The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-21

Present -LorOner 10 search Tor Truth.
Virginia Levick,. who was badly hurt in
THE automobile smashup in Central Park at
midnight Monday which caused the death
o. Tom Cooper. the racing machine driver
and bicycle champion, and OF Daniel Barka-
low. an oil merchant Of II State street.
and fatally injured Helen Lambert, an
actress, told the story Of the accident yes
terday afternoon in her apartment at the
Wroxeter, 1870 West Forty-ffth street.
She said that there were five persons in
the big machine that Tom Cooper was
driving when the smash came and said
that Howard r. Alexander OF Elizabeth
y. j., who is president of Howard T. Alex
ander 4 Co., a l~ubrioating oil concern of
II state street and a director of the Battery
Park National Bank, was the fifth member
Of the party.
At his home, 3 North avenue. Elizabeth,
Mr.. Alexander denied positively last night
that ne had been in the automobile. He
said he didn't know anything about the
accident until he saw the story OF il in the
morning papers.
"Mr. Barkalow was the manager of nv
oil business" said Mr.. Alexander, "a first
class mar who had been with me fifteen
years, 1t happened hat I loaned him my
o~vercoat yesterday and doubtless tina was
found on him when he was picked up in the
park. II is a mistake to say that knew
anything about the matter"
with Mr.. Barkalow, whom neither Miss
Lambert nor myself knew very well, but
who was a friend of Mr.. Alexander and of
Cooper, we made up a party last night to
go up 10 10th street and Seventh avenue,
facing the north end of the park. We stayed
there until 11:90 o'clock, having supper.
and started back for Broadway, with Tom
driving" said Miss Levick.
He had a big Matheeon machine that
could go like a streak OF. lightning, Inc
when we started TO run down through the
park he turned to me and said: Now you're
going to get the rid of your life. I'll send
you along faster than you ever went before
We wanted to go fast and weren't afraid,
because Tom never was a reckless driver.
Going down the West Drive we saw a
big machine in front OF us and Tom set out
TO catch it. We passed it just before we
got to the turn at Seventy-seventh street.
l noticed that there we're three men in the
machine we passed
AS we struck the turn in the drive we
were going fifty miles an hour. maybe.
Just as We began to tear around the turn
Tom saw a hanson cab coming north in
the drive. We made a wide turn, with the
machine skiddinR on two wheels, just miss
ing the hanson. That second Tom saw a
stalled automobile at the side of the drive
To our left. He had thrown the machine in
a half circle round the hanson and was
heading straight toward the stalled auto.
Il was too late to do anything. 1 SUPPOSE !;
although Tom certainly tried because |
saw him tearing at the steering wheel. 1
am sure thai he steering gear broke or that
something else went wrong. Just that in
slant the other machine whizzed by us,
The three men must have seen that a col
~lision'was about TO occur, but they put on
speed and went straight ahead.
When | came to there were policemen
around and / saw Tom lying under the auto
mobile, which had turned over and was
smashed to pieces. Miss Lambert was
lying on the drive and Barkslow was near
her, held down by the auto"
At Roosevelt Hospital Miss Leyick first
gave her own name as Virginia Vernon and
Miss Lamhert's "a Helen Hall. Later on
she ave their real names and told who
was in the party.
Cooper was probably killed instantly,
as he was caught squarely under the rood
of his auto when il whirIed over. His
neck and back were broken and he was
frightfuiiy crushed about the upper part
VI thV bOuys HIS DOuy lay III III uTlNe LOT
upward of an hour. Nobody in the park
knew who il was until a roundSman and an
automobile garage manager identified it.
Yesterday afternoon IL was removed to
an undertaking establishment in Eighth
avenue where l.. Y. r. Munger "a profession
al rider and a friend of Cooper, took charge
of it. This afternoon Mr.. Munger will
ship the body to Cooper's home in Detroit.
Daniel Barkaiow died early yesterday
morning in the hospital. His skull was
fYaCftIraH and hn una in fnraH ipfarnaIU
The hospital authorities telephoned his wife
at his home, 2s2 + fifteenth avenue, Paterson,
\. j., early yesterday morning. She got
to the hospital five minutes after her hus-
band died. Bari, allow had a little daughter.
Miss Lambert will die, il was said at Roose-
welt last night, Her skull is fractured,
she is injured internally and she is bruised
terribly about the body. She came here
from the West several years ago
Miss Levick was painfully hurt and may
be crippled for life. Her left leg was
crushed about the knee and the kneecap
was injured. Her head was cut and there
are cats and bruises all over her body
the accident closely. He will hold a hearing
in abou a week and will have a dozen or
more witnesses, including, he said yester-
day, Mr.. Alexander. Robert A, Strong of
2o4 West ~Eifty-ffth street, a woollen manu-
facturer, and his friend, Frank $, Howells
Of 450 West End avenue, who had just
stepped out OF the automobile that CoOper's
machine rammed, saw the accident, as well
as their driver, Louis Caldwell, n Thomas
Dunn, the mechanic. ,
The other witnesses will be DR.. c. C..
Sichel Of 50 West Seventy-seventh street,
Mabel Gradell of Ala West ~Fifty-eighth
street. George f. Hanlon of 1888 West Eighty
fourth street, and two policemen. Clemens
and Bergman of the park squad.
The Coroner heard yesterday afternoon
that three automobiles were racing down
the drive when the smash came, and that
Cooper's machine was furthest toward the
left of the roadway. TIL two on the out
side eMaded the hanson easily, but Cooper
hadn't room to dodge it and also failed to
see the headlight OF the stalled machine,
which the cab partially concealed.
PATERSON, Nov. 2O.-Daniel Barkalow
was the son OF ex-Judge John 5. BaTkalow.
He was 80 years old and had been married
about FIVE years. His wife before marriage
was Miss Harriet Townsend McMuTray of
Newburgh, ". Y, whose grandmother was a
member Of the Nissan family. Mr.. Barka-
low was a member OF the Hamilton Club and
a leader in social Affairs. He had n
daughter, Esther, ten months old. He is
also survived by his parents, q brother,
Sidney Berkalow, and a sister, Mrs. Hen