Obituaries (May 22)

Clayton Tong & Charles Collins, Jr.

Republican Press, Salamanca, NY, November 6, 1939

St. Bonaventure college authorities reported today that Clayton Tong, twenty-two, president of the senior class and a member of the varsity football team, was killed today when the car in which he was a passenger left the highway near Delevan.  Tong was returning here from Buffalo, where he played in the St. Bonaventure-Canisius game yesterday.  A companion Charles Collins, Jr., of Norwich, N.Y. [Chenango Co.], a junior student, was reported injured, He was nineteen years old.  Tong was a graduate of Corning (N.Y.) Free Academy.

Tong died almost instantly of a fractured neck, state troopers reported after investigating the accident.  He was driver of the car, a roadster, several years old, owned by Daniel McCarthy of St. Bonaventure, the troopers said.  Collins was the most seriously injured of the six young people riding in the car. He received lacerations of the face and head.  Others injured were:  Richard Freancy, twenty, Olean, shock and bruises; James McLean, nineteen, Rome, lacerations and bruises about the head;  Jane Seitler, nineteen, Olean, shock; Margaret Root, Olean, lacerations and shock.

The car in which the students were riding was headed south on the Buffalo-Olean highway about a mile north of Yorkshire Corners when the accident occurred, the state police reported. The car crashed into a truck, traveling in the opposite direction, then careened into a parked bus and finally crashed into the ditch.  The bus had been chartered from the Buffalo & Erie Coach company to carry St. Bonaventure students to the football game.  It was returning to Allegany at the time of the accident.  The bus carrying the students is reported to have been stalled on the highway and another bus was sent out by the company.  The second bus had pushed the stalled machine from the highway to the shoulder of the road, and the two busses were standing there when the car driven by Tong came up behind them.  As the car passed the busses, Tong apparently lost control, the troopers said, and the car swerved into the side of a truck driven by Albert Lamb of friendship and headed north. The car then was tossed to the other side of the road and rammed into the side of one of the busses before crashing into the ditch. The damaged bus was driven by Leon Fay of Olean.  Troopers reported that four of the young people were riding in the front seat of the roadster driven by Tong, and two were riding in the rumble seat.

Ambulances from Delevan and Arcade took the injured to an Olean hospital.  Coroner Carl J. Hosmer of Olean is investigating the accident. The highway was wet with rain and melted snow at the time of the accident, troopers said.

The Evening Ledger, Corning, NY, November 6, 1939

Clayton Tong, 1916-1939

Yearbook Photo, Corning Free Academy

Word was received here this morning of the accident which cost the life of Mr. Tong, 377 East Second street, president of the senior class of St. Bonaventure College. The tragedy occurred near Olean as Mr. Tong--guard on the St. Bonaventure football team--was returning from Buffalo to St. Bonaventure after his college's gridiron clash with Canisius.  St. Bonaventure College was plunged in mourning today, saddened by the death of its senior class president, Mr. Tong, who was fatally injured in an automobile accident near Yorkshire early this morning.  Death was almost instant, the Corningite receiving a broken neck and a broken right leg when the car he was driving to St. Bonaventure collided with another machine on Route 16 about 33 miles from Olean, Coroner Carl J. Hosmer said.  Coroner Hosmer said today that the Corningite started to pass two buses which were transporting the St. Bonaventure band and as he swerved into the highway his car was involved in a collision with an approaching vehicle driven by Robert Brennan of Arcade. Charles Collins of Norwich a passenger in the Arcade man's car, received cuts about the face and suffered from loss of blood.  His condition was described as "fair" today at the Olean Hospital.  Visibility was poor and the highway was slippery with sleet and snow, Coroner Hosmer said.  The cars did not strike head on, the machine driven by the Corningite glancing off the side of the Arcade machine and leaving the highway, Coroner Hosmer said. The car did not overturn nor were there any culverts for it to strike according to the Coroner.

Clayton Tong was born in Tioga, Pa., January 24, 1916, the son of Mrs. Blanche Tong Gee of Elkland, Pa. and the late Raymond L. Tong.  He received his early education in the public schools at Elkland, coming to Corning when he was 13 to enter Corning Free Academy.  He made his home here with Mr. and Mrs. George H. Richardson, 377 East Second street.  It was on the CFA Gridiron that he was given the nickname, "Joe Brown," by which he was known to many.  He captained the varsity football squad in his Senior year.  He graduated in June, 1934.

After working a year at Corning Glass Works, Mr. Tong entered St. Bonaventure College to prepare for a career in law.  He was honored in his sophomore year by being elected president of his class, an honor which was again given him as a Senior.  A private in Corning's National Guard unit, Company H, for two years, he continued his military service in the Reserve Officers Training Corps at St. Bonaventure where he was recently given the ROTC's highest honor.  He was elevated in rank to Lieutenant Colonel and named "commander" of his company.

Mr. Tong entered St. Bonaventure on a scholarship.  He was a member of the St. Bonaventure varsity football squad for three years, earning his first letter in his sophomore year.  He had started regularly at right  guard in the St Bonaventure line up this season.

