# Port Chester Daily Item/1919/Stolen Automobile Kills One Child

LeBaron Hart Lindauer (1869-1922), and others, in the Port Chester Daily Item on February 25, 1919.
Stolen Automobile Kills One Child; Injures Another
Discharged Soldier, Said to Have Been Under the Influence of Liquor, Stole an Overland Roadster, in Stamford, and in Running Through Rye at High Speed, Struck Two Children, Throwing Them More Than Fifty Feet Away.
As a result of one of the saddest and most serious automobile accidents that has occurred in this vicinity in a some time, a six-year-old school boy is dead today, his ten-year-old sister's is in the United Hospital suffering from a compound fracture of the thigh and possible internal injuries, and an erstwhile drunken, discharged soldier is confined to a cell at Rye Police Headquarters, awaiting trial on a charge of manslaughter in the first degree. The unfortunate youngster and his sister are the only children of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Harold, of the Boston Post road. Mr. Harold is chauffeur for Marcelis C. Parsons and is widely known and well liked in the village. Pitched Forty Feet. The accident occurred at about twenty minutes to four o'clock yesterday afternoon. The children had just been dismissed from the Resurrection Parochial school nearby, after a class in catechism, and had started to walk in the direction of their home. They had got as far as the northeast corner of the grass plot, surrounding the Liberty Pole and Honor Roll, when a green Overland roadster came dashing down the road behind them at terrific speed. They were walking in a southerly direction and naturally did not see the car approaching. Instead of keeping the road, the car jumped the curb, struck the two young sisters with a sickening thud and sent their bodies hurtling through the air. Turning over and over until it crashed to the ground, the body of little Mary Harold flew through space for a distance of fifty feet. Her little brother, Charles, had his skull crushed in by the radiator of the car and was pitched just fifty-two feet, the bodies landing a short distance apart in pools of blood. Village Engineer John Ehler was sitting at a table in the Square House when the sound of the crash came to his ear and he looked up in time to catch the flash of little Mary's blue dress as her body revolved in mid-air. He rushed out and picked up the little lad, from whose head blood was gushing in streams. LeBaron Lindauer, an employee of Dr. Charles Wheeler Walker, who lives but a short distance further down the road, performed a like office for the little girl, and both men hastened with their burdens to Dr. Walker's office. Dr. William B. Howell happened along at the time and assisted administering emergency treatment to the injured children. The ambulance had been summoned by Officer John Kirby, who was within a few feet of the police telephone box in front of the Colonial Inn and happened to be looking in the direction of the place where the accident occurred at the moment the children were hit, and the girl was taken to the hospital a few minutes later. After a careful examination into the boy's injuries, Dr. Walker came to the conclusion. that a very delicate operation to remove the pressure of the shattered bone from the brain, was his only hope for life, and that indeed a slim one. Accordingly, the ambulance was again called and the little fellow hurried to the operating table. With all the surgical skill at his command, Dr. Walker bent himself to the task of giving the boy his every chance for life. The trepanning operation was completed and an almost immediate increase in the child's pulse that indicated renewed chances for life, gave hope to to his agonized parents that he would pull through. Even the skill of Dr. Walker, who is recognized as one of the leading surgeons in New York, was of no avail, however, and life passed from the pain-racked little body at five-twenty last evening. Girl to Recover. Although her thigh bone was badly shattered and ragged edge projected through the flesh. little Mary's injuries were said today to be far from fatal, if the setting in of infection can be prevented. It was reported, late yesterday afternoon, that she too had succumbed to her injuries, but, although such was at first feared would be the case, one of the physicians said today that her extreme youth gave her an excellent chance for life that an older person would not have under the same circumstances. "If it had been an adult, death would have been instantaneous," he said. Parents Grief Stricken. Mr. and Mrs. Harold are not a youthful couple and their every thought and desire centered about their only two little ones, Charles and Mary. Mr. Harold took them to school every morning in one of the Parsons' automobiles, called for them at lunch time, brought them back to school at one o'clock and was sure to be waiting for them each afternoon at dismissal time. His devotion to the children was a matter of common knowledge in the village and only served to increase the esteem in which he was held generally. This had come to be a routine matter with him and this year he had been particularly careful inasmuch as six-year-old "Charley" had become the proud possessor of a set of text books and was proving an apt pupil of the nuns who conduct the. Parochial school. Yesterday afternoon, however, the father was engaged in overhauling the motor of one of the cars under his supervision and when the time came to call for the children, he was not only busy, but had donned the grease and oil begrimed working clothes, usually worn by him when working about the machines. Hesitating to leave the job until he had it finished, Mr. Harold is said to have expressed the opinion that the children 'would get home all right and went on with his Shortly afterward he was notified by telephone of the accident. The shock that he and his wife suffered upon. learning what had happened can more easily be imagined than described. Car a Stolen One. The right rear wheel of the car was demolished when it struck the curb, but the machine traveled a considerable distance over the green until it brought up against one of the ornate lamp posts recently set up for the purpose of illuminating