El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-07

/ for speeding have brought out
{ - some interesting stories in JUS
/ tice J. J. Murphy's court
One of the richest is on one OF the
/ best known automobile men IN the city.
/ a man who has been driving a car a long
! time and who takes great pride in the
/ performance Of his machine. One day
| while he was out driving, a friend
passed him on motorcycle and
J laughed at him He met the friend in
| the city later and, somewhat piqued,
| exclaimed: Wait until 1 met you out
/ on the county road again and I'll run
| circles around you" A few days la[er
as he was riding towards YSleta, he
noticed the motorcycle friend beside the
road, headed in the same direction, but
stopping temporarily. Calling 70 the
could, the autoist 5pee1ed Up. A
friend riding in the back seat called
out, Hes coming" and the aUtomO-
! bilist speeded up a bit more. He's
putting on speed and gaining IN IS"
said the man in the back seat, and the
motor car sped forward some Itself
The race grew more Interesting each
minute and each-the car and the mo-
tOrcycle-cOVered more GROUND in a
given space Of time, the friend OF the
auto driver keeping him posted from
the back seat observatory on the pre-
gress Of the mOtOrcyclGst. Gradually
the cyclist gained and directly he over
took the mOtOrcar. "-, what the
devils the matter with your eX-
the car, calling the automobilist by his
first name. The aur5mObiIiSt turned
his head and found that he had been
racing, not against the man he sup
posed, but Billy DAVIS, the motorcycle
cop" 1t developed later that Davis
was hiding in the Drus alongside the
road where the autOmobIEsts motor
cycle friend was standing, and that the
mOtOrcycliSt had stopped to chat wish
Davis. As the automobile approached,
Davis stepped back UUC OF sight, as is
his custom-that's the way ne SOME
times gets numbers when the owners
are afterwards puzzled 10 know how
they happened to be arrested
and when he heard the automobile man
challenge the motorcycling friend, Da-
Wis hoped out Of the brush and chased
the, car. The driver of the car thought
it was his friend, so he raced the cop
for five miles down the county road
guilty which justice Murphy has had
from men arrested on charges OF vio-
lating the speed law.
He had two other pleas recently,
however, that developed a situation
almost as cOmicaL Justice Murphy
was himself going home in his buggy {
one night, when two autOmobilists
passe him on Montana street like a
rocket out of hades," according to the
judicial explanation of it, and came
near taking off a wheel One Of the
machines carried a good light at the
rear and the justice made a mental
note of the number. The two cars raced !
out to the Piedras street corner Of ]
Montana and then turned back. As they !
passed on the return trip, he got the
other number, so the next day two war
rants went out from his court and two
surprised automobile drivers came in.
at different times, as it happened, and
the judge got the story of how il hap
pened and why. Here it is: Say,
judge, who made the complaint against
me-" asked the first one. The judge
lost no time in informing the defend /
ant that he had filed it himself, and !
there was an immediate plea of guilty, /
with this explanation, after the fine /
was assessed: 1T was worth 1t, judge; /
that fellow in that big car thought he !
could pass me just because L was in /
a little car, but certainly showed him 4
that a runabOUt could run, didn't ~ 1
The judge admitted the truth of it, /
and shortly the other man called Who s
made the complaint against me, 5udge2" /
he asked, and. like the companion in |
crime" he was informed that the judge !
had seen the occurrence and had caused |
the complaint to be issued Paying his 4
fine without a murmur, the automObil- 4
list said: We'll, I'm satisfied: that guy
in that little shrimp of a machine was /
trying to keep up with my SO and I
showed him some running, didn't I, !
judge?"
You certainly did" the judge admit /
ted, as he pocketed the fee and gave
the constable his share
A well known business man vas CO..
victed recently on the defene0 - y
Mexican automobile owner, who did net
know anything about the speed limit
When the Mexican was arrested, he
came into court and explained: Judge, |
your honor, I wasn't running fast; I I
was only going IS miles an hour; Mr.. (
had Just passed me" He gave
the name of well known business man
who the motorcycle policeman had seen /
pass while he was so busy trying to I
Overtake the Mexican driver that he
couldn't get the number. A complaint
forthwith went out against the bust
ness man and the Mexican. after being
fined on his own testimony that he was
running IS miles and hour-1S is the
limit in the county and Il in the city
was held as a witness against the man
whose name he had innOcently given in
MS defence. The merchant got his'n,"
n the parlance Of the racetrack- when
he came up next ay for a hearing. His
L.