The San Francisco call., 1909-05-24
Two Men Hurled Through Air
but MiracuIOusIy Escape
Fatal Injury
Machine DETECTED by Rough
Road Is Made Mass of Junk
by Collision
Attempt to Break OakIand=San
Francisco Record Nearly Ends
in Double Tragedy
Especial Dapoteh 10 The Call

TSeecial Dapatoh 10 The Call
AN JOSE, May 2s.-Within a mile
OF the point where the Tourist
car, attempting to lower the
Oakland-San Francisco record,
came to grief yesterday morning,
Stoddard- Dayton car was demolished
today and the two occupants, who
were attempting to better the same
time mark, are in the Belvedere hos
pitsl suffering from severe but not
fatal injuries.
The scene OF the accident wherein
two men miraculously escaped with.
their lives is in North First street be-
yond the Hotel Vendome and almost at
the corner Of Taylor Their 45 horse
power car. going at go miles an hour,
smashed into locust tree in front of
the residence of William Ehlert.
Car Hits Tree
The car was driven by Fred J. Wise
man, who was accompanied by ]. NJ
Peters as mechanician. It left oak
land at o'clock for a record run
around the bay Coming down First
street from Milpitas at fearful speed,
IL struck series Of rough bumps in
the roadbed and was DETECTED from its
course. 1t struck the tree with such
force as TO jar the neighboring houses.
Both men were hurled from the ma
chine, Peters striking the ground about
20 feet from the tree. wiseman was
picked up but a short distance away,
a s he hung on TO the steering wheel
and did not leave the car until it broke
from the steering post as the car was
thrown completely around by the col
lision
Neighbors rushed to the rescue and
summoning police aid. the men were
removed in the patrol wagon to the
receiving hospital. going later to the
Belvedere hospital Dr.. K. c. Park
was called and now has charge of both
cases. He says that although neither
OF the men appear to be seriously in
jured, both were very badly shaken
up: especially Peters, who is con-
siderably bruised about the head. Wise
man received a cut between eyes. He
was also bruised about the stomach.
They were considerably dazed when
they reached the hospital Neither of
them was able to give very good ex-
pened.
Machine Only Junk
The machine is a mass of junk. not
a beam or bar but is twisted, torn or
broken. Wiseman and Peters both
think the detection of the car was due
TO a sudden rise ia the roadbed. D. c.
Prentiss, who started the car from
Oakland on its record run said last
evening that Peters had set his watch
with the official timing watches at the
start for the race against time. After
being taken 10 the hospital the watch
was taken out Of his pocket and was
found to have stopped at "a minutes
past 5 o'clock The start from Oak
land was made at exactly 5 o'clock,
which gave the car "a minutes run
ming time to the place of the accident.
distance of 4S miles.
Attained Great Speed
Peters said he had just looked at
his watch at the Gish road. and it
showed 5:Ss. The speedometer on the
machine showed a rate Of 70 TO 7S
miles an hour on some of the stretches
on the run down. Prentiss thought
that the car was going at better than
60 miles an hour when il struck the
tree After talking with Wiseman and
looking over the machine, he attributed
the accident to a sudden raise in the
roadbed which caused the machine to
swerve suddenly. Travelling at the rate
Of So feet second gave Wiseman no
chance 10 control the machine. Wise
man last night was sitting up and
viii more than likely return to the city
tomorrow. while it will be another day
before Peters will go up.