Arizona republican., 1904-12-30
HOW PETERSON DIED
The Inquest on the Victim of the
 Street Car Accident.

Street Car Accident.
 The inquest on the death of Charles Peterson, killed by street car at the corner of Second avenue and Wash ington streets on Wednesday evening, was concluded yesterday and verdict was rendered which neither blamed nor exonerated the street car compa- i ny. It was, however, the private opin- ion of the jurymen and of all the wit nesses that the accident could not have been avoided by the employees of the street car company. Though the members of the jury were agreed on this point the verdict was only arrived at after a half hours discussion of more or less extraneous subjects. It was brought out that though in this case, the company was not to be blamed it had not always been so blameless; at times it had been too economical of car men and then the old question of lenders was brought up. As a result of this feature of the discussion the jury found itself divid- ed on the question of the utility of the fender.
 Finally the following wording of the verdict was arrived at: Death was 1 the result of injuries received on and | by the Phoenix Street railroad while deceased was trying to cross track in front of going car"
 The story told by the witnesses was substantially the same as the Repub- | lican's account yesterday morning of the tragedy. The first witness was Nicholas Ruck, the motorman. He said that he had noticed Peterson rid ing a bicycle beside the car but Ee was not paying particular attention as was approaching the crossing which he had to watch. He rang the gong and slowed down. The witness said that no one had rung the bell to stop but that it was the custom when ap- preaching crossings to turn off the current, slightly apply the brakes and let the car run by its own momentum so that in case of a signal to stop it might be done quickly. Shortly before | the car reached the west side of the crossing the witness saw Peterson turn toward the track ahead of the | car. The brake was fully applied in stantly but the car struck the man. ! The witness could not say whether Peterson had fallen from the wheel or whether he had been knocked from it. | The wheel was thrown fin one direction | and the rider in the other. The car was stopped as soon as possible and | the witness seeing that Peterson was wedged under it backed the car off and sprang to the ground. It was his opinion that the wheel had not struck Peterson but that he had been hit by the front part of the car and had been caught between the car wheel on the south rail and the brake.
 T11, ~ bod less of the accident. though he had mo- ticed Peterson riding beside the car for some distance. He also saw him turn and saw him fall either just be- fore the car struck him or else he was | knocked from his wheel by the colli- ] sion. The witness hurried to the front and found Peterson in the position de- scribed by the motornan.
 Governor Brodie was one of the witnesses. He too had noticed Peter son riding beside the car for some time before it approached that cross ing and also saw him turn to the south and noticed that the rear wheel of his bicycle was running irregularly a fact that might have had something to do with his fall. The governor said that the turning of Peterson could not have been foreseen and in his opinion the accident was unavoidable on the part of the motorman.
 Another important witness was Ray mond Battin, who probably saw more of the fatal turn made by Peterson than any other man. He too was rid ing on the bicycle path about ten feet behind Peterson and followed him for some distance. Peterson was riding near the front of the car and the wit ness just behind it. As the car ap- preached the crossing, it slowed and Peterson forged slightly ahead of it and then he turned. The witness could not say that he had fallen from his wheel before he was struck and neith- CT had any of the other witnesses been sure on that point.
 There were several other witnesses but their testimony added nothing to what had been already learned and the case was given to the jury.
 This incident has again called atten- tion to the dead line" that so-called bicycle path between the tracks, and there were many expressions in favor of it's suppression by the city. IL would be necessary to forbid the use of it. It could quickly be made inn passable for bicycles. In place of it it was pointed out that it would not cost a great deal to make a bicycle path along the street next to the gut ter from Seventh avenue to Seventh street the present length of the "dea6
 line"