Debaters Wreck Car On Journey to Defeat

Four members of the Harvard Debate Council returned to Cambridge by plane Saturday night after a disastrous week's trip to Northwestern University. During the week they lost not only the tournament but the Debate Council's ramshackle 1959 Volkswagen bus, which was destroyed in a crack-up on the New York Thruway early Wednesday morning.

The accident took place about "45 minutes by slow ambulance" from Syracuse, N.Y., according to the driver, James H. McGrew '65, who broke his collarbone when he was thrown from the vehicle. The bus flipped over when McGrew tried to get back on the road after inadvertently driving onto the shoulder.

McGrew and his uninjured colleagues flew to Chicago, where they received "the sympathy but not the votes" of the judges at the tournament. They were eliminated during the preliminary rounds.

Council officials estimated the cost of the trip at $1150, including the value of the bus. Insurance will not cover the loss.