His determination to succeed and his genial disposition won him many friends on the St. Bonaventure campus and in Corning.  He is survived by his mother, four sisters and brothers, Mrs. Ruth Webster, Wellsboro, Pa.; Mrs. Mildred Edmister, Painted Posit, Theodore and Stewart Tong of Coopers Plains and a stepbrother, Arthur Borden of Elkland, Pa.  The body was brought today to the family home at Elkland for funeral services tentatively set for Thursday.

Chenango Telegraph, November 10, 1939

Charles J. Collins, 1918-1939

Yearbook Photo, Norwich High School

Charles J. Collins, 21, son of Jerry and Mae Ganley Collins of 59 Rexford street [Norwich, Chenango Co., NY], died at 3:05 Wednesday afternoon at St. Francis Hospital, Olean.  Mr. Collins was the second victim of an automobile crash which cost the life also of Clayton Tong of Corning, senior class president and varsity football member at St. Bonaventure college, early Monday morning.

Mr. Collins' death resulted from a fractured skull and internal injuries.  Born in Norwich September 26, 1918, Charles J. Collins was graduated from Norwich high school in 1937 and entered St. Bonaventure college that fall. A member of the junior class he was prominent in campus life  He was a member of the Central New York Club at the college, an officer in the reserve officers' training corps and popular with his associates.  The body was brought to this city where services will be held from the family home at 9:30 Monday morning and at St. Paul's church at 10 o'clock, where the pastor, Rev. Father Charles M. Coveney, will officiate. Burial will be made in the family plot at St. Paul's cemetery [Norwich, NY].  Besides his parents there survive also a brother, Jerry C. Collins, Jr., who is a student at St. Bonaventure; his grandmother, Mrs. Charles H. Ganley, and his grandfather, John M. Collins, besides a legion of friends.

The accident which caused fatal injuries to Tong and Collins occurred early Monday morning at Yorkshire Corners near Olean, according to a report by State Trooper Ralph A. Gibson who investigated.  Mr. Tong, the report said, was driving the car which was registered in the name of Daniel F .McCarthy of St. Bonaventure, as owner.  James McLean, 19, of Rome, another occupant of the ill-fated car, suffered a cut over his right eye and Richard Freaney, 20, of Olean, escaped with bruises and shock.  Two other occupants of the car, state police reported were the Misses Jane Seitler and Margaret Root, both of Olean, who suffered minor lacerations and shock. They did not require hospitalization.  Mr. Tong died which en route to the hospital, having suffer a broken neck and right leg.  The party was returning from the Canisius-St. Bonaventure football game,  played Sunday afternoon at Buffalo in which Tong had participated, playing right guard.

Coroner Carl J. Hosmer said the students and the party were riding south on the Olean road when they sideswiped a truck and then caromed against a bus.  The driver of the truck was Albert Lamb of Friendship while at the wheel of the bus was Leon Fay of Olean.  

While his condition was critical from the first and he had failed to regain consciousness, news of the death of Mr. Collins, received here Wednesday afternoon was a shock to all.  At St. Bonaventure, he was working for a degree of bachelor of arts.

Collins Funeral

Friends and relatives and members of the student body at St. Bonaventure filled St. Paul's church to capacity Monday morning for funeral services for Charles J. Collins. Services at the family residence, 59 Rexford street at 10:30 were followed at 11 o'clock by the church service where a solemn high mass was celebrated.  Officiating at the mass were Rev. Father Arthur Brophy, OFM, acting as celebrant; Rev. Father Canisius Connor, OFM, deacon, and Rev Father Aubert Conlon, OFM, as sub-deacon, all from St. Bonaventure college. Rev. Father Francis Murphy of St. Paul's church served as master of ceremonies  In the sanctuary were Rev Father Cornelius Madden, OFM, of St. Bonaventure; Rev. Father A.J Ruppert of Utica; Rev. Father Walter A Sinnott of St. Bartholomew's church and Rev. Father Charles M. Coveny of St. Paul's Chruch.

Music of the service was by the seminary choir of St. Bonaventure with Rev. Father Claude Kean, OFM, as organist.  Mr. Collins, fatally injured in a motor accident a week ago, was a member of the reserve officers' training corps.  Full military honors were paid to him Monday by Norwich Post of the American legion.  Honorary bearers at the rites were David Miner, Joseph Gallagher, John Weiler, William Lyons, Francis McInerney, John Mulligan, Clarence Barnes and Buddy O'Brien.  Active bearers, all classmates at St. Bonaventure, were: Robert Cullings, Joseph Burke, Joseph Nastri, Lawrence Hausher, Daniel McCarthy and William Grace.

Burial was made in the family plot at St. Paul's cemetery where the seminary choir also sang. Rev. Father Murphy officiated at the committal service.  Members of the Legion color guard, commanded by Gordon Ingalls and S.J. Johnson served as an escort. A volley to the dead was fired by the Legion firing squad commanded by Chester Smith and taps were sounded.  In addition to a delegation of ROTC officers from St Bonaventure, a delegation of 40 students also attended the services.