He was probably a little tipsy; there had been a stag party that night, and he was one of the last to leave.

He slipped behind the wheel of his 1952 Buick, turned the ignition switch to “on,” and stepped on the floor-mounted starter button.

Two or three seconds later his mangled, lifeless body fell to the ground three feet behind the Buick’s rear bumper, amid a shower of broken glass and bits of torn metal.

Someone had stuffed 10 sticks of stumping powder under the driver’s seat of Smith’s Buick ... (Portland, Multnomah County; 1955) (For text and pictures, see http://offbeatoregon.com/1811d.kermit-smith-murder-car-bomb-523.html)