Newspapers have obviously changed in the last 63 years. The print and paper quality, size, typeface and layouts are quite different in The Vancouver Sun but the most glaring difference is the reporting style. The photo above was published Tuesday, September 2, 1947 in the Sun’s second section, top and centre of the page. It shows onlookers at a motor vehicle accident on King George Highway, with the victim’s bleeding and battered bodies still in the car. The driver is obviously dead, blood draining from his nose.

The caption below the photo reads:

SUDDEN DEATH ON THE HIGHWAY is vividly portrayed in this on-the-spot Sun photo, showing seven victims in one smashed auto following a collision on King George Highway early Sunday. At the wheel of the auto, foreground, is Stephan P. Angrimson, 22, of 2720 East Thirty-eighth, dead. Six other passengers tossed about in the car lie crumpled and seriously injured.

The second photo below shows witnesses, one idiot with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, removing the bodies from the vehicle with not one cop or ambulance attendant in sight. The passengers didn’t enjoy the benefit of seat belts or airbags and were attended to by a group of morons. They didn’t have a chance.

The caption below the photo reads:

STARTLED WITNESSES remove the dead and injured from one of two cars involved in the early Sunday morning crash in Surrey. In the foreground lies Stephan P. Arngrimson, who was pronounced dead on arrival at Royal Columbian Hospital. Beside him lies another victim, seriously injured. Police engaged in the Surrey manhunt assisted an ambulance shuttle service in speeding the victims to hospital.

A few things stuck me when I saw these photos in an original copy of The Vancouver Sun given to me by my neighbour. Firstly, the fact that the newspaper photographer managed to take pictures of the accident before anyone had offered assistance to the victims. He/She took the time to find the right angle for best effect, shoot a few pictures and then continue to photograph the carnage. The onlookers are casually milling about in the background with hands in pockets, smoking cigarettes with injured and dead victims in the car and gasoline leaking from the vehicle.

Were people really void of compassion or so unwilling to help back in 1947? Can you imagine the scene now, 10 people with WCB first aid certification helping the injured, nobody smoking a cigarette and the sea of emergency workers on the scene with state-of-the-art medical equipment and techniques to save the lives of the victims.

Times have changed and you frequently hear old farts referring to the good old days. Yeah life was simpler years ago but, according to these pictures, life wasn’t really that good if you were in a traffic accident in 1947.

Please excuse the quality of the image scans but newspaper is notoriously difficult to scan, especially newspapers that are almost 63 years old.

  • Share/Bookmark