Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-26
CORONER s JURY
RENDERS VERDICT
INJURED CHAUFFEUR FREED
FROM BLAME
Surgeons Believe That Henderson
Has Increased Chance of ulti-
mate Recovery From His
Terrible Burns
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald.
PASADENA, June 25.-The coroner's s
inquest this forenoon over the body of
Mrs. James A. Codori, the Los Angeles
woman killed in the terrible automo-
bile accident of Sunday morning i'm this
city, resulted in the following verdict:
Deceased came to her death as a re-
suit of being burned under an acci-
dentally overturned automobile"
Much interest was taken i'm the ex-
animation but about the only fact of
importance established by the evidence
of those examined was that no one in
the party occupying the automobile at
the time of the accident had been
drinking.
Those riding in the automobile were
united in asserting that the chauffeur
was driving the machine at reduced
rate of speed, possibly as low as fif-
teen miles an hour, when the tire Civ
ing away or slipping out caused it to
slew around and turn over. White
one of the witnesses today himself
chauffeur, blames the accident to a
defective tire rather than to any care
lessness on the part of Henderson who
was driving the machine.
Coroner Trout conducted the exam
ination this morning with a jury COM
posed of W. II. Darrow, S. j. Shaw, l..
o. Rule, Charles Grimes, G.. W.. Swan
and J. l.. Hartwell
Those examined were James A. CO.
dori and Mrs. Ella May Norris, who
were in the automobile and ESCAPED
with only few bruises; Policeman
Joe Shutz, Joseph E. kellogg, Matthew
]. Gray, l.. George Thompson DR.. A.
d. Mccoy and Night Watchman E. S.
Blake. White was present but was
not examined. Codori and Mrs. Norris
told of the trip from Los Angeles to
Arcadia and then to Pasadena, insisted
that no one in the party had been
drinking, did not think that the speed
was as great as at first believed and
remembered hearing White tell the
chauffeur to slow up for the turn onto
Orange Grove avenue. Both of them
thought that the car did slow up some
what in response to this request.
Patrolman Shultz told of the car
speeding past him when he stood at
the corner of Fair Oaks avenue and
Colorado street, of his following it on
his wheel, Of turning in fire alarm
and of the extinguishing of the fire by
use of chemicals. In his opinion Mrs
Codori was stunned by the fall and did
not suffer in the fire.
He advanced the theory that a sud-
den turn of the steering wheel to
avoid the curb caused the tire to come
off, causing the remainder of the ac-
cident Kellogg testified to the skill
of Chauffeur Henderson.
Gray gave the speed of the car as
it passed him on East Colorado street
at forty miles an hour. Thompson de-
scribed the accident from photographs
taken early Sunday morning. DR.. Nc
Coy described the condition of the
body of Mrs. COdori and stated that
in his opinion death was the result of
the overturning of the automobile upon
her body. He did not believe that she
felt any pain from the flames.
Blake, who was about seventy-five
feet from the car when it overturned,
gave graphic account of his efforts
to keep Codori White and Mrs. Norris
from throwing themselves blindly into
the roaring flames and of his struggle
to extinguish the fire on Henderson's
body and clothing. He heard the ex-
plosion of the tire, saw the machine
roll over but heard no outcry from the
imprisoned woman.
The remains of Mrs. Codori were
removed to Los Angeles at noon to-
day. Henderson still lies at the Pas
adena hospital and inquiry there to-
night elected the information that he
is much better. The surgeons in
charge are beginning to entertain some
hope that he will recover, although
they admit that the chance is dread
fully remote.