The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-10-11
. BLAIR b !. WANTED TO.
AVOID A SCANDAL
DEFENsE OF AUTO DRIVER ON
TRIAL FOR MANsLAUGHTER. /
Defendant on Stand in His Own Behalf
Z Declares Machine Was Not Running
at High Speed, and: Asserts He
j, Sounded Horn as Warning to Jerome
4 and Others. =. B

y Sounded Horn as Warning to Jerome
and Others. :, S;
81 did everything in my power to
prevent the collision that. resulted in
Frank A. Jerome's death,' declared
Peter Blar on the witness stand today,
court he is being tried for manslaughter
in the second degree: He did not turn
back, after running Jerome down, "be-
cause he wanted to take the girls home
and avoid a scandal'' This, in nut
shell, is Blar's defense. The case will
60 to the jury tomorrow. . T..
Blair was called to the stand at IL
am. today. He took his seat with per-
feet assurance, and during both the
direct examination by A. II. Hall and
| the cross-examination by County Attor-
never ruffled. His foreign accent rather
surprised many of the people in the
courtroom and made it difficult at times
for counsel and the reporters to under.
stand his statements. Aside from this,
his answers were lucid and to the point.
3: Blair Owned Auto
| Blar admitted that he owned and
| drove the automobile that ran into, Frank
A.. Jerome on Aug. 81. He said the ma
chine was not in good repair; that the
despite his efforts of that morning to
repair it. He; testified that on the trip
up Seventh street and Western avenue
| he, stopped at Hennepin and Seventh
| street to let a car pass and when he
| started up he had the machine on the
low gear, on which it cannot run more
than four or five miles an hour, he said.
He then put the machines on high gear.
How fast did it go then?" asked
Mr.: Hall.
"Not more than seven or eight miles
an hour ~. 49,.
"When you neared the crossing at
First avenue N, did you. sound any
warninga" :, -. :. : -
eyes; I blew my horn I always do
when come to- crossing.'
Saw Man on Bicycle.
that corner. 81 saw him first,'' he tes-
titled, "when I was on Seventh street,
and then my car turned down Western,
and I looked down that street and did
not see the man until I saw him turn
ing the corner on Western by the. fat
3=+|.How far was he away then9" II
u.
"What did you do7H' ....~
| ct swung the machine around as I
thought was more likely to miss him
that way, and I knew 1 didn't have
time to stop. When I swung the ma
chine around put on the brakes, the
I (which, brake did you use7' - :;
1.-THE transmission brake.''*$ :
$nWhy did you do that9'. Is
N int ,~l
The machine almost stopped Then ]
turned the machine to- the right and
"Did You or AID you you not do all that
you could to- avoid Scollision9' -
"Sure." i N&zs' - IT ~ e. ~ . :
sa= 'tKnew Man Hit Him. I !
| On cressexamination Mr.. Smith
a. M 6 I ,l kneT you were hitting mar
u knew the man hit me-. =s.%<@
| "You knew that your machine had
come in contact with MIR. Jerome7" .
/ "Yes.' 49, !
( nYou didn't STOP, did you9', !.
+ Ono, sir; not entirely.' :
"You went on out Western ave.
tnue?D HYes.' .... -. -. =, s.. !;
GLOW far did you go9'' ...~ .
| Give or six blocks.''
NThen you turned and went back tc
Edith Rogers place, where you was ar
Edith Rogers place, where you were ar
$ l took the girls home. , ; >as,sr. !
"Now you saw the man hurt? Why
didn't you stop9'
eyes, but didn't think he wal
hurt bad. The girls thought they would
be spinched. I thought there would b
scandal. III had been alone ]
would have stopped.'
"You hadn It had any sleep for ;
long time before this accident9,
- slept the day before.'' .....
fore9o ~
| emo, sir.'' -. T.:
Mr.. Smith went over every detail O.
his story, bringing out in bold relic
the fact that Blair had been in ST. Pau
during the night before the tragedy
7 had come back to Minneapolis, wher
l he had imbibed. quantities of ':malt, ,
and had spent the night in high living
r and was not in proper condition to han
die a machine. - !,
Woman's Testimony.
Another witness Of the mornin
called by the defense was Ida Jone!
r one of the women occupants of til
: Blar automobile at the time of the CO.
lision. She said Jerome was busy fl
:. ing something on the handlebar Of hi
:, bicycle and did not look up or see tn
: machine he ran into until too late. Sh
said the auto was not going very fas
and that the man on the bicycle was.
The woman was frustrated when, O
e cross-examination, Mr.. Smith confron
: ed her with statements she had mad
l at the coroner's inquest, which contr;
!, dicted those made on the witnes
9 stand today. !
l.. Fred Southworth was also called an
testified that he was an eye witness c
2 the tragedy. He said the automobil
!. was not going faster than eight mile
an hour, or as fast as an ordinary hors
!. trots. He swore that Blair : footed HI
t horn'' many times before the collisio
and that he turned his machine wit
the evident intention Of avoiding til
catastrophe. 81 - %.
4 ,.% Auto Not Licensed.
! With the introduction of evidence t
. prove that Peter. Blar was violating til
city ordinance in driving the machin
which ran into and caused the deaf
Of Frank A. Jerome because of the fax
that the machine was not licensed b
the city authorities, County Attorne
AL j. Smith yesterday rested til
state s case in the Blair manslaughtt
M trial ~ ~ = 80; = = .@%s-l,