the Village Honor Roll at night. The impact snapped the post off at the base and bent the right rear fender of the car, otherwise doing no damage, however. Officer Frank Gedney, of the Rye Police force, had been detailed by Sergeant James Tracy to be on the lookout for a green Overland roadster reported to him by the Stamford authorities as having been stolen from that city. It was thought that thief had started south on the Post road, and accordingly Officer Gedney. took up his post in front of the Colonial Inn with the idea in mind of stopping the machine. as it came along. He had just started to walk in the direction of the village when the "death car" appeared around the curve in the road in front of the Parochial school. "Here he comes," was the remark the Policeman passed to Robert Winkler, who accompanied him, and started forward. Just then the car left the road, struck the two children and finally came to a full stop, half on the green and half on the road, its nose pointing directly across the highway. Driver Arrested. Gedney and Officer John Kirby, who at once called for the ambulance, ran up to the car upon seeing the children were being taken care of, and commanded the driver and only occupant of the closely curtained machine, to alight. "I'm a chauffeur," they say, was the only response that the big, smooth shaven man at the driving wheel gave them, as he pumped frantically at the self-starter in an attempt to get the motor going, presumably to make good his escape. To Officer Kirby's repeated command that he alight, he is said to have replied, "Go to h[ell]" whereupon the two husky policemen laid violent hands on him and he came forth from the car in a rather hasty manner. He wore an army overcoat and trench shoes, and gave the two policemen a battle on the way to the police station that spoke well for the fighting spirit instilled by service in Uncle Sam's army. George J. Hogben confirmed this fact. Although he mentioned no other particular places, Snyder declared that he had stopped at the West End Hotel, at the corner of South Main and Grace Church streets, Port Chester, opposite Police Headquarters, and got some drinks. Investigation by Officer John Kirby, of Rye, and Detective Daniel Curtin, of Port Chester, last night, revealed the fact that he had stopped at the hotel he mentioned for ten minutes or more and had had two whiskies at a cost of forty cents. A card of the hotel, found among his belongings confirmed this. Among other things, he carried a loaded, cherry wood club, of the police variety, which had a real or imitation diamond inlaid in the grip end. There were four notches in it, which aroused considerable interest among the policemen, one of whom voiced the opinion that they represented men he had "put away" with it. Passed Port Chester Policemen. According to the records of the Port Chester police headquarters, Sergeant William Sours, who was in charge at headquarters. was notified of the theft of the car, as were the Rye police, at a quarter past three. The Sergeant waited to notify Patrolmen Adams and O'Toole, who were doing duty on Main street at the time, until three-thirty, when they rung in. By this time Snyder had passed. Picture in Rogues Gallery. The sharp eye of a young reporter for the Stamford Daily Advocate is, responsible for the discovery that Snyder had been arrested in Stamford before. The Advocate man visited the Rye Police station last night and was allowed to see the prisoner. After concluding his business in Rye, he returned to Stamford and inspected the pictures in the Rogues' Gallery in police headquarters there, quickly selecting one of the faces as that of the driver of the "death car." The data on the back of the picture gave Snyder's name and description precisely as the Rye police know him and furnished the further information that he had been arrested in that city on August 23rd last, for stealing and selling an- other automobile. He managed to re- fund the money at that time, however, and as the rightful owner recovered the car, the charge of larceny was not pushed against him and he got off after serving thirty days in the Fairfield County jail at Bridgeport. The further opinion was expressed this morning that Snyder may have been the man who stole the Hudson speedster belonging to Court Stenographer Horace B. Richmond, of White Plains. It is said that Snyder has been seen around Stamford of late quite frequently. At one time he worked for Dr. Amos J. Givens there and possibly for other residents of the city. Pictures to be Taken. The measurements of the distance the children were thrown were made by the police this morning, being in both cases fifty or more feet, the little girl landing inside the curb on the grass and the boy on the asphalt pavement. It was also determined by Chief Balls and his men by actual measurement, that Snyder could have seen the children for a distance of more than five hundred feet before he ran them down. Actual photographs with which to set these facts before the trial jury were to have been taken this afternoon, an automobile and children being used to represent the parties to the accident. Inspecting the "death car" this morning, the police found a dent nearly a half inch deep in the radiator. the lad's blood and hair being still attached to the mesh, giving some idea of the terrific blow which the auto must have struck the little fellow. It was learned by the police today that a third child, a little girl, had had her leg scratched and bruised as she jumped out of the way just in time to escape the fate which her two little school mates suffered. The girl is said to be a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew O'Neill, of Forest avenue, who was also on her way home at the time. Visited by Sister. Snyder was visited by his sister, this morning, and conversed with her for some little while. He made no further statements of moment to the police, however, and seems to be calmly awaiting the outcome of the tangle in which he finds himself. The inquest will probably be held tomorrow, by Coroner Engle. The funeral of the little victim will take place from the Church of the Resurrection, tomorrow morning, at ten o'clock.
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