Camden Courier-Post – Feburary 4, 1938
Four persons in a small coupe were injured last night when the machine crashed into a pole at Seventeenth Street and Admiral Wilson Boulevard during a dense fog.
The car broke off a telephone pole at the base, strewing live wires on the highway. Traffic was detoured until the damage could be repaired by Bell Telephone Company linemen.
The fog, which covered Camden and its suburbs like a blanket, grounded air liners at Central Airport, slowed up motor traffic on highways and the Camden bridge.
Thomas Tomlinson, 18, of Oak Avenue, Delaware Township, was taking driving lessons in a car he purchased a week ago when he crashed into the pole. Police said three passengers were crowded in the front seat and three more in a rumble seat.
Tomlinson was driving on a student’s permit and was accompanied by Allen Filer, 20, a licensed driver, of 713 Grant Street, police learned, Filer is in Cooper Hospital with a fractured right leg. His brother, William, 18, suffered a possible concussion of the brain and is in the same hospital. Tomlinson received bruises of the right leg and arm and was treated at Cooper Hospital.
Samuel McCall, 18, of 708 Bailey Street, was taken to West Jersey Hospital, where he was treated for cuts of the nose. He told police there that someone struck him with a bottle and he would get his assailant later. When taken to police headquarters. McCall was confronted by the others and admitted he was injured in the automobile accident, City Detective Benjamin Simon said.
Mary Williamson, 18, and Eleanor Shockley, 16, both of 625 North Front Street, escaped with a few minor bruises.
Delaware river ferryboats were operated with caution as the view of pilots was obscured, by the density of the fog. Whistles were blown continuously and fog bells rang throughout the night.
Automobiles and buses were slowed down to five miles an hour by thick fog in the suburbs, especially in lowlands and near meadows.
The airport reported all local planes grounded and no airliners were making a call here.
The Weather Bureau forecast indicated it will be colder and cloudy today. The cloudiness will increase tomorrow followed by rain at night.
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