SPEEDING THROUGH LIFE

NZ Truth, Issue 1108, 24 February 1927, Page 8

SPEEDING THROUGH LIFE

— — • — ■■'■■! Racing Motorist's Midnight I Moment of Madness j DISASTER ROUND THE CORNER j ■ ■— ■ . i (From "N.Z.- Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative.) ' §j A speed king 1 and the owner of a high-powered car, Walter | Philip Hailes, has had recorded against him a conviction that wiU | curb his racing 1 tendencies for some tim^. 2

imiuiuiiu- :_ N the lust for speed, . >^Mj||jp)MnTr_j speed and more ;%_ J^Hl ¥ speed he threw disS^a^B *' winds. With the fflfflQzftiiin . whistling across JcS^^mß^^^S his face, 'the low HH^P^^^^^^ car and the merry ffiHr''-^^^^! lau £ hter of comwl^ffl^^^^^^l panions m his ears, — eagerly sensing the thrill of It all— he heeded not caution. > With a fair damsel at his side, his glut for speed was further excited; 50, 60, 70 miles an hour — the car responded |to his touch, his pet toy, the only model of its kind m the South Island and m which he intended to race. But on the thoroughfares of a city with human life strutting here and there, and danger lurking at every corner, the' law must be obeyed. In the madness of the moment, I not long after the midnight bells had ushered m 1927, Hailes forgot | this fact, disregarded caution and has paid the consequences. New Year's Eve, with its hilarity, its crowds, bright lights and merry laughter, saw Hailes and his party touring round m his car, visiting friends here and there. A spin up to the. Brown House, where happy faces conveyed the festive greetings followed. According to one of the party it was about midnight when they left there to blow out to friends m Musselburgh!, where they indulged— according to each of the party — m their first "spot" of the evening—^-a glass- of port wine. | From here they rushed back to Hailes' place m Queen's Drive, where for a short time they ( at - | tempted to tune-in to Sydney. An--1 other, first-footing visit followed — brief; as the people were out — and then back to Hailes' residence. j The night was even then yet' a pup when they set out again, this time heading along Anderson's Bay road for town. According; to each of the witnesses it was about 1.10 a.m. when- they left Hailes' place. FELL IN A HEAP If this statement were true — that he did not pass along Anderson's Bay road until 1.10 a.m. — then' the case against Hailes appeared clearly one of mistaken identity. The story of defendant and his three witnesses was that they did not remember seeing, any people at the scene of the accident, nor did 'they recall having struck anyone. The evidence for the prosecution, however, for whom six witnesses iwere called, and which the magistrate believed, revealed a different - tale, even though only one of them described the car accurately. William Ernest Fpxton, a tram con--'ductor, said '-".he was walking home along, Anderson's Bay road ahq'ut .12.51 a.m.. About- 40 yards from the scene of the accident, he noticed a car travelling at a high speed towards him with powerful' headlights. Its silent purr, despite its speed, attracted him and he followed it. As the car approached the intersection of Anderson's Bay with Princes Street he heard ia crash, saw a man come over the left front mudguard of the car, turn a somersault and fall hi a heap on the road. The car went straight oh. ' '< • . ' .''.'.- In his opinion the car was going too fast to turn the corner safely. He described it, as an aristocratic car, a Chrysler or : a Flint, a three-seater with a khaki hood. The hood was up and to his knowledge there were no people m the d;ckey seat. Similar evidence was given by James Brown Sturgeon. He saw Anderson, the victim, turn a complete somersault. The' car to him appeared* to be going at-'about 50 miles an hour. It was a grey car, with the hood up; There was no one m the dickey seat. Two further witnesses gave similar evidence. Both described the car as grey m color, with the

hood up and no one m the dickey | seat. Jt was travelling faat-7-b©- 2 tween 40 and 50 miles an hour. I Evidence such as that could not convlct a man, but what followed bore | mox*e directly on the case, the evidejice 4 of a young man and lady who were 2 standing only a -few yards from the 5 scene of the accident, and of Sergeant 3 Turner, who visited the spol about 1.8 i ,a.m. m response to a 'phone call. 3 It was a light grey car with a red band round it that Rita Hendersoni 3 saw. It was travelling at a high speed 2 and when it got level with her the car 3 swerved and a man appeared to fall | out of the dickey seat. 3 . It was a Chrysler car, with the hood 2 down. A lady and gentleman were In 3 /the front and a lady and gentleman m 5 the dickey seat- at the back. '3 In reply to Lawyer Hanlon, the witness confessed that she had gone to 5 Todd's^ garage to' identify the car, but 3 had picked out the wrong one. % This evidence was corroborated by 3 Henry James Parsons, except, m one 3 detail— that m his opinion the hood 3 was up. He later went to Todd's i garage and Identified thenar. 3 To the chief detective: He had | / no doubt that the car he identified 3 m Tpdd's garage was the one that = caused the accident. | In reply to Lawyer Hanlon, Parsons i said he had taken particular notice of the car. He did not know Hailes ex- 5 cept by sight, but knew the car well. 5j WHO WAS WRONG? g — : " % Lawyer Hanlon: Well, seeing that | you can describe the car so well, .can 3 you tell me if the hood was up?' — Yes. E Oh, that's strange! The young lady g who was standing with you says it was | down. Is that true? One of you is £ wrong. — Well, I saw the hood up. n There were two people in' the dickey g seat. 4, Your lady friend said the hdod was down and that she saw two people m 3g the front seat and two m the back. Is | that -.right? — No, the hood was' up. 2 Well, there must be some mistake about the 'car. . Are you sure you are 5; making no mistake? — Yes. 5 You are cock-sure? — Yes. ! 'a The' discrepancies m the evidence » and failure accurately to dfescribe the 3 car were held by Lawyer Hanlon to be sufficient to have the charge dismissed. 5 Any doubt should go m favor of Hailes. £ When. Sergeant Turner gave evidence g that. He was on the scene of the acci- | dent from 1.8 a.m. to 1.35 a.m. and re- 5 marked that.; there was quite a crowd 3of people about, the bottom 'fell out | bf the evidence' of Hailes' witnesses, 5j who said they "'did not see anyone at | the/scene when they passed about -1.15. >. 3Sergeant Turner also.' stated that he 3 did not see any motor traffic on the 5; road until 1.30 a.m., when .there were | quite a number of cars passing by. 3] "It is quite possible," said S.M. 5j Bundle, "that a driver might not see anyone when going at an ex- 3j ce.ssive speed, but I can hardly | imagine a man keeping a careful . a| arid prudent look-out who would 2 not have noticed something un- 3j usual, even on New Year's morn- a ing." . I At the conclusion of the case, the =: chief detective mentioned that the Otago Motor -Club had approached Jj him regarding Hailes. . & In their opinion, he was a menace *~ =z to motorists. ST S.M. Bundle, m summing up, flaid j that he was satisfied Hailes 'was ex- j tremely carelVss m driving and the j offence -was aggravated by callous con-, I duct after the accident. i | "I find It hard to believe that' he { could have failed to notice that an \ accident had been caused-. .' : ) "I must take hito consideration the I reputation a motorist bears. Hailes is 's a menace to the public, which must be protected." On -the charge of dangerous drivingf > •Hailes was fined £10 and Court costs, his license being cancelled, and ,he was prohibited from driving for two years. I On thei charge of failing to stop he ra [was fined £10 and costs. w