SeanPaulMurphyVille: July 2021

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 the website 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.

Every time I turned onto I-95 South from Moravia Road, I could see a large cemetery off to the left but I had no idea what it was called or how to reach it. That's very frustrating for a cemetery junkie like yours truly. Then one day I found myself playing poker with one of the caretakers. He told me that it was Beth Yehuda-Anshe Kurland Congregational Cemetery, and told me how to get there. He said I should visit, and I did. Right near the front I saw the grave of Susan Lynn Nasdor. I was drawn to her grave by her photograph. I felt a pang of sorrow looking at her smiling face. Her age compounded the sense of tragedy. She was dead at sixteen-years-old. I needed to know how this happy young woman lost her life.

Here's the story:

The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 31 December 1969, Wednesday:

Two Killed, Nine Injured As Four Cars

Collide On Jones Falls Expressway

Two persons died and nine were injured last night in a four-car crash on the Jones Falls expressway when a southbound car carrying Randallstown teen-agers hurtled across a median strip and slammed into two northbound vehicles.

A fourth automobile piled into the mass of twisted wreckage as it approached the accident scene, just south of the expressway's Northern Parkway exit.

Police said Susan Nasdor, 16, 3700 block Julian court, Randallstown, and Milton Weiner, 47, of the 3600 block Blair road, Randallstown, the owner of Car City, Inc., a Dodge dealership, were pronounced dead, Miss Nasdor at Union Memorial Hospital and Mr. Weiner, at Sinai Hospital soon after the 9:20 P.M. accident.

Taken To Sinai

Seven of the injured were taken to Sinai Hospital. Five were treated for minor injuries and released and two twin sisters were admitted with leg fractures.

Another injured man was taken to Union Memorial Hospital and treated and released.

Hospital officials identified him as Oscar Schabb, 44, of the 4700 block of Bonnie Brae.

The driver of the fourth car, William W. Holland, 53, of Sparks, Md., was taken from the scene by ambulance. The extent of his injuries are not known.

Police have charged the 16-year-old driver of the car the teen-agers were riding in with speeding and reckless driving. Has been identified as Jay Freedman, of the 3700 block Hendon road.

Other Passengers

Other passengers in the Freedman vehicle were:

PATRICIA SULLIVAN, 16, was admitted to Sinai with a broken left leg and is in satisfactory condition.

SUSAN SULLIVAN, Patricia's twin sister, was also admitted with a broken left leg in fair condition. The hospital gave the girls' address as the 800 block Painted Post road, Randallstown.

GREGORY CAMPBELL, 15, of the 3900 block Tiverton road, Randallstown. Police said that he was riding in the trunk of the car, but added that they had not yet determined why.

RANDY BROTMAN, 17, of the 2400 block Tranor avenue, Randallstown.

FRANCINE LEVINE, 16, of the 6600 block Eberle road, Randallstown.

Police said the accident apparently occurred when the car carrying the teen-agers, including the dead girl, crossed the roadway, flipped across the median strip and landed in the northbound lane.

The accident occurred in a section of the expressway which has had more wet-weather accidents than any area of the road, Hugh Liem, director of the city Department of Transit and Traffic, said today.

But when comparing the number of accidents to the vehicles which travel the expressway, the Jones Falls is safer than any "arterial street" in Baltimore, Mr. Liem said.

3rd, 4th Deaths

The deaths last night were the first this year on the city's portion of the expressway, according to statistics of the Traffic Analysis Unit of the Baltimore police department.

Seventeen people have died in traffic accidents on the city portion of the expressway since it opened in 1961, police said.

Mr. Liem said the 0.3 mile stretch of the road, just south of Northern Parkway, is one area of several on the highway "ear-marked" for a process called grooving to prevent hydroplaning by cars on wet pavement.

Grooves In Pavement

"Test by the federal government have shown that cutting continuous grooves a quarter-inch deep and about an inch apart on the highway can keep vehicles from traveling over the water on a wet road," Mr. Liem said.

Mr. Liem said a contract for the grooving is scheduled to be let in February or March and work could begin in the spring. The grooving can be done only on concrete surface, he said.

Traffic engineers have not been able to determine why the stretch where the accident occurred is more dangerous than the rest of the expressway, he said.

The teen-agers' car, police said, hurtled in the air and struck Mr. Weiner's car, sheering off the roof, and then slammed into a car driven by Mr. Schabb.

Fourth Car

The fourth car, police said, apparently slammed into the three-car wreckage as it approached the accident scene.

The teen-agers' car, police reported, stopped in the northbound lane. Its left side was crushed, its roof indented, and debris from the vehicle was stuck on the guard rail.

More than 30 police cars responded to control traffic and investigate the mishap that occurred, police said, in a driving rain.

Northbound traffic on the expressway was diverted at Cold Spring lane until fire and police emergency equipment cleared the scene about midnight.

