles were authorized to run through red traffic signals, the Fire department truck went against the stop signal and its driver was required to use greater caution. John H. Mudd was counsel for the corps.
Fire Department Lieutenant Oscar Slitzer was killed in the accident, and Alvin [sic] Kupidlowski, a salvage corpsman, also died after being in a coma for about three years.I don't mean to question the ruling of Judge Tucker, but this verdict seems like a raw deal for poor Edgar Cannon. His guilt, or should I say negligence, was simply a matter of degrees. He was legally entitled to enter the intersection against the signal. Whether he used sufficient caution would be hard to gauge after the fact. According to officer Voelker, the engine did slow down as it reached the intersection.... Oh well.
Since Mr. Cannon was acting as an employee of the Fire Department in an official capacity, I hope he wasn't found personally liable for the judgments.
Prior to this ruling, a jury had awarded the tailor Abraham Letvin $12,000 for injuries and property damage.
Still, there was more legal action to come. Although no wife was mentioned in his obituary, Adam Kupidlowski's widow Mildred also sued the city and poor Edgar Cannon, who was probably already traumatized for life from the incident.
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 24 June 1958, Tues:
Widow Of Crash Victim Sues City
A suit seeking $100,000 from the city was filed in Superior Court yesterday by the widow of a Salvage Corps member who died in July, 1957.
Mrs. Kupidlowski, of the 6300 block Branch avenue, Clinton, Md., alleged her husband died as a result of a collision between the Salvage Corps truck on which he was riding and a fire truck.
The accident took place at Baltimore and Caroline streets April 18, 1957,
Named as defendants in the action were Edgar L. Cannon, driver of the Fire engine, the Mayor and the City Council.
I couldn't find the results of that case. However, considering the previous judgments, I assume the widow found some relief in the courts.
That was not the end of the story either. When I write these grave tales, I often look into the lives of the other people involved. Sadly, it seems that one of the victims in this terrible accident made even more horrifying headlines in 1973 and 1974. I am certain the George Dungee, who was struck by the fire engine when he was 15-years-old, is the same George Dungee who helped commit the second worst mass murder in Georgia history with other fugitives from Maryland. Here's that story (warning: very graphic):
The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 09 January 1974, Wed:
Jury Convicts Dungee In 6 Ga. Killings
Donalsonville, Ga. (AP) -- A Superior Court jury today convicted George L. Dungee of murder in the shooting deaths of six members of a rural Georgia family.
The jury deliberated 55 minutes before returning a verdict of guilty on 6 counts against Dungee, a 35-year-old prison escapee from Baltimore.
He was the second to be convicted of murder in the case.
Dungee could face the death penalty.
Peter Zack Geer, special prosecutor, asked the jury to find Dungee guilty of six counts of murder although the state contends he shot only Mary Alday, after she was repeatedly raped.
Dungee heard the verdict without visible emotion. He sat slumped in his chair at the defense table, stroking his stubby beard as prosecutors asked that he be sent to the electric chair.
In a rising voice, prosecutor Geer pointed at Dungee and said, "This defendant deserves no mercy. He deserves to die in the electric chair. He has to be removed forever ... from society."
Sparing From Death
Phillip Sheffield, defense attorney, court appointed attorney for Dungee, urged the jury to spare Dungee from death.
"You got a little old Negro man who doesn't weigh 135 pounds, with a court appointed lawyer; he's ignorant; I venture to say he's got an I.Q. of not over 80 -- this is the kind of man we have a history of sending to the electric chair," Mr. Sheffield said.
In his summation to the jury yesterday, Mr. Geer waved Mary Alday's turquoise pantsuit and bra at the jury. They were found in the woods near her nude body in May.
'Murder In Mind, Heart'
"Murder was in his mind and in his heart," Mr. Geer said in his summation. "He had an abandoned and malignant heart." Mr. Geer contended that under Georgia law Dungee aided and abetted in the six slayings and, therefore, he was just as guilty as if he had pulled the trigger in all.
Carl Isaacs, 20, of Parkville, who along with Dungee and Wayne Coleman, 27, escaped from a minimum security prison in Maryland 5 days before the Alday shootings, was sentenced to death last week.
Coleman, also of Parkville and Isaacs's half brother, still faces trial, probably next week, court sources said.
The defense rested yesterday without producing a single witness, as did Isaacs's defense lawyers.
 |
| George Dungee |
Key Witness
The state concluded its case late yesterday after the key prosecution witness in both trials, Billy Isaacs, 16, said he saw his brother Carl and Coleman shoot the 5 male members of the Alday family and Dungee shoot Mrs. Alday.
Although courtroom spectators were familiar with the dramatic eyewitness accounts of the orgy of robbery and rape in one of the Aldays' mobile homes on the sprawling Alday farm, the courtroom was again hushed.
Everett (Bud) Alday, who discovered the bodies of his two brothers and three nephews, held his head in his hands as Billy related how Dungee shot Mrs. Alday. His lips trembled.
Kept Hidden In Bathroom
Billy said Mrs. Alday, 26, was kept hidden in the bathroom while the men were executed one by one as they came to the trailer.
Then the farm housewife was raped repeatedly on the kitchen floor while the bodies of her husband and the other Alday men lay sprawled on beds and on the living room sofa in the small mobile home, Billy testified.
After blindfolding her and tying her hands behind her back, they took her to the woods about six miles away and she was again raped, Billy said.
Ordered To Shoot Her
"Then Carl pulled her off the ground, handed the pistol to Wayne and said, 'Shoot her.'"
"George Dungee said, 'What about me?'" Billy said. He said Coleman then shook his head as if to say he did not care and handed the pistol to Dungee.
"Dungee took her in the woods, shot her twice and was getting ready to shoot her the third time," Billy said, when he and the others hollered, "That's enough."
He said Dungee then took the wrist watch off Mrs. Alday's arm and they drove away.
What a strange twist this grave tale took. I wanted to honor a fireman who died in the line of duty, but found myself writing about a mass murder nearly two decades later. It is a testament to the strange way lives -- and deaths -- intersect. I included the murders in this blog because Dungee's defense attorney argued for leniency based on his client's low intelligence. I wonder if Dungee had suffered some kind of head or brain trauma when he was struck by the fire engine that put him on this path to infamy. Did the accident that took Oscar Slitzer's life indirectly lead to a massacre in Georgia? Who knows? It boggles the mind.
Dungee was initially sentenced to death. However, the sentence was overturned on appeal because the court felt pre-trail publicity had prejudiced the jury. Dungee was resentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. He died in prison on April 4, 2016.
Whew. What a long strange trip this has been. It just proves what I always say: There's a story behind every grave. You never know what you're missing when you walk past one....
Grave Tales:
My novel Chapel Street is now available! You can buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble. Chapel Street is the tale of a young man battling a demonic entity that has driven members of his family to suicide for generations. It was inspired by an actual haunting.
Learn more about the book, click
Here.
Listen to me read some chapters here:
Read about the true haunting that inspired the novel here:
The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 1, An IntroductionThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 2, The HouseThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 3, This Is UsThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 4, ArrivalThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 5, MethodologyThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 6, Clara's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 7, Clara's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 8, My Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 9, My Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 10, My Tale, Pt. 3The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 11, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 12, Natalia's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 13, John's Tale, Pt. 1 The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 14, John's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 15, Come Inside!The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 16, Marion's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 17, Marion's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 18, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 19, Jeanne's Tale, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 20, Lisa's TaleThe Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 21, Recap, Pt. 1The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 22, Recap, Pt. 2The Haunting of 21 St. Helens Avenue, Part 23, Recap, Pt. 3
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