The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-02-06
CLOSE SLAVES
In AUTO DRIVING
HENRI FOURNIER RELATES
SOME OF HIS EXPERIENCES.
Says Chauffeur Soon Becomes Accus-
toned to Danger and Grows Indif-
ferent-Quickncss to Think and Act
Essential-Collision with Dog in
Gordon Bennett Race.

greatest chauffeur, to the New York
World. Yes: I have had scores OF
them. But what then? Escapes from
death by hairs breadth are plentiful
everywhere. Only yesterday l read in
d New York newspaper of a veritable
halrbreadth escape in Broad street
a brick from the top of a new sky
scraper fell so close to the back OF al
mans head that it made red streak
down the back of his coat, then crum-
bled in puff. of dust on the sidewalk
IT that man had been one-twentleth or
second slower in his stride he would
have been blotted out of life.
1T is as close as that many times in
automobiling. You come within a
few millimeters or within an infnitesi--s
NAL fraction Of a second OF frlghttul
death-and after a few quick breaths
you are placidly wondering what you
shall have for luncheon. 1t is neces-
sary only to think quickly-to think,
as it were, with the tips of your fingers
and you are as safe in your automo-
bile as in your bed. Man repeats in
the automobile the lessons in quick,
correct thinking and instantaneous ac-
ton that he has been learning for
years in fighting, sailing, swimming,
riding, etc. If you act right you are
safe: if not, the coroner gets you.
1.-THE first narrow escape in an auto
car that can recall was in a motor
from st. German to Roubaix, 800
miles. Soon after the start nut
broke and the. steering bar of my ma
chine came off. AS felt it give way
I crouched over the head, as low as.
possible and grabbed the front fork
of the machine. It Wabbled from side
to side, of course, but I hung on and
managed to shut off power and reduce
the speed of the motor-tricycle from
So to . miles an hour. How did it
I don't know.
when one must do a thing or die
one usually does the thing. Not only
my own life was at stake, but the lives
of spectators who were lined up along
the road by hundreds. With speed
reduced the machine managed to up
set. That was nothing-a mere spill,
T jumped UP, righted the tricycle., BIZ
cyclist gave me a nut to repair the
handle bar, and in a few moments
was speeding away again. A shock?
Yes; but the shock of dosing the race
would have been greater.
I'm the Gordon Bennett race from
Paris to Lyons three years ago, the
first in which Mr.. Winton competed,
we had a close call from death. Char,
ere automobile, Charron steering.
About fifteen miles from Lyons we
had just crossed a railroad track and
were going downhill. AS we swung
around the corner, going at pace not
far from mile minute, an immense
dog. who neither saw nor heard us,
trotted out of the woods headed
straight for US. 1t was impossible to
swerve from our course because of the
curve. The needless dog dived in be-
tween our front and hind wheels. He
was dead before he knew anything
had happened.
I'm the twinkling of an eye the great
animal was ground to death between
our car and the f1inty road, and our
automobile meanwhile leaped /, from
side to side, pitching and plunging as
the grinding process went on. In
spite of Charron's efforts our machine
left the road, lodged past a great tree,
to jump close to another tree and
once more return to the road.
Il had shut off the power, of course,
| the moment I saw the collision was
inevitable. Yet I suppose 20 seconds
Of actual time elapsed before we
stopped and the last fragment of fur
dropped from our running gear. The
time felt like twenty years. We won
the race by one hour.
"You may recall the celebrated
30-horse power machine that killed
Count Cahan d'Anvers when he was
running it three years ago. Charror
England, bought it. I taught him
| how to run it. He was a good, ex,
perienced sportsman and he learned Il
quickly. He was ambitious to show
his skill:
Zone day Captain Laycock told me
he was going to take a lady to lunch
l con at Versailles, and wanted to know
whether as an extra precaution,
would mind riding on the rear seat, sc
as to be ready in case of emergency
4 We had a delightful luncheon at Yer.
sailles, and then we started fol
Charities. 1.a
We were not many miles on the
journey going down hill at the rate OF
a mile minute and with no obstacle
in the way. when the machine sud
denly bolted to the side: of the road
A shying horse gives you, say, half 6
| seconds warming; a shying automobile
at mile-a-minute pace. gives nc
warning at all. H.
Before we knew. what had hap.
pened we had smashedSinto "a s. tree
The body of the car tore away from
the. frame and tilted UP as if it were
a dump cart. Captain Laycock wa:
shot forward as if by an explosion O.
wheel of the steering bar, and tina
broke his impetus a little. Then hi
i hit the tree head first. His wonderful
4 luck was that the, blow was glancing
80 that his skull was not crushed in
"The lady and I flew thru the ali
like birds for twenty yards / of course
following her, just as our relative posi-
tons were in the car. 1 do not recol
lect this, but infer it from what
learned later. renem bmer nothing
from the time we were running swift
ly along the road until I awoke from
! a sleep that seemed to have lasted fo1
months. I felt no pain, I was still
i drowsy. I could not see.
What is this?' I asked myself
What is this cloth bandage around m.
/ head?' After a long time I puzzled
. out the information that the cloth wa:
a lady's dress. BY a great effort !
1 concentrated my attention on my sur
roundings and soon I had strength
enough to sit up. The lady and hel
/ long costume had SO broken my fal
! that I was not cut, not even scratched
She lay still unconscious, suffering
fro1n shock, and bleeding. / carried
her back and laid her beside what
4 thought must be the dead body of Cap
tain Laycock.
I'm a few minutes Captain Laycocl
4 woke up terribly lacerated and bleed
ing, but clear-headed and asking wha
had happened. / got them both in {