Gordon N. Jones, 51, truck driver, died saving an indeterminate person or persons from a runaway truck, Whitehall, Montana, April 27, 1950. While driving on a highway in a trailer-truck, Jones began descending a hill which had a five per cent down-grade for three-quarters of a mile. He applied brakes; but the truck, which was fully-loaded and weighed 35 tons, continued downward at increasing speed. A half-mile from the crest of the hill, awaiting clearance to proceed through a construction zone, was a line of parked vehicles including a bus carrying 34 passengers. Jones remained at the steering-wheel and sounded the horn continuously as the truck attained a speed of more than 50 m.p.h. A man riding with Jones proposed that they jump from the cab, but Jones replied that he intended to drive the truck past the bus. The other man jumped, escaping serious injury. Swerving away from the bus and the other vehicles, Jones guided the truck to the end of the pavement and entered the construction area. He attempted to steer to an unobstructed part of the roadway, but the truck crashed into a bulldozer and was demolished. Jones sustained a broken back and other injuries and died eight hours later. 42143-3719
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