Wow. That was a truly terrible accident. I'm sure even the survivors were permanently traumatized. I bet none of them could travel down the Jones Falls expressway again without shuddering. At least the newspaper and Baltimore City took the accident seriously, which was an interesting contrast to the death of one of my earlier subjects, Bobbi Jo Eaddy, whose death in an accident was sadly treated like little more than a rush hour annoyance. This time the Sunpapers featured a long detailed story with photographs. More importantly, the city reported that improvements where already being considered to help prevent further accidents, and the police began a serious investigation. Eventually the driver, Jay Freedman, was charged with automobile manslaughter.

Here's the results of the trial:

The Evening Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), 23 July 1970, Thursday:

Court Docket

Youth Cleared in Fatal Crash

By George Hanst

A 17-year-old driver involved in a collision that took two lives on the Jones Falls expressway December 30 was acquitted yesterday of automobile manslaughter.

The defendant, Jay L. Freedman, of the 3700 block Hendon road, "was not driving at such an excessive rate of speed as to impute criminal intent," Judge Anselm Sodaro wrote in a five-page opinion in Criminal Court.

Judge Sodaro said simple negligence is not enough to prove auto manslaughter under Maryland law, which requires a showing of gross negligence and a wanton disregard for another's life.

Young Freedman may have been driving 60 to 70 miles an hour in the southbound lanes of the expressway south of Northern parkway when the car went out of control on the rainy evening, according to evidence produced by Arrie W. Davis, prosecutor.

The driver, who was carrying five passengers in the seats and one in the trunk, told police he was going 55 miles an hour in the 50-mile speed zone.

Jumped Median Curb

Evidence shows that the car hit the median curb, jumped the guardrail, crushed the roof of a northbound car, and struck two other oncoming cars.

Killed were Susan Nasdor, 16, of the 3700 block Julian court, a passenger in the Freedman car, and Milton Weiner, 47, of the 36 block Blair avenue, driver of the first car struck.

Speed alone is ordinarily insufficient to prove gross negligence, Judge Sodaro said. He pointed out that there was no evidence of drinking or use of drugs.

Russell J. White, defense attorney, contended that water on the roadway caused the car to skid, producing a "hydroplane" effect.

He noted that the concrete highway is being grooved and gouged by engineers at several trouble spots, including the area where the accident occurred.

Without any evidence of drug or alcohol use, I found it very surprising that they charged and tried the driver. It seems to me that the public statements in the previous story by Hugh Liem about the dangers of hydroplaning in that area made the defense's case for them. The verdict was not surprising to me, but I am sure that horrible night was never far from Freedman's mind.

I was not able to track Jay Freedman with complete accuracy after the trial, but I believe he may have followed Susan Nasdor to the grave in 2004.

Remember, there is a story behind every grave. You never know what you're missing when you walk past one...

Grave Tales:

Grave Tales #1: Leopold W. Gilden

Grave Tales #2: Emanuel & Ruby Snell

Grave Tales #3: Philip "Pinky" Kandell

Grave Tales #4: Bobbi Jo Eaddy

Grave Tales #5: Anthony "Tony The Tiger" Brown

Grave Tales #6: Isidore & Solomon Gold

Grave Tales #7: Louis "Kid" Dorbert

Grave Tales #8: Maurice Goldberg

Grave Tales #9: Maria Monteferrante

Grave Tales #10: Oscar Goldstein

Grave Tales #11: James Tully

Grave Tales #12: Solomon Goldman

Grave Tales #13: Survilla Elizabeth Braverman

Grave Tales #14: Ernest & Dora Blumenfeld

Grave Tales #15: Terri Lea Sain

Grave Tales #16: Hyman Greenberg

Grave Tales #17: Sunshine Marie Royston Hillegas

Grave Tales #18: Samuel Shlian

Grave Tales #19: Gertrude Parnaby

Grave Tales #20: Susan Lynn Nasdor

Grave Tales #21: Rev. Ronald P. Pytel

Grave Tales #22: Dr. Maurice Chideckel

Grave Tales #23: Mieczyslaw "James" Zacharksi

Grave Tales #24: Yetta Palatnik

Grave Tales #25: Oscar N. Slitzer

Grave Tales #26: William Ashbie Hawkins

Grave Tales #27: Benjamin Kulpe

Grave Tales #28: Henry Nicholas John Gunther

Grave Tales #29: Philip Friedel

Grave Tales #30: Walter Ross Jester

Grave Tales #31: Thomas Bright

Grave Tales #32: John P. Brandau

Grave Tales #33: Norman Myers "Chubby" Chaney

Grave Tales #34: Isaac Winder

Grave Tales #35: Meyer Sacks

Grave Tales #36: "Commodore" Thornton Rollins

Grave Tales #37: John H. "Johnny Eck" Eckhardt

Grave Tales #38: Helena Mignon Zeigler

Grave Tales #39: Dr. James M. Morrison

Grave Tales #40: Morris M. "Miles Murphy" Snyder

Grave Tales #41: Regina Marie LaBanz Milewski

Grave Tales #42: Captain James Hooper, Jr.

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:

Chapel Street - Prologue - My Mother

Chapel Street - Chapter 1 - RestingPlace.com

Chapel Street - Chapter 2 - Elisabetta

Chapel Street - Chapter 3 - The Upload

Chapel Street - Chapter 4 - The Kobayashi Maru

Read about the true haunting that inspired the novel here: