Two Die in Motorcycle Accident; Gerald Avila; Patterson Youths Victims of Mishap on Paradise Road; The treacherous motorcycle claimed two more victims Thursday night of last week when Keith Disbrow, 18 year old Patterson high student, and Gerald Avila, 22, were killed as a result of Avila s failure to make a turn in the Paradise Road about, three miles west of Modesto. Disbrow died instantly when he landed on his head, incurring a fractured neck and badly crushed head. Avila received a fractured skull and internal injuries. He was taken to a Modesto hospital, where he passed away shortly before noon the following day. The fatal trip was taken against the wishes of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Disbrow, parents of Keith, who had urged them to take their car, instead of riding tandem on the one machine. Keith s motorcycle had a weak tire and his father had refused to allow him to use it until another arrived. The boys planned to attend a meeting of the Modesto Motorcycle Club and Avila opposed using the car, declaring that it would look funny to go to a motorcycle session in an automobile. So they went off on the machine after promising to be careful. According to officials of the Modesto club, the boys were not members and left before the meeting started. They were en route home about nine o clock when the mishap occurred.

Was Not Speeding; Reports circulated after the tragedy that the motorcycle was going "ninety to a hundred miles an hour" are disbelieved by the parents of the dead youths. Disbrow Sr., Crows Landing garage operator and former insurance company investigator, and trained to study such mishaps. has been conducting his own survey of the crash this week, and believes that the youths had been forced off the road by a passing car or had been blinded by glaring headlights so that they could not see the turn. This is based on tracks found, showing that the motorcycle, had traveled along the right hand shoulder of the highway for some distance before going into the field at the turn or rather slight bend to the left in the road, where the mishap took place. "If they had been making high speed, they would have tended to take the opposite side of the road to make the bend without slowing down," he said. "Further, the machine struck a slight bank, about 18 inches high, and if they had been making excessive speed, that would have been enough to hurl them high in the air. Instead, they went over it and into the fence beyond, which crossed their path. I do not think they were traveling over fifty miles an hour. "Marks in the dirt and on my son's shoes showed that he had dragged his feet after leaving the road in an attempt to halt the machine. They had evidently crashed into the fence in preference to trying to turn, believing that they could go through the wire with less risk. "Here a puzzling factor presented itself, as it was difficult to see how the collision with the fence could result in such a terrific blow, as the wire and light wooden post broken off could not have been serious obstacles. But further investigation revealed a heavy wire cable over half an inch thick used as a guy wire to brace the post and this had undoubtedly caused the fatal crash." The fence was 120 feet from the point where the tracks left the highway, Disbrow said. His son was thrown off at that point, while Avila stuck with the machine, which went a short way into the field before toppling over. The only other contributing cause to the tragedy that could be ascertained by investigating officers was the report of a Modesto motorcycle dealer, who had tuned up Avila s machine prior to the mishap. He had tried it out and, on returning. called Avila's attention to the fact that the headlights were extremely dim, visibility being only a few yards. However, the moon was bright that night, so this might not have been a factor.

Prominent West Sider Is Instantly Killed When Horse Stumbles in Hills; Body of Frank Cox, Westley Rancher, Carried Out of Rugged Section Above the Narrows of Orestimba Creek after Long Effort. Hurled over his horse s head as the animal stumbled on a precipitous slope in the Coast Range nearly twenty-five miles east of Newman Sunday morning, Frank Cox of Westley was instantly killed when his head struck a small outcropping of rock. The tragedy occurred in an almost inaccessible spot on Wilcox Ridge in the upper reaches of the Orestimba Canyon, beyond the Narrows, six miles from the nearest point a car could reach— Fig Flat. The accident occurred about 10 a.m. It was three hours later before a phone could be reached and in the meantime a storm broke which greatly complicated the problem of getting the body out, and it was 4 a.m. Monday before an exhausted crew of 21 men struggled into the Robinson Camp, five miles below Fig Flat, with the remains.

Surveying Trails; Cox was one of a party of five which were spending the day in scouting the upper Orestimba region for the purpose of finding feasible routes for fire roads. Cox was a director of the West Stanislaus Rural Fire District and Chief 0. S. Ball had also expected to accompany them but was detained by other appointments. Others in the group were John Delphia, Kent Ordway, George Rettig, who was to operate the bulldozer on the road job, and Dick Cothran, Oak Flat Ranch employee, who was the iron man of the episode. Ordway also expended extraordinary effort in the work. Take Short Cut The patty had decided to take a short cut down the ridge, an extremely long and steep slope, but had not gone far until the going got tough. Ordway called back to Cox to watch out but Frank replied , "Oh, I'm all right," and passed the warning on back to Delphia. But just then Cox' horse lost his footing, and the fatal mishap followed in the twinkling of an eye. Cox struck on his forehead , crushing the skull as he fell. Ordway was closest to him as he started to roll. Kent made a flying leap and seized the body, preventing it from rolling on down to the bottom hundreds of feet below. As he did so , the startled horses of other party members above dislodged large fragments of rock and they rolled down, Ordway just getting out of the way as they came. It had been dry until that time, but even as the dazed members of the party were trying to realize the catastrophe that had struck, it began to rain and they had to face a serious problem in getting the body out. It was finally decided that Ordway and Delphia should go back for help while Rettig and Cothran carried the body out on Cox' horse They led the animal, tuning their own mounts loose. Bur it soon proved impractical for the horse to carry the load on the steepest portions and the body was taken off while the animal was led over bad places. At one point the horse almost slipped off and Cothran boosted his hind quarters back on almost bodily. But a moment later the animal slipped again and this time he went several hundred feet to the bottom of the canyon, striking an oak tree which killed him instantly.

Forced to Quit; About half a mile of progress had been attained when this happened, Rettig and Cothran struggled on and managed to work their way to the bottom of the canyon, another half mile, carrying the remains. But here Rettig collapsed and Cothran left the body there while he aided Rettig to go on through the storm, reaching the Robinson Camp about 3:30 in the afternoon. Hal Davis and Frank Vincent had left Newman for the scene immediately after word was received, meeting the two men there. In the meantime, Delphia had driven to Patterson to seek additional help and Jack Rose, John Moreno, Austin Moore and Eddie Borba had left here to lend their assistance. With a stretcher, a party of four, comprising Jack Cox, brother of the deceased, Ordway, Ball and the indomitable Cotham, headed back for the body. Others awaited the arrival of lanterns before following after them. When the four reached the point where the task had been abandoned, they placed the body on a stretcher and had packed it four miles to the western entrance to The Narrows, the most dangerous stretch of the return journey. Here they were met by the others about 1:15 a.m., after a difficult struggle along the slippery trail.

Two Die in Motorcycle Accident; Gerald Avila; Patterson Youths Victims of Mishap on Paradise Road; The treacherous motorcycle claimed two more victims Thursday night of last week when Keith Disbrow, 18 year old Patterson high student, and Gerald Avila, 22, were killed as a result of Avila s failure to make a turn in the Paradise Road about, three miles west of Modesto. Disbrow died instantly when he landed on his head, incurring a fractured neck and badly crushed head. Avila received a fractured skull and internal injuries. He was taken to a Modesto hospital, where he passed away shortly before noon the following day. The fatal trip was taken against the wishes of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Disbrow, parents of Keith, who had urged them to take their car, instead of riding tandem on the one machine. Keith s motorcycle had a weak tire and his father had refused to allow him to use it until another arrived. The boys planned to attend a meeting of the Modesto Motorcycle Club and Avila opposed using the car, declaring that it would look funny to go to a motorcycle session in an automobile. So they went off on the machine after promising to be careful. According to officials of the Modesto club, the boys were not members and left before the meeting started. They were en route home about nine o clock when the mishap occurred.

Was Not Speeding; Reports circulated after the tragedy that the motorcycle was going "ninety to a hundred miles an hour" are disbelieved by the parents of the dead youths. Disbrow Sr., Crows Landing garage operator and former insurance company investigator, and trained to study such mishaps. has been conducting his own survey of the crash this week, and believes that the youths had been forced off the road by a passing car or had been blinded by glaring headlights so that they could not see the turn. This is based on tracks found, showing that the motorcycle, had traveled along the right hand shoulder of the highway for some distance before going into the field at the turn or rather slight bend to the left in the road, where the mishap took place. "If they had been making high speed, they would have tended to take the opposite side of the road to make the bend without slowing down," he said. "Further, the machine struck a slight bank, about 18 inches high, and if they had been making excessive speed, that would have been enough to hurl them high in the air. Instead, they went over it and into the fence beyond, which crossed their path. I do not think they were traveling over fifty miles an hour. "Marks in the dirt and on my son's shoes showed that he had dragged his feet after leaving the road in an attempt to halt the machine. They had evidently crashed into the fence in preference to trying to turn, believing that they could go through the wire with less risk. "Here a puzzling factor presented itself, as it was difficult to see how the collision with the fence could result in such a terrific blow, as the wire and light wooden post broken off could not have been serious obstacles. But further investigation revealed a heavy wire cable over half an inch thick used as a guy wire to brace the post and this had undoubtedly caused the fatal crash." The fence was 120 feet from the point where the tracks left the highway, Disbrow said. His son was thrown off at that point, while Avila stuck with the machine, which went a short way into the field before toppling over. The only other contributing cause to the tragedy that could be ascertained by investigating officers was the report of a Modesto motorcycle dealer, who had tuned up Avila s machine prior to the mishap. He had tried it out and, on returning. called Avila's attention to the fact that the headlights were extremely dim, visibility being only a few yards. However, the moon was bright that night, so this might not have been a factor.