Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-13
CAR HITS AUTO:
WOMAN KILLED.
1 FATALLY HURT
MRS. HENRY HOFFMAN DEAD;
HUSBAND MAY DIE
SAN GABRIEL FLYER CRASHES
INTO AUTOMOBILE
Trolley on Pacific Electric colIides
with Machine Driven by Promi-
nent Angeleno-Victim's
Skull Crushed


III of the Hoffman, Marks company,
hardware dealers at 226 South
Main street, was fatally injured and
Alice Underwood Hoffman, his wife, al.
most instantly killed In a collision of
an automobile in which they We're
driving and an inbound San Gabriel
car on the Pacific Electric line at
Baird's station at $50 o'clock yester-
day afternoono.
The car which struck the automobile
was No. 40S, in charge of Conductor
S. /. Goodwin and Motorman u. b.
McEory, and was running at speed
of about twenty-five miles an hour. Mr..
and Mrs. Hoffman had driven from
Hotel Watson at Pico and Flower
streets with their two daughters, May,
aged IL, and Louise, ~ years old, to
Pasadena, where the girls are attend
ing school Thet were alone in the au-
tomobile ON their return at the time of
the accident.
Mr.. Hoffman was driving the ma
chine, which was new Mitchell tour
ing automobile. and reached the grade
crossing at Bairdstown just as an out
bound Pasadena car came along. He
stopped his machine and waited until
this car had passed and then started
ahead, whenl Mrs. Hoffman called his
dLtentlOn IQ afOtHeT CdF approaching
on the track, not noticing that there
was following and less than two min
utes behind another inbound car,
which proved to be the San Gabriel
flyer.
Auto Thrown Two Hundred Feet
AS the automobile was directly on
the track the car struck the ma
chine. There was a binding cloud of
dust. crash and the motor car was
broken into pieces and tossed dis
tance of 200 feet to the opposite track
Mrs. Hoffman was pinned beneath the
chassis of the machine. which turned
upside down, and Mr.. Hoffman was
thrown with portion of the tonneau
against one of the trolley poles. Mo-
torman McEory stopped his car by APP
plying the emergency brakes and with
a crowd of passengers and the con-
ductor hurried back to the scene of
the accident. fully 300 yards in the
rear. The broken and bent steel frame
of the motor car was lifted off the
body of Mrs. Hoffman and she was laid
on a rug at the side of the track. She
lived but few minutes, breathing |
her last while a number of passengers
were trying to minister to her.
Mr.. Hoffman was found to be alive
He was placed in the car, the body of
his wife laid beside him and the car |
started at full speed for the Pacific |
Electric depot in this city, the train |
dispatcher having been notified OF the |
accident by telephone from Baird's. |
He gave the car the right of way over
everything on the line.
AS soon as the Pacific Electric build
ing was reached Mr.. Hoffman was
taken to the emergency hospital in the
building. and from there, after an ex-
animation was made by the surgeons,
sent to the Crocker street hospital.
The body of Mrs. Hoffman was taken
to the Pierce Brothers morgue.
Mrs. Hoffman died from a compound |
fracture of the skull. the frontal bone
above the right eye being crushed and
driven into the brain. Mr.. Hoffman
sustained a fracture of the skull, frae-
lures of the ribs on the right side and /
internal injuries.
Brothers Reach Bedside
Drs. Hall, Hutchinson and Matthews,
the first two surgeons of the railroad
company and the latter the family
physician of the injured man, were
called to his bedside and at 9 o'clock
the brothers of Mr.. Hoffman, who had
been vainly searching for him, arrived
at the hospital. They had heard of the
accident, but because of the secretive-
ness of the employees of the company
they were unable to find where he had
been taken until they learned it from
another source.
H. p. Hoffman, with his brothers. A.
J. and EAA. Hoffman, came to Los An
geles ten years ago from Springville,
Iowa, where they had been engaged in
the hardware business They estab-
lishcd a like business here and were
very successful, the fortune of the in
jured man being estimated at more
than 100000. Five years ago H. p.
Hoffman and his brothers separated in
business, he entering the retail trade
with William #. Marks and the broth
ers establishing the wholesale house of
the Hoffman Hardware company.
!. H p. Hoffman was married at ,
Springville Iowa, to Alice Underwood.
She has two brothers and sister resid-
ing in her home town. Besides the two !
daughters there is son, Ray Hoffman,,
10 years of age.
Mr.. and Mrs. Hoffman formerly re- ,
sided at Altadena, but March they re- ,,
moved to Los Angeles and took apart
ments at the Hotel Watson, while a c
handsome home was being erected for
them in Victoria Park, on West Pico
street.
Mr.. Hoffman is 40 years of age and
was born in Savannahs I'll. His wife
was 80 years of age.
Machinist Killed
George II. Thresh, a machinist living \
at the United States hotel, was almost !
Killed In front OF that eStah-
at $3.50 o'clock yesterday after Z
noon by being struck by northbound
San Pedro street car No. 223 of the Los d
Angeles railway.
Thresh was walking across the street h
In the direction of the hotel and APP
did not see the car, for he
stepped directly in front of it, accord
Ing to witnesses, and was knocked
down. AS he fell the step of the car
struck him in the back of the head. G
fracturing the skull at the base. He
lied In the police ambulance on his
way to the receiving hospital. The t
body was removed to the <Bresee
~