CHARLESTON (AP) – Three youths were killed early Sunday, as their car swerved off the road sideswiping a utility pole and running headlong into a tree on Wappo Road.

Coroner Jennings Cauthen identified the trio as James D. Chalmers, 20, of 1359 N. Edgewater Dr., George D. Tharp, 20, of 318 Millcreek Dr. and Selina N. Branham, 21, of Rt. 1, Blythewood. Chalmers and Tharp were students at the University of South Carolina.

For the Chalmers family, tragedy struck twice in the same night.

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Three Killed In Crash

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Cauthen said he called the residence to report the death to Chalmers’ father, Dr. Arthur T. Chalmers. Mrs. Chalmers went to the bedroom to rouse her husband, but found he had died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack.

Mrs. Chalmers called Dr. Vernon W. Campbell, director of the Charleston County Hospital, who lives nearby. When he arrived he pronounced Dr. Chalmers dead. He was unaware that the younger Chalmers had been involved in an accident.

Chalmers, driver of the car, was pinned in the vehicle for almost half an hour as members of the North Charleston Rescue Squad and police worked to free him.

Both Chalmers and Tharp were former members of the St. Andrews High School football team. Tharp had been selected as a high school all American and was highly sought after as a college athlete. He had been a member of the University of South Carolina football squad for two years.

The accident occurred at about 2:30 as the car left the road in a curve near WPAL radio station.

Police said the vehicle was apparently going too fast for conditions.

Miss Branham of Rt. 1, Blythewood, was born in Columbia, the daughter of Mrs. Daisy Albert Branham and the late Clyde Branham.

A junior at Winthrop College, she graduated from Blythewood High School in 1966. Miss Branham was a member of the May court her freshman year at Winthrop and was on the Dean’s list. During the present year she was voted one of the top five best-dressed girls at Winthrop.

She was a member of Phi Upsilon Omicron, honorary home economics fraternity, and Killian Baptist Church.

Surviving Miss Branham are her mother of Blythewood; a brother, Clyde Franklin Branham of Atlanta, Ga., and paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. T. B. Branham of Elgin.

Funeral plans will be announced by Dunbar Funeral Home, Gervais Street Chapel.