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82 YEAR OLD BOYD MAN DIES AFTER COLLISION An 82 year old Boyd resident was killed and fifteen other persons injured at 9:15 o'clock last night in one on the bloodiest automobile crashes in Chippewa county history. Dead was Ludger Beaudin of Boyd, driver of one of three vehicles involved in the freak accident on highway 29 aproximately three and one half miles west of Stanley near the junction of 29 and county highway "G." County Traffic Officers Max Brookshaw and Roy Stordahl, who arrived at the accident scene before the dust of the crash had settled, stated today that the accident resulted in the largest total of personal injuries in their experience as enforcement officers. Briefly, here is the way the accident happened: A truck driven by Emil Forrest of Bloomer was proceeding east on highway 29 when a car driven west on 29 by Ludger Beaudin swerved into the side of the semi trailer. The impact threw the Beaudin car into the south lane of traffic when it was met head on by a car driven by William Kroeplin, 37, Route 2, Stanley. In the Kroeplin car were the driver, his wife, Lorraine; seven children ranging in age from seven months to 13 years; and one niece and one nephew of the Kroeplins. In the Beaudin car were the deceased's brother, Peter, age 80, of Portland, Oregon, a rural Withee man, and his two sons, age 15 and 9. Ludger Beaudin died at 7 o'clock this morning at Victory Memorial Hospital, Stanley. His head and jaw made open by the crash. Peter Beaudin suffered severe facial cuts; Edward Mercier, 57, of Rt. 2, Withee, suffered a badly broken ankle; his son , Edwin Mercier, 15, suffered severe head injuries; and another son, Peter Mercier, age 9, escaped with bruises. All were in the Beaudin car at the time of the crash. Chippewa Harold Telegram, June 6, 1955. Contributed by Clair Mercier Talyai
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