The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-20
tom COOPER KILLED BY AUTO.
FAMOUS DRIVER RAN HIS ma
CHINE INTO ANOTHER.

Helen Lambert. snow Girl. and Daniel
Barkalow. Merchant. Have Fractured
skuils-The Other Machine Owned
by n. A. strong was Standing Empty.
Tom Cooper. the bicycle rider and expert
chauffeur, was instantly killed last night in
a head on automobile collision In Central
Park. The accident occurred on the West
Drive, 300 feet from the Seventy-seventh
street entrance. Two women and two men
who were with Cooper were thrown onto
the pavement by the ov~erturning OF
their auto n badly hurt. One man was
unhurt and disappeared. The others were
taken to Roosevelt Hospital.
The two women gave their names as
Virginia Vernon Of s3s North avenue, Jer-
sey City, and Helen Lambert a show girl,
living at the Hotel Wroxeter, 1877 West
Forty-ffth street. The man was Daniel
Barkalow, a New York merchant living in
Paterson. His skull is fractured and so
Is Miss Lambert's. Virginia Vernon has
a broken leg. She gave the names Of the
others.
The car struck by Cooper's machine was
owned by Richard A. Strong, a woollen
manufacturer living at BOA West Ffty-ffth
street. Mr.. Strong and F. S. Howells OF
Port Washington, a Worth street cloth
merchant, had been driving alone through
the park with Louis Caldwell and the mech
antn,an Vhopnaa nR,nn When tho machine
reached the point opposite Seventy-seventh
street on the West Drive the gasolene gave
out and Dunn set out to find some. Mr..
JStrong and Mr.. Howells were walking along
the drive waiting for him to return.
They heard the noise Of another machine
coming over the hill above where they were
stalled and then saw II bearing down on
their machine at a rate which Mr.. Strong
said wasn't less then forty miles an hour.
The driver either didn't see the standing
auto or couldn't make the turn to avoid il.
His machine struck the Strong machine
a corkscrew blow which hurled it TO n
side and upset the flying machine alto
gether. The men and women who were
in il were hurled in all directions.
The yark police called two ambulances
and called for the reserves from the West
Sixty-eighth street station. Detective
Bresnan arrived shortly at the head Of a
dozen cops. When the two Roosevelt
Hospital ambulanoes and five surgeons ar
rived they said that Cooper had been killed
instantly. The two injured women and n
man xere taken to the hospital. One man
who was unhurt disappeared.
Mr.. Strong and Mr.. Howells we're i'm
mediately arrested and taken to the Arsenal
station, although they protested h a they
were in no way responsible for the accident.
Coroner shrady ordered their release.
Thomas Cooper, who won many prizes
and championships as a bicycle rider, was
born about 81 years 9 in Detroit. He
took up bicycle riding when he was about Is
and made a particular hit when he met
Eddie Bald, then the champion, in a half
mile race at Battle Creek In 1894. He beat
the champion and startled the bicycle riding
world. The craze for racing then was
almost at its highest and Cooper began to
make money.
He was mike most of the bicycle riders in
that he was not a prod igalspender OF money.
When he made his first considerable sum
Of money out Of bicycle riding, he sem
il pack home to Detroit so that his mother
and sister we're able to go bach TO his
mothers birthplace in Scotland.
In 1900 Cooper won the National Cycling
Association championship, which carried
with it the title Of professional champion
Of the world. He kept at the bicycle game
with greater or less success for two years
more and left it with a considerable sum
Of money. He returned TO Detroit and
put his money into real estate. His father
and a married sister lived in houses owned
by him.
In 1902 Cooper entered with Henry Ford
into a combination that produced the ia
nous 900 automobile, one of the taste at
cars of the day. Cooper was not given
to racing much and WAS only a careful,
clever young man in his connection with the
sale and handling Of automobiles. He
continued with Henry Ford for two years
and in 1904 went to take a position with the
Matheson Automobile Company Of this
city.
Only a little while ago he made a record
Of 81 as seconds driving a Matheson tour
ing car straightaway for q mile with a load
OF seven persons in il. IL was an unusual
feat and one that called forth admiratio
for the skill Of the driver.
A Matheson car was entered in the elm
ination to select the American team for
the Vanderbilt cup races a short while ago,
and the company hired an Italian named
Mongini to drive It's car. Some one asked
Charles A.. Singer, a shrewd business man,
head Of the Matheson company. why he
d lid not nave Cooper drive the carsfor him.
in view of the fact that Cooper was such
a fine driver.
why, sir" was Mr.. Singers answer.
-one can get racing drivers almost any
where. A man like Tom Cooper ismuch too
valuable to US to let him risk his life In a
race"
Cooper was worth between $40 900 and
$40 900, all Of which he had made out Of
his prowess as a bicycle rider and as driver
OF automobiles. He was unmarried.