Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1911-10-20
CLIDDEN|TFS PLEASED
WITH RECEPTION
Whole Town Suspends Du-
ties to Give Automobiles
Royal Welcome
Several Mishaps Mar What Has
Proved to be One of the Great
est Rups in History

Sl-SIaluuS dulO-IOSoo, obouS u 49,
tomobilists of the Glidden Tour
Whisked into Staunton Monday after
noon between the hours of three and
six O'Clock, made the turn at the Y.
M. c.. A. corner and passed rapidly
down Main street where faultlessly
straight lines of S. M. A. cadets were
lined up at "present-arnls on either
side. Just around the coTne: CT Main
and New, the REQ pilot car contain
ing the official checker, Mr.. Harllee
Branch, and several department
heads of the REQ company had pulled
up. Tour officials were there on the
Job and each car came to halt the
entrant was "checked-in," his hotel
Accommodations assigned and the
parking" location pointed out to
him. Incidentally newspaper men
were there to hear incidents of the
trip and it soon developed that in at
least one particular, Glidden Tourists
had met with unusual treatment.
The trunk lost from Cadillac No.
81, was later recovered, tire or two
thai came up short and the disastrous
wreck of a Pierce-Arrow press car,
entered by the Britson Mfg. Co.,
Bookings, S. D., were topics of dis
cussion with some but the unprece-
denied affront offered by Harrison
burg was the sore-spot with every
one.
Taking events as they came, the
miraculous escape of Driver. o. A.
Britson, r. E. Anderson, Duncan Cur
ry (of the New York American) and
J. P. Ferguson, occupying the big
Pierce-Arrow was one of the first and
perhaps the most serious. When 81
miles south of Gettysburg and the
pacemakers were going too slow for
the press representatives, the latter
passed six or eight cars ahead of
them and were in the act of going by
the presidents car, containing Presi-
dent R. P. Hooper, of the A. A. A.;
Chas. J. Glidden, Donor of Glidden
Trophy; Judge George S. Cam and
A. G.. Batchelder, when a telephone
pole was crashed into and the ma
chine wrecked. Running at high
rate of speed, for some unknown
reason, Britson was attempting to
pass the Presidents car on the right
side, when the sudden looming into
view of the pole necessitated his eth
er running into one or the other. He
chose the pole. The car, Britson' S
property, was complete wreck. Ev-
erybodK stopped to lend helping
hand, the occupants being brought on
distributed among other cars.
One press representative accom-
panying the tour had the simple word
Roast" marked as a memorandum
on his road map opposite the name
of Harrisonburg and this Significantly
describes the attitude of many more
1t ssaid that thirty-nine cars were
detained in the vicinity of the Rock
ingham town and indignation last
night was at a fever heat. 1t seems
that before reaching Harrisonburg
the tourists were waved down by an
officer who told them to slacken their
speed. On reaching the city limits,
the motorists claim they were stop
ped by uniformed policeman wav-
ing a blue steel Colts revolver over
his head who told them they would
have to go slowly as there were lot
of people in town "and you might
kill somebody" Going at a slow
pace, the tourists claim there was no
effort made to keep the crowds back
and that to have quiclened speed
would have been at the risk of their
springs. Having gotten through the
town, at Toll Station IA, they found
the gate down and were delayed there
from five to ten minutes while the
number of each machine was taken,
it is said, on order of the Harrison
burg authorities. Warrants, it is I'M
derstood, were to be served in Staun-
ton for speeding.
In an interview with a representa-
tive of the Dispatch-News, President
Hooper stated, 'In view of the mark
ed hospitality show nus everywhere
along the line, Harrisonburg's treat
ment of the Glidden Tourists was
most unusual. Speed limits in other
towns were waived and their signs
read, No speed limit We did not OBJ
ject to reducing speed but being held
up at the point of a gun and Offering
other obstacles to our progression
was not altogether in accord with the
courtesy shown us elsewhere.