Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-15
Instant Death Is Met by
Miss Agnes ClaypOOl
HARVEY BISSELL SERIOUSLY
INJURED
RACING AUTO FALLS OVER 100
FOOT PREcIPIcE
Stripping Of Gears Sends Big Ma
shine at Lightning Speed Down
Steep Eagle Rock
Road
fsneclal to The Herald. ]

kASADENA, Dec. l4.-ABneS Cldy-
pool, daughter of Newton Clay
n pool of $50 South Grand avenue,
was killed and Harvey Bissell,
stopping at the Hotel Maryland,
was perhaps fatally injured when a
Comet racing automobile, in which
they were riding, stripped its trans
mission gears while going down the
steep grade which winds around the
Eagle Rock, at $3.50 clock this after
noon, and plunged a distance of 100
feet down a steep bank.
Miss Claynool lived until she could
be carried to a nearby house but never
regained consciousness. All her ribs
from the second to the eighth on her
right side were broken and forced
through her lung, and death was due
10 hemorrhage of the lungs. A blow
upon the forehead rendered ler un-
conscious until the end came, so that
she did not suffer at all.
Bissen suffered a fracture of the
right shoulder blade, a fracture of the
right leg below the knee and his spine
is either sprained or fractured at the
small of the back. He never lost con-
seriousness and directed both his own
removal and the removal of Miss Clay
pool until DIR. A. T. Williams of Pasa-
dena and DR.. Roberts of Eagle Rock
arrived and took the affair in charge.
BisselI May Recover
Bissell was taken to the Pasadena
hospital i'm taxicab and late tonight
II is reported that unless the injury
to his spine proves to be more danger
Gus than Is now believed he has
good chance of recovery.
Miss Claypool. who was only IS
years old and one of the snclety de-
butantes OF the season, was the daugh-
he FNFng n
recent graduate of Throop Polytechnic
institute and was widely known in
the city. especially among the younger
set of the most exclusive west side
circles. and both she and Mr.. Bissell
were to have taken part in the forth
coming society production of Gilbert &
Sulllvan's opera, Patience" at the
Lowe opera house, December IS.
Harvey Bissell is the son of the late
proprietor of the famous carpet
sweeper manufactory at Grand Rapids,
which bears his name. He and his
mother and younger brother have been
making their home during the w1ter
at the corner of Columbia street and
South Orange Grove avenue. but the
mother and younger brother have been
east during the. summer. and so the
elder son has been living at the Hotel
Maryland. He was an expert autoist |
owner of two large cars, and but for
a defect in the racing machine he was
driving this evening probably would !
not have been hurt.
Had Trouble Before
He had had previous trouble with the !
gears, stripping them at the time of
the Altadena- Pasadena hill climb. The /
grade which he was going down at the |
time of the fatal accident is very |
steep one, probably more than 40 per |
cent He had already climbed the |
steep and dangerous road leading up |
the west bank of the Arroyo Seco and /
was running down into the Eagle |
Rock valley on the San Rafael heights
side.
The road is rather crooked. with a
steep bank on the northwest side. He |
was controlling the big racing car
with his transmission gear when some |
thing gave way. He instantly applied
the brakes, but they refused to hold,
and no power on earth could have held
the heavy machine on the road as 1t
dashed along the curves winding down
into the bottom OF the valley. Bis
sell succeeded in holding the car to
the road until nearly to the bottom of
the hill, when it dashed over the side
of the bank and rushed down for an
almost sheer 100 feet.
Thrown Clear of Machine
Whether the car in it's flight turned
over and, in rolling, pinned Miss Clay
pool beneath it, is not known, 1t was
right side up when found and Miss
Ciaypool had been hurled clear from
the machine. She had suffered severe
bruise upon the forehead just at the1
edge of the hair, but had 1t not been
for the crushing in of her right SIDE
it is thought the injury to her head
would not have been fatal.
Miss Claypool and Bissell were much
in each others company and rumor
has occasionally connected their names
to the extent that the announcement
of their engagement would not have
surprised Pasadena society people. At
the time that the two young people
were out for their pleasure ride they
were planning to return together in
time for dress rehearsal of the opera
"Patience," on the Hotel Green stage.
The news of the accident cast a pail
of gloom over the young people, who
are in the cast for the opera. and there
is some talk of a postponement of the
production as a result.