Blair County PA Archives Obituaries.....Shaffer, Clarence E.  April 18, 1915
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Dave Roberts DavidARoberts@clear.net November 21, 2012, 7:38 pm

The Tyrone Herald 4/22/1915
HORRIBLE AUTO WRECK NEAR VAIL.
Dr. C. E. Shaffer, of Windber, Killed, 5 Others Injured.
One of the most horrible accidents that has occurred in or near Tyrone since 
the big wreck on the Middle division two years ago was on Sunday evening when 
Dr. Clarence E. Shaffer, of Windber, was killed in an automobile accident near 
Vail, when his motor car crashed into a ditch, turned turtle three times, 
fatally injured the drive and injured five other occupants.
The dead:
Dr. Clarence E. Shaffer, a pharmacist, of Windber, owner and driver of the 
car.  He had his neck broken and was injured internally.
The injured:
John J. Murray, 413 Howard avenue, Altoona; fracture of the seventh rib, side 
and lacerated wounds on right leg and right thigh.  Taken home; condition not 
serious.
Wilbur E. Shaffer, 413 Howard avenue, Altoona, brother of deceased; lacerated 
wounds of the right hand and left leg.
Mrs. John J. McMurray, 413 Howard avenue, sister of deceased; lacerated wounds 
of the body, suffering from shock; condition not serious.
R. S. McGraw, Windber; lacerated wounds on left hand and wrist and on right 
wrist and right thigh.
Richard Hill, Windber; lacerated wounds of the left leg.  Now serious.
Dr. Shaffer had motored to Altoona, Sunday morning, accompanied by McGraw and 
Hill.  There they were joined by the McMurrays and Wilbur Shaffer. Motoring to 
Philipsburg the party spent some time at a cemetery where Dr. Shaffer’s wife, 
who died several years ago, is buried.
On the return trip the car was moving along slowly, owing to the dusty 
condition of the highways and numerous vehicles en route to and from Tyrone.  
At 5:25 the machine was nearing Vail station when another car passed, leaving a 
cloud of dust.  The driver was unable to see the road for a minute and then 
suddenly discovered another machine a few feet ahead.  In endeavoring to clear 
the other car Shaffer’s vehicle skidded and alighted fully two and half feet 
lower.  A wheel collapsed and the machine ran fifty feet before crashing 
through a wire fence and turning turtle.
The occupants of the car were hurled from the heavy body, with the exception of 
Dr. Shaffer, who was caught and pinned beneath the steering wheel the second 
time the car turned.  That all were not killed seems miraculous.  The car was 
entirely empty when it landed the third time.  The handsome machine was 
completely demolished and looked like a pile of old rubbish when viewed by a 
reporter of this paper shortly after the accident occurred.  Pieces of the car 
were found twenty-five feet away from where the car stopped.  A large root of a 
tree protruded through the body of the car near the rear seat.
A party of Tyrone motorists preceding the Shaffer car hastily came to the 
rescue.  Messages were sent to Tyrone by a motorcyclist, and Dr. R. L. Piper, 
who chanced to be close at hand, was summoned.  The injured were taken to the 
physician’s office and later were taken in the car of Aaron Fleck, of Altoona, 
to the McMurray home.
Wilbur Shaffer was interviewed by a reporter Sunday night relative to the 
accident.  Shaffer told the story as already related, saving:
“I can remember nothing more except feeling a pain in my left leg.  People were 
gathering about us and helping us away from the car, which lay at right angles 
to the road, which was twenty feel away.”
Last week the car, which was a six-cylinder Mitchell machine, was purchased in 
Pittsburg, and on Saturday it was brought to Windber.  It was making its 
initial trip yesterday.  It is a total wreck.
Clarence E. Shaffer was born in Hazelton, on December 15, 1877, and was the son 
of Mrs. And Mrs. William H. Shaffer, the latter being deceased.  He studied 
pharmacy in the store of W. H. Eurgoon, of Altoona, when quite a young man.  
Later he graduated from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy.
He was married but his wife died three years ago.  He conducted stores in 
Barnesboro and Cresson and had been located for the past five years at 
Windber.  His father survives, with these brothers and sisters; Frank, Mrs. 
Mary Wagner, Wilbur, all of Altoona, and Miss Edna of Massilon, Ohio.  Dr. 
Shaffer was a member of the Windber Methodist Episcopal church.
His body was taken to the rooms of Undertaker Graham and Monday removed to the 
home of his sister, Howard avenue, Altoona.
William H. Shaffer, aged 70, father of the deceased, was prostrated by the news 
of his son’s demise.


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