Hanley’s machine ploughed into the rear of the Farley car, tearing a hole in the gasoline tank. The lamps ignited the gasoline and an explosion followed which sent several gallons of burning fluid upon the road.
It was into this that Miss Cushing and Mason fell when they were thrown from the public machine by the impact. The young woman was made unconscious by the fall and was lying helpless in the centre of the fire when she was rescued with considerable difficulty by H. C. Wilcox of Beverly, who was driving by on the road. He rolled her in an automobile robe and, after extinguishing the flames, took her to the Lynn Hospital. There it was said there was practically no chance of her recovery. She was burned from head to foot and had inhaled much of the flames.
Mason was rescued by Dr. Newton A. Stone of Somerville, a Cambridge dentist, who heard the explosion and saw the glare of flames while driving in his machine farther down the road. He put out the fire about Mason with auto robes, assisted by the passengers of the public machine who had recovered from their shock. The dentist worked over him while another man drove his machine to Union Hospital, Lynn. Mason’s burns were so severe that his name was immediately placed on the danger list.
In the excitement which followed the wreck, it was believed that Hanley, the driver of the public car, had been burned alive. A half-hour later, however, he was discovered in a cottage off Wilson road. His clothing was ignited by the explosion, and he was hurled over the road upon the sand, his clothes a mass of flames.
He had to run toward the surf, but was seriously burned before he could reach the water, some 50 yards away. After he had extinguished the flames himself, he made his way to a cottage and sank exhausted on the piazza. Later he was removed to Lynn Hospital, where it was stated his burns were serious, but probably would not prove fatal. He was burned about the face and upper part of the body and the flames had entered his mouth, burning his tongue and throat.
Before the Nahant fire department could reach the scene both automobiles were destroyed. The Farley machine had been badly wrecked by the collision and the public car was telescoped. In the latter machine were Mr. and Mrs. Frank Hanley of Lynn, Arthur Wright of Fiske avenue, Lynn, and Leo Sale of Lynn, besides those who were burned. They were all more or less bruised.