East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-10-08

Charles McBee, driver of the au-
tomobile and Worl Baker, driver Of
the cab, have both been cleared OF
any responsibility for the accident Of
September 26, which resulted in the
death of Mrs. Ed Barr After ex-
amining witnesses on two different
days and then celebrating for an
hour, the coroner's jury impaneled
Thursday morning by Coroner Fol-
som, brought in a verdict last night,
shortly before 10 o'clock, holding that
the accident was unavoidable.
r. Withee was the first witness
called last evening when the jury re-
sumed its sitting at 1870. He was
called as an expert witness and to
tell the condition the car was in fol-
lowing the accident The present con-
dition of the stearing gear was de-
scribed by him but he declared 1t
would be impossible for him to tell
how fast the car was going from the
condition in which he found the
throttle. When asked concerning the
speed ability of the car, he said he
was not very familiar with it but
that he thought it possible for the
car to attain a speed of 80 miles on
a level street. --'
Boy Was Nervous.
Chester Reed, the East Oregonian
carrier boy who was in the car at the
time the accident occurred, was the
second witness called last evening.
He testified to having been invited by
Mr.. McBee to ride up from the base
! ball park and said he was made ner-
vous on the start when the driver of
! the machine cut through a narrow
roadway between a fence corner and
a telephone pole. He said they then
came on up the street at what he
considered a pretty good clip" cas-
! lily passing a buss which was also
coming up from the grounds. The
/ boy said he was nervous all the way
up the street and that when they
reached Main street and he saw there.
was just room for one vehicle to pass.
through the crowded street entrance
at a time, he felt sure something
would happen. He was therefore look
ing anxiously ahead when he saw
, the cab appear in the opening and
realized that a collision was inevit-
able.
Following the collision the boy said
4 llIIlDSu ONST lnlO the ifOHI StdN
and made an unsuccessful attempt to
control the machine with the wreck
ed stearing gear. Failing in that he
reached for one Of the levers on the
side and was thrown out when the
car struck the walk.
Thought Accident Avoidable.
j. S. Carter. manager of the old
Knowlton liverystable on Cottonwood
street was an eye witness to the COL
lision which he though could have
been avoided. He was riding up from
the ball park and says he was chased
by McBee for two blocks, finally be-
ing forced clear over against the
curbing as the auto went by him. He
says his horse was running and that
he was sure they were going at least
is miles per hour.
Carter insisted that the driver of
the car did not slack his speed or
blow his horn as he came UP the
street. For that reason he said he
felt sure something would happen
when Main street was reached and he
was therefore looking to see what It
would be. Carter said he saw the
driver of the cab just before he start
ed to make the turn into Alta street.
The witness said the cab was far
enough out in the street so that Nc
Bee could have run his car between
the cab and the corner of the walk at