Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-02-17

their combined weight toward the front
Of an automobile that backed with
them through the stout iron rail guard
ing the high drive. In that instant it
seemed nothing could hold them back
from a frightful plunge to. the street
far below. The rear wheels of the big
machine were. over the edge Of the big
bridge and almost half the bulk of the
car had followed them before the fright
ened passengers could leap from their
seats. The four sprang as one, landing
in a heap on the forward part of the
car. Pausing scarce a fraction of a
second to gather strength for a second
leap, they threw themselves to the road,
where scores Of spectators breathless
with horror rushed forward to lift
them. That the automobile did not fall
was regarded as little short Of mira
Gle. Ten days before a touring car
had a similar accident.
Miss Haggerty, one of the women in
the car, proved herself a heroine after
her first natural impulse to spring from
the auto when it was backing at full
speed was restrained by her father.
From that moment sheawas independ-
ent as any of her companions. None
! of the men could have saved her, and
if she had not joined them in the com
mon effort to hold the machine on the
! viaduct she must have persisted. There
/ was no time even for her father, who
/ sat beside her, to gather her in his
arms for leap. Her own strength
and wit were her only hope She made
the two jumps from the rear seat to
the front of the car and thence to the
road with the agility of a gymnast.
i Then, almost fainting in the reaction
from the terrible moment of suspense,
/ she sank Imply into her fathers arms.
J Besides Miss Haggerty, there were
in the car Mrs. w. A. Burke, a daugh-
ter of Thomas e. Crimmins, and Justin
! O'Brien, son of Justice Morgan j.
O'Brien. Louis Echel, nineteen years
/ old, was the driver.
The car stopped short when Echel
was steering it westward over the via.
duct near Eighth avenue. A chain
| had broken, and it must have thrown
| the lever to the reverse position an'i
! damned it there, for before any OF tie
persons in the car could alight it be-
gan backing swiftly. Echel tried all
the devices at his command to stop the
! auto or change its direction, but the
steering gear also failed him, and his
efforts only increased the retr0grade
I speed. Miss Haggerty, seeing the driv-
! er had lost control Of the machine, at
tempted to jump, but her father pre-
| vented her. In the next instant the
automobile smashed into the iron rail,
tearing off strip almost twenty feet
long, which crashed to the street, i'm
periling those below.
Easily as circus rider leaping
through a paper hoop the rear Of the
car burst the guard rail Fortunately
there was enough resistance in the iron
to stop the driving gear. Apparently
the shock broke enough more Of the
already damaged machinery to offset
! the tragic tendency of the first frac-
ture. Miraculously, it seemed, the
wheels did not turn in either direction
from the moment the rear ones crashed
| through the rail. A single revolution
either way might have resulted fatally
to the four persons in the car. AS i
was, their escape was so narrow that
one OF them remarked it was the last
time he would enter an automobile
Echel hired a team of horses and ha
the auto dragged to a repair station