The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1912-12-03
. HEklsa's MA.DENb
4InnsA eata4-4,OllisiOn ~ &srsEt
Car and Auto ~ VraAs 9AsAQF.

Sund1N mnruinH alIs1i Do "rsocA
T., collision occurred in FROM % th'
shreveport Motor CoMpanes sSr-
. age, No. 1920 Tesas avenue, Wlslcll
l while serious. did not result fstaSlN
to the injured.
; With his three children, two Slrl~
and Il boy, }. NJ Marston. whose
home is ON Oakland street. No. 1893
was backing his auto from The gar
age to the street intending to drive
on the right side of the street. He
had carefully looked around and
fabout him up and down the street.
There was no car then visible, but
unforeseen by him Fairfield car
turned from Jordan street into TeN-
as avenue going down at great
speed. The distance from Jordan
street to the garage is short. an'i
before Mr.. Marston. seated Oh the
front seat. had realized his danger
the ear struck the auto, from which
he was hurled into The street with
| tilS 'ltt'lrtllFl val VIZ IL. dStl ~ NtNl
who was dragged by the car a hun
drrd feet from the point Of the col
IisiOn TO where the car was stopped,
| When reached. Mr.. MarstOn, who
is con of Capt. B. w. Marston Of
East Point. was unconscious, but he
soon recovered. His daughter Car
olyn had been taken to the hospital,
where she was attended by DR.. Cal
loway.. and from there she was re-
moved to The Sclumpert Memorial
| Sanitarium. Her condition was Sc
riOuS, but there is marked im-
provement which is encouraging.
The other children retained their
seat, although jOlted by the impact
Of the collision.
Could this accident have been
avoided?
1t is conceded that the motOrman
and the conductor of this car ar'
rccretful over This accident. but isl
is not fair to aSs,lmse that il the
speeding Of the ear had been
checked in time. when the auto WAS
visible on the track, that there
would have been no collision?
The statement following is re-
produced from the Shre> eport
Times:
"Mr. Marston said that he did uGt |
remember anything after being
struck by the street car. He said
that he was coming out of the gar
age slowly and checked up as Ir
came to the sidewalk to see if the
way was clear AS he started tn"
machine again he looked to see if
everything was all right in the
other direction. About that time he
was nearly on the track. Before he
could look again in the first direr-
ton the accident occurred"
An explanation of the collision at !
the police station,l where the car
men were held temporarily in GUS
tOdy, as given in the Shreveport.
Times reads:
The men claimed that they wern
headed out Texas avenue on dow
grade. which was sleek. They wera
going at a fair rate of speed when
the auto started out of the garage
Ihe motorman tried hard TO stop -,
time but The auto came up on the
track faster than expected. The car
was stopped within 100 feet of the
scene of the collision. The street
car men were released as the poll -
did not think. they were entirely to
blame
Who is blamable?
Is Mr.. Marston blamable?
1t has been asserted that a ca:
propelled at the rate of ten miles an
hour can be stopped and brought to
a standstill at from two to three
lengths of the car. If this be fact
this car of the Fairfel droute was
going not only at an unlawful spe III
but at rate of speed that was be
yond all reason and law and was
threatening in danger and was be-
yond the power of being checke
| speedily. !
In so far as upon whom The blam"
must rest is not in the province If
the Caucasian, but il is fact nev-
erthelcss that with greater careful
ness and less recklessness in th.;
propelling of street cars. or autos,
or motorcycles within the lim-
its Of the law. accidents
would be less frequent and
the lives and limbs of individuals
would not be an almost constant
menace from reckless driving.
| If there be law applying to ex-
cessive speeding, il should be- en-
forced radically if necessary. If ii
be impossible to enforce this law il
should be repealed, and when re-
| Dealed each individual would i.,.