The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-01-26
IOTHAM'S GOGGLEO GHOULS
I,uH SHOCKING BRUTALITY OF
v1TLAINOUS CHAUFFEURS.
ono list of Fatalities and Other
Crimes Charged Against Them.
kidnapping and Robbery.

Crimes OAaAEOO EA9OAAcO 4AClus
kidnapping and Robbery.
NEW YORK.-A strong tide of in
.ippation against chauffeurs, due to
rsckless driving resulting in death,
l. rising in this city and an auto
mobile bill intended to put an end to
,ome of the shocking abuses now
DractceG will be presented to the
LEGISLATURE this session. Life is alb
soIutely disregarded by many of the
soggled ghouls who lean over the
steering wheels of motor cars in this
dtv. and the streets are becoming
Is dangerous as battlefield.
The total automobile casualties in
The United States equal the casual
HES in several dangerous trades put
7Eogether. 1t is estimated that a hun
5red persons are injured or killed
nv automobiles every day, or $500
! IN year. In Greater New York
there we're some thirty casualties in
Me month of November last, and
about fifty in The preceding month.
october made a banner" record of
no fewer than fifteen killed. The
percentage of deaths compared with
Rniuries is larger than the proportion
! which obtains in modern war con-
quoted with scientific killing instru-
nents.
Shocking Brutality.
There are recent incidents which
Sustain the Theory that some auto
mobile drivers take pleasure in their
sdeadly work. On November 4th
little girl named Jennie Bernstein,
seven years old, was roller skating
In Park avenue with other children,
when an auto cab with four persons
In it struck her. The machine was
Evidently speeding, for the child's
body was tossed forward in the air
q distance of at least Is feet. 1t
WAS as if a human being were gored
and tossed by a maddened bull.
Mortified as the spectators were
by what they had seen they were I'M
prepared for what followed. The
chauffeur might have been expected
o do one of two things-to run away
directly or to stay and aid his vic
eim. He did neither. Without
swerving or slackening speed he went
Straight ahead and ran over the
prostrate body of the child, as if to
complete the job and make sure that
llo life remained in the small human
igure on the pavement. After this
pc put on extra speed and vanished.
Many cases similar to this might be
Eited
VillainOus Chauffeurs.
Some of the chauffeurs employed
by the taxicab companies here are
scCundrels, the majority
pf them having entered the business
bt the time of the strike a year ago.
|rhe carrying of blackjacks, slung-
shots and revolvers by them has be-
home common. Technically the law
against carrying concealed weapons
IS not violated, for these weapons Of
prime are not kept on the person, but
hidden in the tool box or in some
Dther part of the vehicle The ex-
cuse is offered that the chauffeur
carries large sums of fare money,
and needs to protect himself against
But the records show
hat many a chauffeur in inclined to
)e a good deal of a highwayman
himself
The revolver comes in handy in
girls and robbing passen-
-; q
foolish enough to accept the initial
to embark on a 10y" ride
has been compelled at the revolver's
muzzle to submit to the demands of
her captors. 1t is not many months
agO that a married woman, bound
from a sick room, was in
Weighed into machine, suffered in
dignities, and was robbed and
thrown out into a roadway of Cen
trail Park. One of the assailants, a
strike breaker, afterward went to
pail. Two young girls had to jump
From a car in Brooklyn to avoid
criminal assault, one of them being
fatally hurt. Other kidnapped girls
were taken up to Yonkers and thrown
put on the road because they would
not yield to the chauffeur's wishes.
The proposed automobile law pro-
vides for a commission to examine
drivers of automobiles and to license
those who show that they have both
technical ability and good character.
Licenses may be revoked and reis-
sued. A driver who is at the wheel
while intoxicated or is convicted
more than once of reckless driving is
to have his license revoked. Anyone
running away after an accident
caused by his act shall be liable to
/ Imprisonment for one year.