The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-04-24
CAR RAMS SIGHTSEEING AUTO
YOUNG Wan KILLED; FI4NCEE
STUNNED AND Bruised.
Huge Vehicle Became UnmanAEeibls After
Collision and Dashed Into Fruit stand
--KOuer ami the Girl Flung 10 the
GrOund-He was Trying TO Save Her.

Collision and Dashed Into Fruit stand
-KOuer ami the Girl Flung 10 the
GrOund-IIe Was Trying TO Save Her.
A Touring New York" automobile carry.
ing forty persons was jammed into fruit
stand at Fifty-seventh street by an Eighth
avenue car yesterday afternoon and Charles
p. Roster, a front seat passenger, was
killed. His fanC6s Miss Annie Finneran,
was injured. Roster lost his life because
when the crash came he tried 70 Jump and
rescue Miss Finneran
The automobile left It's regular stand
before the Barthold Hotel at one O'Clock.
The bright Sunday gave II a full compile
ment Of passengers. Roster and Miss
Finneran, who lived in boarding house
at lss Eighth avenue, this city ioired the
tourist crowd to get the ride. In the party
with them we're George Caspar and Thomas
Lewis. In the scramble for places this
party managed TO get the front seats.
The automobile made the regular up town
trip, came down Riverside Drive from
Grants tomb and passed Columbus Circle
| into Eighth avenue at I o'clock, Joseph
! Flynn was driving and l.. W. Brdgma1 was
usher and announcer. On these automo-
| biles il is the business Of the announcer
/ TO warn the driver Of any dan ger in the rear.
/ A. they neared Fifty-seventh street
Flynn wanted to turn into it east toward
| Broadway.
/ "All clear?' he asked Bridgman
yes replied Brdgman. There was a
car about sixty feet back, but 1t was slow
| ing up and Bridgman thought that there
would be room for the turn. Flynn brought
his machine slowly TO a sharp left turn.
The car took a squirt at this moment and
caught the auto on the left side and near
the front.
What followed happened in a second
The machines head was turned straight
toward little one story fruit stand on the
corner. Flynn tried frantically to put on
power and brakes, but could get no response.
Something had happened TO the mechanism.
Stmight into the fruit stand they smashed.
The passengers. mostly women. were
shrieking and screaming, but hanging on.
Only Roster on the front seat saw the wall
looming up ahead and he seized Miss
Finneran ground the waist
Jump jump he cried. just then
the auto struck the curve with big Jolt
The couple pitched over the dashboard
on their heads. Miss Finneran was thrown
away from the machine but Roster dropped
before the front wheels. The auto passed
over his chest and clear into the fruit stand.
1t broke a twelve inch stanchion at the
corner and caved in the whole front wall
before something broke and it stopped.
Roster lay on the pavement with his head
split open and his chest crushed. Miss
FinneTan was senseless a few feet away.
Some men carried Roster into Pringles
drug store near by. He died on the way.
An ambulanos took Miss Enneran 70 the
Roosevelt Hospital, She was stunned and
bruised, but not seriously hurt.
The Easter crowd op Eighth avenue
crowded around and helped the scared
tourists to climb down. The auto was
firmly wedged in the door OF the fruit stand
and Mr.. and Mrs. Louis Satello, who run
the place, were prisoners The wrecking
wagon Of the street car company was sum
moned, but before II oame two electric cabs
had been hitched to the wreck and had pulled
it away
Roster, who was only 81 was an agent
for the Reliance Tea and Coffee Company,
at sic Hudson street. Miss Finneran IA a
saleswoman. They boarded at the same
place, with a family named Kelly. at 1855
Eighth avenue and were to have been
married next week
The car which caused the trouble did
not stop afterthe collision, but went straight
ahead. Flynn, the driver Of the auto, who
was shaken up and not seriously hurt, was
arrested. Coroner Scholer took his state
ment and ordered him held In 81 900 bail
for examination in the West Side court
10 day Thomas 7. Devine furnished bail.
C,,r T., % sk
and Bridgman, the announcer, oil blame
T. j. Keegan, motorman OF the Eighth
avenue car. whose name was secured from
the company by means Of the car number,
for the collision.
HE struck me twice, said Flynn. After
the first rap he smashed the auto again in
the rear. That was the knock which put
out the gear. couldn't do anything with
the machine. As the car struck us heard
him yell:
why didn't you stop didn't see
Roster fall. didn't see anything except
the wall ahead"
'Our cans are very heavy and must turn
lowly,' said supt. Fansworth. Their
extreme speed is eight miles an hour, and
they usually run at five. They have TO
make a wide, slow turn. My Investigations
show that the car atter 90 ming almost to a
stop, spurted ahead as our machine was
making the turn. Flynn has been in the
employ Of the automobil company for six
years. He Ia sober and reliable"
The condition Of the automobile bears
out Flynn's statement. There IL a big
dent In the left side near the front, and
the back is badly battered, showing APP
parently that the car struck It twice.
Coroner Soholer, after his investigation,
ordered the arrest Of Keegan.
Mrs. Philips OF ITO West Ninety-si1th
street, sister OF Miss Finneran, had her
removed from the Roosevelt Hospital last
night and took her home. Barring possible
internal injuries, her condition il not dan
gerous
JAR AT CITY HALL STATION.