Joseph L. Ross
Dec. 22, 1938-April 30, 1954
Niles Daily Star, Saturday, May 1, 1954, page 1, col. 2 continued page 2, col. 5, microfilm Niles District Library
Five Traffic Deaths in 24 Hours
Two Others Hurt Critically May Push Toll Higher
M-60 Accident Claims Fourth Life After a Niles boy is Killed
The death toll from traffic accidents in Berrien county in 24 hours climbed to five today—the worst tool for such a period in many years.
The toll, however, may go higher. Two more persons injured in highway mishaps are reported as critical.
An accident on M-60 near Three Oaks yesterday claimed the life of a fourth person today. An auto-motorcycle accident in Niles yesterday took the life of a 15 year-old boy. The M-60 tragedy also threatened to take the life of a fifth person, and a Coloma girl injured in an accident near Eau Claire is not expected to live.
The additional death of the person in the M-60 accident and the Niles boy raised the county's highway death toll to 12 for the year.
. . . [omitted section about other accident] . .
PROBE TRAFFIC DEATH
A coroner's jury met at 8:30 a.m. today in investigate the traffic death Friday of 15 year-old Joseph Leon Ross. His death ended the city's record of 200 days without a traffic fatality.
The boy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph N. Ross, 214 South Fifteenth street, succumbed at Pawating Hospital at 2:28 p.m. from injuries incurred at 12:30 p.m. when his motorcycle crashed into a station wagon at Main and Hickory street.
City police held the driver of the station wagon, Robert Emmett Miller, 34, of Chicago, for investigation pending the outcome of the inquest. He was detained overnight in the city jail.
According to the police accident report, the Ross boy was driving his motorcycle west on Main street on his way back to school. Miller was headed east and had missed a turn onto Oak street, the report said. When Miller reached Hickory, he made a left turn across the westbound traffic lane and crossed in front of the boy's motorcycle, the report said.
The boy was rushed to Pawating Hospital where he was treated for a compound skull fracture. He died about two hours after the accident.
Miller's wife and their children were passengers in the station wagon but were uninjured. Police said the Chicagoan's children, Robert, 7, Jean Anne, 4 and Joseph, were asleep in the rear of the station wagon at the time of the accident.
Members of the coroner's jury investigating the death are Elmer Jones, Henry Starr, Harry Blake, Richard Morris, Leon Washburn and Leo Anstiss.
Ross, a ninth grade student at Niles High School, was born Dec. 22, 1938, in Billings, Mont., the son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph N. Ross and came to Niles with his parents 13 years ago.
Surviving besides his parents are: two sisters, Ruth Elizabeth and Norma Jean, both at home; his paternal grandmother, Elsie C. Ross, Bozeman, Mont., and his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Ferguson, Doane, Ind.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday in the New Apostolic Church here, where he was a member. The Rev. Hugh Lee, pastor, will officiate, and burial will be in Silverbrook Cemetery. Friends may call at the Pifer Funeral Home until noon Monday when the body will be removed to the church.