MOTOR CAR IN A CROWD.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9553, 28 July 1909, Page 3

MOTOR CAR IN A CROWD.

TRAGIC END OF A RACE,

FATALITY IN AMERICA

lioughing its course through a crowd jf spectators at the hillclimbing contest of the Bridgeport Automobile Club recently an Isott a racer mortally injured one man and seriously injured six other persons. The accident was on the Sport Hill course. The 50 horse power machine skidded, and, leaping into the crowd of spectators lining the ' raodway, strewed men, women and ' children in its path. It finally crashed into a stone wall overlooking jan embankment against which the : crowd ha:l been amassed. | It was during the free tor all, tho j last event of the day, that tr:e aeci- | dent occurred. The last turn in the ( course before a hill is reached is a | double curve in the form of an S. On i one side is a rocky ledge, 50 feet i high at the foot of which hundreds !of persons were massed. On the | outer side of the road is a gratsy ' bank, and this was packed with because this spot was regarded as the most dangerous ii\ | the route. Members of the Coast Artiltery had been detailed to guard the course, but as the racing cars approached the crowds pressed on to the roadway. i The Tyson car, driven by Glenn | Ethridge, with William Walker as mechanician, was in the lead when it I approached the curve, and was making high speed. The crowds were slill surging forward despite the efforts of the artillerymen, of whom Reiling, who was injured, was one, when a boy in the front rank became frightened and tried to cruss the road in front of the Isott. To avoid striking the lad Etheriflge altered his course. In so doing he sprung u wheel Instantly the car skidded, bounded into the air, and plunged into the crowd, that was between it and the rocky wal20tt distant. Walker rolled oft', landj ed on the grassy bank, and was unl I inured. Ethendge clung to his I wheel, although he had lost control, j but he, too, was unhurt. Railing, the artilleryman, was rtossed aside like a straw, and when he was picked up it was found that he was suffering from a broken ankle and from shock. He was taken to is home. Potter was next struck. He caught the full force of the flying car and was dying when the first aid reached him. His skull was fractured, his head and body were bruised and lacerated, and hiß side was crushed in. In the next instant the car ploughed into the frightened "crowds, which scattered right and left, but not before (ive others were lying in the roadway.