New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-01-27

TO ENCOURAGE TOURING
New Organization Will Furnish
Motorists with Special Maps.
ECHO OF FAMOUS ACCIDENT
Final Decision in Case Of Man
Killed by Baker Freak in
1902 on Staten Island.

Raymond Beck. formerly OF the Touring
Club Of America. has announced the for
nation OF a new touring organization
which has been Incorporated in New York
State. II will be called the Automobile
Touring Association.
This association will make speciality or
route card work FOR its members. and
these route cards. or tour cards, as they
will be called, will be sold 20 the public
through the agency Of hotels, garages, etc,
for tho nominal sum OF 70 cents each.
The touring association will also make
an organized effort 10 do extensive sign
posting with the cooperation Of auto
mobile clubs throughout the country. using
the yellow arrowed signboard designed by
Mr. Beck, and now being erected by the
Automobile Club Of America, the Buffalo
Automobile Club and others. The ssso-
citation will be a members organization,
with a membership fee OF s per year.
While route card work will probably con-
tinue TO increase in popularity for num-
Der of years. the time will doubtless come
when the American motorist. like his Eu-
ropean brother. will discard his road d.
rection book or motor tour card for an
automobile road map based upon the gov
eminent typographical surveys For this
transition the touring association will pre-
pare. Already number OF the Eastern
states are posting signs on state roads and
the local authorities are showing an In
terest in the visiting motorist by erecting
signs leading into towns for his guidance.
The association will publish over SIX
hundred motor tours covering the best
lines OF travel in the United States Cali
fornia tours, Western tours, Southern
tours and the East are thoroughly covered
and the best road directions will be given
I'm card form.
The touring association has taken tenn
porary quarters at the Thoroughfare Build
ing. 18Th street ana Broadway. and many
motorists who have appreciated the work
II Mr. Beck are showing an interest IN
the new venture by enrolling as members.
The Court OF Appeals OF this state has
handed down a decision in regard TO the
ability OF spectators at automobile races
10 recover damages from the municipality
in case Of accident that will be scanned
with great interest by the promoters OF
road races all over the country, as it viii
presumably establish a precedent in this
matter
II is IN regard 10 the famous races held
on Staten Island almost ten years ago. In
May. 1892 Mary c. Bogart administrative
Of the estate Of John Bogart, who was
killed while Witnessing races there, won a
suit for damages against the city or New
York brought in the Supreme Court The
city carried the case 10 the Appellate d.
vision, and this court upheld the findings
Of the Supreme Court.
The city again appealed the case and tho
Court Of Appeals reversed the decision,
absolving the city from liability for dam
| ages.
! Even though the holding OF the race was
! illegal-and the court maintains that IL
was an Illegal interference with the rights
Of the traveller-there can be no recovery
Of damages from the municipality unless
negligence is shown; more particularly X
the person suing either personally or by
his heirs, was a spectator, in which case
the court holds that no recovery OF dam
ages can be obtained
This question has come up several times
and an instance Of such claims was suit
brought against a company owning a car
which killed a man In the Vanderbilt race
OF 1905 This cause was heard several times
and carried through several courts, finally
resulting in the award OF damages 70 the
petitioner. which the automobile company
had 10 pay.
No suit was brought against the county
Of Nassau, in which the Vanderbilt race
vas run. nor against any Of the officials
Of any Of the towns adjacent But this ac-
cdent was the cause OF the clause which
purchasers Of tickets 70 track races at
Brighton always find printed on the backs
OF their tickets and which states that the
MANAGEMENT will not be responsible for
any accidents that may happen 20 spec
tator.
The car which caused the accident in 1892
was a freak electric car, shaped like 4
canoe. designed and driven by W. c.
Baker, Of the Baker Motor Vehicle Com
pany, Of Cleveland. The occasion was the
speed trials Of the Automobile Club or
America, and the tests were held on the
Southfield Boulevard, near Grant City.
Staten Island. During the first stretch or
the course the green freak held 10 the road,
but finally after rounding a vicious curve.
literally got beyond control OF the driver
and leaped TO the right OF the course into
the crowd, killing one man outright and
inlurlng ten others, OF whom two subse-
quently died.