Auto Deaths May Kill Kin

Detroit Free Press, November 2, 1931

What is a worse fate than being an invalid at old Eloise? Being an
invalid at Eloise and losing your family to a car accident on Halloween
night.

Clarence Gavitt received just that news the day after
Halloween in 1931. Having been an invalid at the hospital for the
previous two years his life had obviously sustained considerable
tragedy.

A year previous his then 9-year-old daughter Vera Helen
Gavitt had been struck by an automobile at McClellan and Harper Avenues
and lost her right arm.

The fatal Halloween accident occurred at the same intersection when
Vera and her mother, Amy Gavitt, stepped in front of a cab. The horror
of the tragedy was amplified by the fact that the mask wearing child was
likely in the midst of trick-or-treating.

Upon receiving news of the accident from his brother Burton, Clarence Gavitt collapsed and was reported to be near death.

A friend of Vera, Marie Talley, sustained a broken leg but survived the accident.

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The Nankin Township Historical Society

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