New-York tribune., 1910-01-02
Long Roll of Deaths. Due to Reckless Driving
Has Exhausted Public Patience.

Murder as fine art was not possible
when De Quincey wrote his famous bro
chure. There could be only crude assas-
sination on l. small private scale To-day
there is 4 wholesale killing by automobile
chauneurs, done in the broad light of
day. with artistic features never before
obtained. To destroy life in a city thor
oughfare while travelling at a fast gait.
before the eyes of hundreds of horror
stricken spectators. and 10 have the enter
prise spiced with just a trifie of danger in
making the getaway" mus. afford the
keenest pleasure 10 certain goggled ghouls
who lean over the steering wheel Of the
motor car.
Accidents? There are plenty of bona fide
accidents. more less tinctured with
criminal negligence, but there is evidence
TO show that q certain number of car driv-
ers cultivate a taste for bone cracking. It
would not be surprising II science discov-
cred. one Of these days. that motor muir
der is a specific form of human perversion
and depravity-perhaps a disease, but none
the less z menace TO society. Speed mania
might be considered an early phase of the
developed nalady
The total automobile casualties in the
United States equal the casualties in sew
eral dangerous trades put together. They
look respectable compared with the figures
for the railroad industry. 1t is estimated
that q hundred persons are injured or killed
by automobiles every day, or $500 in a
year. In greater New York there were some
thirty casualties in the month Of November
last and about fifty IN the preceding month.
October made banner record of no few
er than fifteen killed The percentage Of
deaths compared with injuries is larger
than the proportion which obtains in mod
ern war conducted with scientific killing
Instruments
There are recent incidents which sustain
the theory that some automobile drivers
take pleasure in their deadly work On
November a little girl named jennie
Bernstein. seven years old, living at No.
= Eas. Hath street. was roller skating II
Fark avenue with other children. when an
auto-cab with four persons in II struck her
The machine was evidently speeding. for
the clliids body was tossed forward in the
air a distance Of at least fifteen feet It
was if q human being were gored and
tossed by uaddened bull.
RAN OVER PROsTRATE BODY.
Horrifed as the spectators were by what
they had seen. they were unprepared for
what followed. The chauffeur might have
been expected TO do one Of two things: to
run away directly or TO stay and aid his
victim He did neither Without swerv-
ing or slackening speed he went straight
ahead and ran over the PROSTATE body OF
the child, as if 10 complete the job and
make sure that no life remained in the
small human figure on the pavement
After this he put on extra speed and van
ished.
such 2 combination Of tossing and crush
rr-re zT an |frr- md
IS often witnessed in the country, but is
rare II the city.
On November 3 another cruel chauffeur
did his best TO extinguish the life OF a
young woman at Broadway and 137th
street II was a rainy evening and the
young woman, Alice MOhen, a stenog-
rapher, mad stepped out Of the subway
station and raised her umbrella TO cross
the street Along came the AIinotaur on
wheels and knocked her down. Her hair
and clothing were caught in the front part
Of the car and she was dragged and
showed along the wet pavement at a rapid
clip. She screamed and several specta-
tors shouted
Was the driver Of the car deaf or blind
or both? He could not help knowing that
q human being was being dragged under
his vehicle and that she was at least part
y alive. At any rate, he kept on going
Miss Mohen was dragged for block
shEieking all the time, and then her cloth
ing became detached from the machine
and the driver sped on. leaving her lying
in the street
Men who know say that the driving Of
a car develops in some natures a tendency
70 rUn down things and people 1t is
sport n the first stages to make people
jump out Of the way. Later II becomes
mania 70 act king Of the highway
and bowl over obstacles of every sort #
people did not cross the streets some