Robert J. Short, 28, log trucker, died saving an indeterminate number of persons from a runaway truck, Oregon City, Oregon, August 20, 1955. Short was hauling a load of logs on a truck when the brakes failed as he was about to enter a thoroughfare in West Linn leading to a bridge into Oregon City, where pedestrian and vehicular traffic was at a noontime peak. Sounding the horn continuously, Short steered the truck past two side streets and onto the bridge. The truck’s speed increased to 50 m.p.h. on the down grade, and Short waved an approaching automobile to the far side of the bridge. As the truck approached an intersection at the end of the bridge, the traffic signal changed to green, halting cross traffic. Continuing to steer the truck and sound the horn, Short moved to a standing position on the runningboard while shouting warnings to pedestrians as the truck passed within three feet of several parked automobiles. Then traveling at 60 m.p.h., the truck approached a concrete abutment containing the entrance to a pedestrian tunnel at the end of the street. When the truck was 75 feet from the tunnel, two boys emerged from the entrance, and Short immediately swerved the truck away from them. Forty feet from the abutment, Short leaped to the pavement, and the truck then crashed into the wall three feet from the tunnel entrance. Chains holding the load were broken by the impact, and some of the logs fell from the truck, burying Short. After being uncovered, Short was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. 43645-4069
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43645-4069