Physician gives probable cause of Milley blackout

              A hearing into the ramming of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway by a tugboat and two barges was recessed Wednesday afternoon after establishing, according to a physician, the pilot of the tug "probably blacked out because of heat exhaustion and loss of body fluids."
I     Lt.   Charles   H.   Denmark, conducting the  Coast Guard hearing, announced that the only witness left to be heard is Continental Trailways bus driver Ernest N. Vaughn, who is   convalescing   in   Ochsner Foundation Hospital after internal surgery/ The crash into the Causeway opened a huge gap into which the bus plunged, killing six persons June 16.
Vaughn's testimony may be taken from his bed, Lt. Den-
—Photo by The Times-Picayune.
wDR. JOHN BALL
Supports mate's story.
Cont. in Sec. 1, Page 27, Col. 1
Milley said when he actually regained his senses, he had life-jackets out and was on the barge   trying   to   help
io.
on  the people aboard. He said he aided one of
(Continued from Page 1)
slept p. m,
until about 4:30  or
the two survivors, S/Sgt. William Cockerham, on the vessel and got him to the galley and gave him some coffee. MEDICAL   BACKGROUND The  medical background of Milley was brought out, including a discharge from the United States   Marine   Corps   during ir-jboot camp in California. Milley ! said he was never told just why
guess it was about 5 p. m.the Marines discharged him. when we started making up the;   But, Milley said, it was dis-tow. We got under way about closed during a visit at Charity midnight."
Denmark asked Milley if he could swim. He said he could not.
MILLEY TESTIFIES
Milley was reminded by Denmark that, "didn't you in mak-
H o s-p.i t a 1 he had rheumatic
Ing up the tow unfoul a Jine in the propeller by going down and doing this?"
"I tied a rope around myself and didn't have to swim," answered Milley. Milley testified he had been working on the tugboat 12 hours a day for 16 straight days up to the time of the accident. He and   the   tug's   captain,   Ned Palmer, had run the boat by themselves "for about four or five days when two of our crew
quit." He said a third man wa added, though, apparently referring to deckhand Harold Robin, who testified June 17 with Palmer at the first session of the hearing.
The tug was turned over to | him   by   Palmer   "about   five | minutes after we cast off," Mil-ley said. He said shortly before the collision he used the spotlight to make sure of his position   opposite   the   Causeway drawbridge,  then reported his position to his office by radio. "I  blacked  out  then   and don't remember anything else until it was all over," Milley continued.   At   the   time   he passed out, Milley estimated, he was two and one-half miles from the Causeway going at three or fou? knots in speed.
When   he   came said,  he was  still
mark said. "He is the only other called for help. "Later witness   we'll  hear  testimony ize.d tnat the tow had
to,   Millej dazed.  He real t the
from," Denmark explained. FIVE WITNESSES HEARD
Five witnesses gave their versions at the Customhouse of the fatal incident.
bridge," he added.
fever. About six months later,
he had a recurrence of the disease.
Milley also testified he had blacked out twice before, but had failed to tell his employers' doctors about it. Asked why he didn't tell the doctors, Milley said, "another doctor had told me I was in good condition."
Milley's medical testimony was corroborated by Dr. John Ball, an internal medicine spe cialist at Touro Infirmary. He said Milley's trouble was tha he had become used to a salt-free diet at Charity Hospital and simply did not eat enough salt to "keep him out of trouble."
LOSS OF BODY FLUIDS Dr.   Ball   said   finely   tunec and healthy athletes are often felled because of loss of body fluids and lack of salt.
The doctor said he felt the blackout was a cumulative thing . . . "not something that happened the day of the accident; it had been building up."
In response to a question, Dr. Ball said it was possible a person who has had rheumatic ■ever would be more susceptible ;o a blackout.
Also heard was Charley Dan McLeod, a Negro truck driver who was first on the scene. He said he was rolling along 'about 55 miles an hour when '. spotted this light out in the ake. I'd been over the bridge daily for about four months so ~ didn't think anything of it at irst.
WANTED TO AVOID HALT
"Then I saw it was headed, least I thought it was, toward the south bascule. I wanted toPHOTO: CLIFFORD MILLEY (right, foreground), mate of the tugboat Rebel Jr., testifies at Wednesday's hearing conducted by the Coast Guard at the Customhouse building. Milley was questioned concerning the ramming of the Pontchar-train Causeway by the tug's barge tow causing the deaths of six persons in a Trailways bus.