The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-08-22

lives were SacrluCeu lOudy III the sdluT-
MALTA of speed which has inaugurated
the great indianapolis motor speedway
One mechanician and two spectators paid
the penalty of their lives. The fatal &C
eident came when a National ear, driven
by Charles Merz. in the 0O-mile race, lost
a tire and crashed through a fence into
a group of spectators.
The dead are:
Claude Ke1um of Indianapolis mechan-
ician in the National car.
Homer toilette, Trafalgar, Ind.
An unidentified man.
Besides the three deaths two serious
injuries resulted during the day. Henry
Tapking of Indianapolis suffered in the
fatal wreck a compound fracture of his
right arm, a broken nose and several
scalp wounds Bruce Keen, the driver of
a Marmon car in the same race crashed
into post shortly after the National
was wrecked and was badly cut about the
neck and head.
James Schiller. the mechanician with
Keen, suffered a slight fracture of the
skull, but the physicians say he is in
no danger.
After the second accident the officials
decided to call off the SOO-mile race when
the leading cara Jackson. with Lee
Lynch at the wheel-had covered 2S5
miles. Ralph De Palma, in a Fiat was
second and Stillman, in a Marmon, was
third.
The race will be declared no contest
and the great Indianapolis motor speed
way trophy will be raced for again.
BY a strange freak of fortune Merz
escaped from the terrible wreck with
hardly a scratch. He fell under the car
when it turned a somersault through the
air and down into a gully near the side
of the track He was in imminent dam
ger of being burned to death, but by
some miracle he was able to shut off the
engine and thus save himself from hor-
rible DEATH
Kellum was hurled out of the car and
landed in the gully some distance from
the twisted mass of steel and iron that
had once been a speed machine
The three deaths today raises the toll
of the speedway to seven lives this week.
Bourqu and his mechanician, Holcomb,
in a Knox, were killed in the 250-mile
race Thursday. Cliff Literal, Stod-
dard- Dayton mechanician, was killed
when hit by big racing machine while
on the way out to the speedway. On
Thursday Elmer Champion, a 6-year-old
boy, was killed by the automobile Of DR..
Clark E. Day of this city, while the lat
ter was on his way to the speedway for
the first days races.
isr,r tbara fe Tla
hanging over the entire city and speed
mad automobile people drive more care
fully than they did on the streets earlier
in the week. The frightful penalty paid
for a few broken speed records is greater
than was bargained for when Indianap-
oils threw open the gates of the great
est speedway in the world
The fatal accident today occurred on the
south turn of the immense ellipse and
near the open stands that contained more
than 5000 people, The thousands in the
grandstand did not see the accident, al
though they knew that one of the cars
had crashed through the fence. A few
minutes after the smash Merz was
brought to the officials stand and a
mighty shout of JOY went UP when 1t
was seen that he was safe and 1t was
not for some time that the majority of
the spectators realized the gravity of the
situation.
The smash came after Merz had finished
more than 200 miles, and was running
fifth in the race at the time. The tire
on the right front wheel spun off and the
car tore away from the control of the
driver. 1t crashed through the fence
near the foot of bridge across the track
and plunged into a crowd that was gath
cred there. The car tore through the
group and into the gully, turning a COM
plete somersault before it reached the
ground about 10 feet below. Kelum was
thrown into the water and he was bleed
ing from innumerable injuries when he
was reached. Great gashes were torn in
his abdomen and head. The blood had
begun to pour into his lungs and he was
practically dead when picked up. He
lived for some time without regaining
consciousness.
The unidentified man was instantly
killed and toilette died he was being
lifted into an ambulance. At first 1t was
thought Tapking would die before he
could be taken to the emergency hospital
to be operated on, but quick work by the
physicians saved his life, and It is be-
lieved he has a fair chance to recover.
Kellums death is dramatic in sense,
as he had not started with Merz. He
started with Aitken in a National. Ait
ken started off ahead, heading 10 start
ers Aitken remained in the lead and
had a goodly lead on his competitors
when a cylinder broke after he had COW
cred los miles, and he was forced to drop
out. Aitken covered 100 miles in
1874 $40, setting a new record for the
track and breaking the one made by
Chevrolet in the 250-mile race Thursday.
Kellum and Aitken tried everything in
their power to get their car in shape to
continue and were forced to sit by as the
cars they had been leading few minutes
before flashed by them. Kellum broke
down and wept like a child when he
found their car would not be able to con-
tinue the elusive chase after victory.
Shortly after Athens car was with
drawn Merz's first mechanician, Robert
Lyme collapsed in a National repair pit
and Kellum was substituted for him.
Merz's car had gotten into trouble on the
far side of the track, and Lyme had run
all the way across the inf1eld in the heat
ing sun, and this, combined with emo
tiona1 excitement Of the moment and his
efforts to help Merz, caused him TO fall
into a dead faint. Kellum, eager to get
back into the exciting battle, grabbed a
battery and started off across the field.
After little work on the car he and
Merz were able to get their car into the
dizzy grind around the track. which was
becoming more bumpy every minutes. As
Kellun passed the National repair pit the
first time, after getting the car back into
the race, he waved his hand In joyful
salute to his fellow workers. Merz, who
is an indianapolis boy, and the son of
a policeman here, is a great favorite,
and was greeted with hearty round of
applause when 1t was seen he was back
in the running once more The car was