Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-11-08
.ELMORE CLOSE ON
lS0TTA AT MECCA
D. B. ROSE TELLS STORY OF
ROAD RACE
Driver Declares Glare of SearchIiehts
on Spectators Car Nearly Caused
Fatal Crash at Eth
wanda

1t was a thrilling story Of the whirl-
wind flight through the valley and over
the San Gorgonio- pass told by d. B.
Rose, the plucky driver of the equally
plucky Gilmore, when he arrived in Les
Angeles last night after making a
change of crew at Mecca.
At the desert railroad town Rose and
Harlow Ryal, his machinist, surren-
and c. F. Smith and Dick Erskine,
machinist and helper. AT sos o'clock
yesterday. morning the trio in the AL
most totally dismantled Gilmore shot
away across the desert toward Ehren-
berg hot on the trail of the Isotta, then
the only car in the Elmore's lead.
Here's how things stood at Mecca"
said Driver Rose, adding that after he
had satisfied curiosity about the posi-
lions Of the cars he would tell how his
own machine was nearly wrecked and
himself and machinist nearly killed.
"'The Isotta got away from Mecca at
1855 o'clock this morning. The Gilmore
was the next car out, at sos. A minute
after the Elmore left the Franklin
limped into the town with a broken
axle, plainly out of the running.
Many Breakdowns Occur
AT 6:2O o'clock the Buick got away,
and the Pennsylvania was after her.
only three minutes in the rear The
e. NJ. f. was the next TO leave at $3.50,
and the Kisselkar made a getaway at
$50. Later the Kisselkar was seen on
the road by the engineer of our train.
The car was stopped, and one OF the
men was under the car, evidently max
ing repairs.
AT 1880 o'clock the Columbia sour
ried out of Mecca and shot away to-
ward the Colorado river.
1.-The Ford was seen at $3.50 a. m.
stuck in the sand at Whitewater, and
it looked as though the car was stuck
hard The Doris was put out of the
running for a time at least at Palm
Springs, where the car ran into tree.
No one was hurt
Where we lost out and were nearly
killed was at Etiwanda, where a short
cut road turns off the San Bernardino
highway to Riverside. We were run
ming about fifty miles an hour, but l
knew the road, and l was on the look
out for a bad culYert there. Evidently
some of the Riverside enthusiasts had
come over to Etiwanda to see the
racers go by and big car was drawn
up facing our road, on the Riverside
highway.
Emore Loses Everything
when the occupants of this car
heard us coming they evidently sour
ried to the roadway to see us go by,
leaving the glare of their big search
lights, which were going full blast,
square in our eyes. We hit that Gull
vert full tilt and we went UP in the
air at least forty feet. 1t was an
awful jolt, and right there is where I
am sure we lost everything besides our
selves that wasn't riveted to the ma
chine.
when we got into Mecca our ear
seat was gone. There wasn't an air
bottle, a tire, an inner tube, a tool or
a single duplicate part of the machine
in the car. our canvas was some.
Every single vestige of food had disap-
peared.
you see what that means. If a single
break occurs, that ends the race for
the Gilmore, for there is no possible way
to duplicate a broken part. There is
no canvas for sand holes. About the
only thing the men had when they
swung out of Mecca were the water
bottles, and they were strapped on to
the side of the front.
"Dake, Smith and Ersline were off
on the long hike at a pace that looked
as though they would eat things up,
but they won't fare very we'll them
selves. They didn't have even a sand
witch to take with them.
"She's a game little car, that FL
more" added Rose, ruefully land If
nothing breaks 1 believe she can make
1t even yet. But--one bust and she's
a gone coon"