The silver state. [volume] (Unionville, Nev.) 1870-1903, 1902-09-13
MRS. STEWART KILLED.
Wife of Senator Meets Death In Automobile
Accident.


A special to the Reno Journal under
yesterdays date says:
Mrs. William NJ. Stewart, wife of the
United States Senator from Nevada, was
killed this afternoon in an automobile ac-
cident in Alameda. Her two nephews,
Henry f.. Foote, son of w. w. Foote.
and III. B. Taylor, both of Oakland, were
her companions on the fatal ride.
They escaped with slight injuries. The
accident which cost Mrs. Stewart her
life happened strangely enough on the
day and almost at the hour when the
victims of the automobile tragedy near
Paris, were being laid to rest in this
city. The Alameda accident, moreover,
was very similar to that which caused
the tragic death Of the Fairs.
During the afternoon Mrs. Stewart.
who was visiting her brother, w. w.
Foote, at his Oakland home, said she de-
sired to call on her granddaughter, Mrs.
Theodore Hofer of Carson City, Nevada.
who is a guest of r. e. Kelly, at 1919
Clinton avenue, Alameda.
Her nephews offered to take her across
the estuary in their automobile, a big
two seated machine, rapid and roomy.
Young Taylor was chauffeur of the
excursion and Mrs. Stewart elected to
sit beside him, Mr.. Foote occupying the
rear seat.
1t 4:10 o'clock the automobile reached
the intersection of Santa Clara and Bay
streets, moving east on the former thor
oughfare. Accounts vary as to their
speed, the estimate of Mr.. Taylor, who
held the steering bar, being ten miles an
hour.
A delivery wagon driven by a boy APP
preached at right angles to the course of
the automobile, moving north on Bay
street, and to avoid 1t Chauffeur Taylor
steered to the north. Evidently his pur-
pose was to gain room so that he could
cross ahead of the wagon.
Either the turn was too abrupt or the
steering gear failed to respond. The
rapidly moving machine sped on it's
course across the gutter and curb, DASH
ing with great force against an electric
light pole on the northeast corner. SO
heavy was the automobile, and so high
the speed, that the pole, a solid stick
thirty feet high and eighteen inches in
diameter, was cut squareIy off near it's
base and crashed down ON the house of
John Hackett, carrying with it a tangle
of wires.
Mrs. Stewart and her nephews were
flung violently out of the machine. She
struck or her head on the shattered pole
or on the curbing.
The impact was so severe that the front
axle of the automobile was broken, one
of the front wheels was knocked OFF and
the front seat was carried away.
Help came quickly. Mrs. Stewart was
put on a stretcher improvised from a
window shutter, and carried to the house
of William NJ. Bowers, 1l09 Santa Clara
avenue, and a little later the city ambu-
lance took her to a sanitarium on Clin-
ton avenue.
She was still alive when Doctors A. A.
Stafford and w. o. Smith examined her,
but 1t was found her injuries were so ex-
tensive and serious as to preclude hope
for her recovery. Four ribs were broken
with indications of grave internal in
juries. but the wounds on her head were
the most serious. One eye was all but
torn from it's socket.
DIR. j. 4. Clark was called In and the
three physicians exhausted their re-
sources in an effort to save the dying
at s o'clock.
Mr.. Foote and Mr.. Taylor. whose in
juries were trivial, consisting of minor
bruises. accompanied Mrs. Stewart to the
sanitarium and remained with her to the
end.