The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1910-11-02
A JOY RIDER
COMES TO GRIEF.
Millionaire Sentenced to Nine Months
In Jail.

Norristown, Pa, Oct. 29.-Wealth,
reckless disregard and severity of
punishment Wed with each other in
! giving impressiveness to the Law 8
vengeance on w. Gordon Dyer, the
millionaire joyrider, when he was
sentenced to nine months at hard
labor in the Montgomery county Jail.
Dyer had been convicted October
Is, Of aggravated assault and bat
terry, the charge being preferred by
District Attorney Larzelere. The
case was based on Joy ride which
Dyer took on the evening of Septem-
| Der 10th, with a Hotel Hartranft
maid, Minerva Snyder, and male
| companion. Witnesses said at the
trial that Dyer drove his machine
up Main street, through the town
and into the township of West Nor
ristown at forty miles an hour. At
| the corner of the Whitehall road
| right under an electric light, Dyer's
auto crashed into horse attached
to carriage occupied by Walter
| Smith and wife, of Phoenixville The
machine was running so fast that it
tore off the front legs of the horse
and plowed its way beneath the car
riage, coming out the rear. The
horse had to be killed, and the
Smiths were so seriously hurt that
they were barely able to attend the
trial.
The usual technical reasons were
raised by his counsel why the YER
dict should be set aside, but these
were withdrawn, and this morning
the young man surprised even his
most intimate friends by coming in
to court and appearing before Judge
Weand for his bitter dose. The
| court evidently knew that he would
| come, for neither Dyer nor his coun-
sci said a word or offered a plea for
mercy or honesty. AS soon as Dyer
reached his position within the bar
enclosure, Judge Weand began his
sentence thus:
wv. Gordon Dyer, the jury has
convicted you of aggravated assault
and battery. You seriously injured
man and woman, demolished their
carriage and killed their horse. You
have been arrested several times be-
fore on account of your reckless dis
regard of the automobile laws of the
state, but heretofore you have been
released upon payment of fines and
costs. Good sense should have told
you that sooner or later, if you kept
it up, you would be brought into the
criminal courts.
Il have sympathy for your family,
but | must do my duty. l hope this
will be lesson to you and to others
who recklessly use their automobiles
in violating the automobile laws of
the state. Some of these drivers act
as if the man with his horse and
uT1u haG Ill %. A.
way. Right here in Norristown vio-
lations are made in the face of the
police, who seem to connive at these
acts of lawlessness. 1t is not my in
tention to sentence you for the Of
lenses OF others, but l hope it will
be warning to them.
The sentence of the court is that
you, w. Gordon Dyer, pay a fine of
$3.50 to the commonwealth; pay the
costs of prosecution, and undergo
Imprisonment at labor, in the Mont
gomery county jail, for a period of
nine months from this date, and
stand committed until sentence is
complied with"
Dyer kept his nerve during the
trying ordeal, except for a fidgeting
OF his fingers. But when he heard
that he must serve a jail sentence as
well as pay a fine, he was dazed
He stood as If in a trance until
Sheriff Chauncey j. Buckley stepped
forward and laying his hand upon
the defendants shoulder, announced
Come on"
The young man was spared the
handouts and with the sheriff on one
side and his brother, Fred Dyer, on
the other, walked to the Jail, where
he was handed over to the jailers.