The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-01-11
Walter Bixby Seriously In
jured by Runaway
AUTO SCARED HIS HORSES
He Had One Leg Broken and the Other
Knee Dislocated--Two 0thep Who
Were in the Team Were
Thrown Out. II

frightened by an automobile which
came upon them suddenly, span o.
young horses driven by walter'E. Bixby.
the East Barre hOSsemGn, ran away on
South Main street yesterday aftsrneon
and hurled Mr.. Blxby so violently 4gails.
a telephone pole that his right lsg was
broken two inches above the knee and
the left knec was dislocated so thet
the foot was twisted almost opposite
to its natural position. Mr. Bixby's
eight-year-old son, Victor, and Gordon
Patton, also of East Barre, were thrown
out but escaped without INJURY Of any
sort.
The three were driving onto ti,e street
from A. NJ. Morrison's stable, where TIE
approach to the thorughfare Is shut of
on either side by house, when A. d.
Morse's big red touring car came along
at fair rate Of speed The appearance
Of the machine was 80 sudden that the
animals, which were young and hitched
up together for the first time, bolted and
became unrnansgeable. They vcered
across the street and took to the side-
walk, throwing all three occupants out.
Mr.. Bixby was hurled against a tele-
phone pole, his body being wound about
the obstruction, and the other two people
being thrown into the street. Another
pole was Just ahead, and the collision
with that freed the animals from the
one e-seated sleigh, and the horses untan-
Cling themselves from the mix.up ran
down Main street with harness flying
and turned at the Universalist corner
and up Washington street toward East
Barre. They were captured on upper
Washington street.
Mr.. Bixby couldn't rise and it was at
first thought that both legs had been
broken above the knees; but subsequent
examination of his injuries at the City
hospital, where he was at once taken
By ambulance, showed that only one limb
wae broken, while the kraa on the other
was given twist which was nearly as
bad as q break. Drs Jackson and Reid
found, Furthermore, that the fracture of
the right leg was an unusual one, tho
bone being apparently split as well as
broken, His injuries were attended to
at the hospital Immediately and he Is
Expected to Recover. although the injuries
win be slow ii mending. Mr. Bixby IL
AZ years old. His wife, on being tele-
phoned to, arrived at the hospital Just
as he was coming out of the antiseptic.
The horses were not injured ia their
run, and the sleigh was not badly dam
aged, the seat being ripped off and the
crcss-bar being partially broken There
were several broken straps on the har-
ness.
The accident was apparently unavoid-
able, as neither the occupants Of the
automobile nor the people in the team
knew of the approach Of the other. Fred
Morse, vino was guiding the auto.
brought the machine to remarkably
quick stop, being behind the team. This
was the first time that Mr.. Bixby had
tried out the span, and be drove them
from East Barre to let Mr.. Morrison look
the pair over. On the way to the Iatterss
place they passed an automobile, and
the horses did not act very badly, show
ing that under ordinary circumstances
they might have been controlled. One
of the span had been received by Mr..
Bxby from his cousin in New Hampshire
only last Thursday.