The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-05-28
ATTACHES NO BLAME
FOR TRUCK TRAGEDY
Coroner in Verdict Does Not
Find Auto Travelled at
Excessive Speed.

Blame or responsibility for the ac-
cident on May 18, in which one man
was killed and another painfully in
jured by the recently purchased auto
truck is placed on no one by DR.. R. j.
Pierce, county coroner, in his verdict
on the death of Isaac Parry, which
was filed in the office of the county
clerk late yesterday afternoon. The
| verdict states that the death of Parry
was due to multiple Injuries accidental
ly received.
According to the verdict, all mem
bers of the fire department on the
truck at the time of the accident,
August Fielder, the driver, and Homer
Hammond, president of the board of
public works, were unanimous in their
statements that the speed of the truck
did not exceed twenty-five miles an
hour, which speed under the circum-
stances was not excessive. Other wit
| nesses considered the speed excessive,
| saying that the truck was going 'too
| rapid" or very rapid" However, the
| coroner stated that no account need
! be taken of the speed of the truck in
| answering fire call, it being assum-
/ ed that fire departments have the
| right of way and that the streets are
! cleared. In this case, he said, an at
! tempt had been made to clear the
streets.
| Three factors were given as caus-
es for the accident: First, because
| of the presence of a large crowd of
people at the southeast corner of
Eighth and North E streets, some
standing as far out in the street as the
south rail of the car tracks, which
caused Fielder to deviate from his
course to the North side of the street !;
second because of the fact, that, on
reaching the north side of the street
in order to avoid colliding with bug
gy, crossing the street diagonally from
the southeast, and coming towards
the truck, it was necessary for the
driver to turn the truck quickly to
the south, and third on account of
the wet and slippery condition of the
street, which had just been sprinkled.
The driver testified that at Eighth
and North E he applied the clutch ped
| al in order to reduce the machine g
| speed but did not apply the brake ped
/ al, fearing the machine would skid.
| The coroner declared that a part of
the force of the machine, in crossing
| the street was /le to the momentum
gained on FIT. Wayne avenue.
After striking the vehicle driven by
John Forbes, throwing him to the
| ground, the machine shot to the south
! side of the street, where it again skid
ded, the rear wheels flying onto the
tsidewalk,- striking Parry and killing
rvs head was crushed into an indis.
tinguishable mass. The machine then
struck a telephone pole at Ninth and
E, swapping 1t in twain.
Chief Ed Miller, of the fire depart.
ment, who was riding on the truck,
testified that he saw a man standing
on the sidewalk at Ninth and E, and
that as the machine skidded to the
south the man disappeared Miller said
| that whether the man was struck or
/ not by the machine he could not state
| from personal observation. In part
Chief Miller's testimony reads:
The next thing which 1 knew !
found myself standing on the sidewalk
| opposite Ninth street in a dazed con.
dition. We then proceeded to the
scene of the fire on North Thirteenth
street l did not know that the man
had been killed at this time"