The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-13
GREEK KILLED BY MOTOR GAR Life Crushed Out of Christopher CasSimus. IA WELL KNOWN CITIZEN Was Soon to Leave for Foreign
 Home. Conductor and saetorman of Riverside Line Were Released from Coun-
 ty Jan After Tnvestigation
 by Coroner Tice.

Christopher J. Cassimus, for twelve years a fruit merchant of Montgomery, will never see his native shores of Greece. He was run over and in- stantly killed by car of the Montgom- cry Street Railway. near the Standard oil Comapny's plant in North Mont gomery. while preparing to leave Montgomery and America to visit his family in Corfu.
 The accident occurred at s:16 o'clock yesterday morning. Mortorman W. L. Ingram and Conductor J. E. Halfield of the car that crushed the life out of
 Mir. Cassimus, who were in the Mont gomery County jail awaiting an in- quiry by Coroner W. H. Tice. have been
 released. verdict having been reached that the accident was unavoidable. At o'clock last night Coroner Tice
 held an inquiry and after hearing the testimony of the conductor and motor man of the car and Frank Joseph. sec retary and treasurer of the Montgom- cry Cooperage Company and c. c. Egge,
 both passengers on the car, reached a verdict that the car men were unable to avoid the accident.
 At the inquiry. Motorman Ingram testified that at s:15 o'clock. car No 19. of which he was in charge. was
 running toward Riverside and was 100
 
 Company plant. Fifty feet ahead he noticed a man on the track and began ringing his bell. The man paid no attention to it. When he saw that the mans life was in danger, he at tempted to reverse his brake. but as he did so, the car struck the mans body. J. F.. Hatfield the conductor testified that he heard the motorman ringing the bell and looked out. just In time to
 see the motorman reverse and strike the man.
 not pass over the man. but merely
 struck him. In his opinion the motor
 man did all in his power to avoid the accident.
 J. F. Joseph testified that he didn't know that the car had hit Mr.Cassimus
 until he heard the motorman cry out in a mortified tone. T have killed a man." The car was about three feet beyond the prostrate form. when 1t was stopped.
 Coroner Tice then announced his yer
 dict.
 Ingram and Halfield when seen yes
 terday afternoon at the Montgomery County Jail both politely declined to make a statement.
 No Explanation Offered. An official of the Street. Railway Com l pany. when seen yesterday afternoon said he was at a loss to explain the ac- cident. The car, he said. was going 1 toward Riverside at the usual rate of speed. At the plant of the Standard oil Company, the motorman saw a man
 about forty yards ahead of him turn to cross the track, but instead of cross ' ing he kept his course between the rails. He slowed the car immediately
 and began to ring the gong. Thinking | that the pedestrian had heard the gong, | he did not stop the car, but continued running. until the car was so close to | the man that he realized the danger. He threw on the reverse brake, but | before the car had stopped, 1t had | knocked down and crushed the unfor- | tunate.
 The body of Mir. Cassimus was terri bly mangled. His abdomen was split | entirely open and his head was terribly | crushed. He was almost unrecogniza- | ble.
 Mounted Patrolmen Tunstall Cross
 land and J. Lon Taylor soon arrived at
 the scene and the motorman and con- | ductor were taken in charge. Coroner
 Tice was immediately summoned and in
 about half hour arrived on the scene. The body was taken In charge by him
 and was taken to his morgue on Court | Street. Up to that time 1t had not been | identified
 In the meantime, the street car men
 were taken to the police station
 where they were held pending inves.
 tigation. Later in the day theye were | transferred to the Montgomery County
 Jail, where more comfortable sleeping
 accommodations could be furnished. Identified by Brother. At the coroner's morgue, the body
 was finally identified by a brother of
 the deceased. Mir. Alex Cassimus, the proprietor of a fruit stand at Court square corner. MT. Cassimus said
 mat his brother was in the habit of
 taking long strolls every morning for
 exercise and 1t was probably on one or .hese walks that he met his death.
 The deceased was fifty seven years
 old and was born on the Island
 Corfu about forty miles off Athens.
 Twelve years ago. he came to Mont
 gomery. where a number of his kins-
 men had settled and like all of inc
 family of Cas6mus in Montgomery
 he had always been an excellent citi.
 zen.
 He leaves son, Mitchell cassinus
 and his wife in Montgomery and A
 daughter in Corfu. It was to visit
 this daughter that he sold out his I HfN