PIERCE

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Friday, July 20, 2007 at 05:12:25 :

Independent Journal
Saturday, July 2, 1949
Page 1

H.F. Airman Killed At Black Point

Marin’s first Independence holiday death was reported early this morning when a young Hamilton Field air force pilot lost his life on the Black Point cut-off road. Six other persons were seriously injured in two accidents on Highway 101 in the county.

Lt. Thomas Peirce, III, was killed instantly when the car he was driving failed to make a 90 degree angle curve on the Marin side of the Black Point bridge which __?__ Marin and Sonoma counties at the Petaluma creek.

The accident occurred at 2:30 a.m. Joseph Wayne, bridge tender, said he heard the accident but darkness prevented him seeing it. He called the coroner’s office.

Deputy Coroner Frank Keaton said the car, a 1939 convertible coupe, started into a skid less than 70 feet from the bridge and scraped at a high speed for 168 feet more along an embankment.

Peirce was thrown out and apparently the car bounded over him, crushing his skull. His body lay about 50 feet from the car alongside the road. The car, completely demolished, came to a stop in the middle of the road.

An unidentified motorist said he was going 60 miles an hour when the officer’s car sped past him on the Sonoma section of the bridge approach.