Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-03-23
FATALLY CRUSHED
Cora Williams, a Ten-Year-Old
Negro Girl, Mangled
UNDER AN ELECTRIC CAR.
y Sad Affair. Though. Purely Accidental, as
the Evidence of the Modernism and
Eye witnesses shoW-Par-
ticulars in Detail.

At S:4S yesterday morning there hap
pened fatal accident at the intersection of
Main and Seventh streets, resulting in the
instant death of ten-year-old colored girl.
being run over by street car No 80 of the
North Side railway, w. Il. STRIPPING, mo-
torman.
The facts in the case, as gathered from
the motorman and eye-witnesses, are in
substance as follows: The car was headed
south on Main street, down grade, and at
Sixth street the current was shut of to
allow a slow-up for three passengers who
wished to get aboard, and only enough cur
rent turned on to start the car, and again
turned off about in front of G. Y. Smiths
establishment, the brakes set for the Sev-
enth street crossing, as Is usual. About
thirty steps from the crossing a passenger
desired change, and Stripping turned to
make 1t, his car going quite slow, and just
as he turned, facing south, he saw child
with an umbrella Immediately in front of
the car, but the umbrella was not sufi-
GENTLY elevated to allow him to see whether
it was white or black STRIPPING yelled to
the child to look out, al the same
time reversing the current and
setting the brake, but the child, instead of
jumping out of the way, stepped in front of
the moving car and was knocked down, the
front trucks passing over her legs and so
bruising and crushing her body that life
was extinct when the first spectator reached
her. So near did the motorman have the
car to a standstill only portion of the
front trucks cleared her body, having to
pull up after stopping in order to get her
clothes free from the wheel. Passengers
and eye witnesses say the gong was sound
ing for half a block before reaching the
crossing, but as it was raining, coming
from a northerly direction, and the child
had the umbrella lowered in the direction
of the car, she evidently did not hear the
gong, and only heard the yell of the motor
man as he turned from giving the passenger
mentioned. change.
Stripping was Mortified over the accident,
and to an officer who was en- the front plat
form, said he desired to give himself up,
but after the removal of the child from the
track the passengers on board urged him
to "go on, - as it was Depot car and they
were anxious to get to their destination, and
assured him they would testify as to his
innocence of any criminal negligence.
At 10 o'clock Justice Reynolds began an
inquest and examination, and at noon an
adjournment was had until 80, when the
investigation was resumed. Among those
examined were w. r. STRIPPING (motOr-
NAM, Ben Brooks (colored), Officer Waller
j. E. Me1riman, o. G. Miller Allen Lotion
(colored), Charlie Williams (colored), f.
V. Terry, John L. Leblanc and some three
or four others, and so conclusive was the
evidence that it was purely accidental and
unavoidable, that STRIPPING was not held in
custody.
The verdict of the Justice was in accord
ance with the above facts.
The child's name was Cora Williams,
step-daughter of Daniel Bell, colored, dealer
in second hand clothing, ETC., Main. between
Eleventh and Twelfth streets. She was en-
route to school when the accident occurred
which cost her her life.
No one could regret the occurrence more
than the man who was in charge of the car,
STRIPPING, and when talking to a GAZETTE
reporter about it he spoke feelingly, and
said that forever the pictuIs of the child =.
falling under his car would be before him, :
and her shrek, when the wheel struck her,
would ring in his ears. Said he: ~ did
all in my power to prevent it, and had had
four feet further to go, it would not have
occurred. The track was wet and the
wheels slipped so that even after they were
reversed the car went ahead until it struck
her. l know that 1 am innocent OF criminal