The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1913-01-31
AUTOIST NAY Be
SUED FOR DAMAGES
Carl Skaters NOn-convictlon in
Police Court Does Not Suit
Injured Ones.
lFrOm wenduesday AdvertIserl


Following the fanure Of Judge Mon.
Harrat Of the district court to convict
Carl schafer of needless driving follow.
ing his Arrett for smashing into james
X. Parish and Miss Irma Wodehouse
at MeCully and Beretania streets three
weeks ago, preparations are now be-
ing made to file damage suits against
him and thrash the case out again n
the civil court.
The case was tried by Judge Mon
sarrat a week ago today, and although
some of the defendant g own witnesses
eontradicted his personal testimony he
was found not guilty and discharged.
A partial transcript of the testimony
given in the case, from the district
court evidence book, with only the i'm
material portions omitted, shows the
grounds for the contemplated suit:
James r. Parish, son of l.. A. G.
Parish, and driver of the motorcycle
on which Miss Wodehouse was pas
eenger, testified as follows:
81 was riding and driving a motor
cycle at the corner of McCully and
Beretania streets. l was coming up
McCully street to turn into Beretania
avenue. Irma Wodehouse was riding
with me. Ny motorcycle is tandem.
] was coming up McCully on my right
and was turning towards town on Bere-
tania avenue. About fifty feet away
| saw the defendant IS machine. He
was coming on his right. When l saw
it, i speeded up little, the only thing
| could do, to get out of the way of
his machine. / was going about eight
or ten miles an hour.
'Schafer's machine was coming a
little less than thirty miles an hour.
The left hand fender of defendant s
machine struck my motorcycle and the
collision threw me from my machine.
Ny motorcycle fell over me and drop
ped in front of me. When l turned
around / heard the girl say 80, my
legl' The front part of the machine
Just passed the corner when 1 saw the
machine coming / was struck before l
could have gone eight feet. / called
defendant to stop. The girl was
placed in his machine and taken to
Doctor Sinclair, who dressed her wound
and sent her to the hospital. Defendant
did not toot his horn. I didn't hear it..
He admitted that he did not foot his
horn"
Upon his cross examination he sta
ted that the street was very dry. Also
that he did not toot his own horn as
he was going so slow he could do moth
ing more than tend to his machine.
The next witnesses were police Of
fcers, one of them young Parish's IA
Their, who testified to Schafer's state
ments upon his arrival at the station.
Parish said: 81 heard the defend
ant tell Sergeant Nawahi that he was
going forty miles an hour and that he
did not foot his horn before coming to
this corner.n Sergeant Nawahi took
the stand and testified to the same
effect.
No evidence was put on concerning
the condition of the injured girl, who
sustained a compound fracture of the
leg and whose condition was so seri-
Gus that it was watched closely for
several days for fear that amputation
would be necessary.
In his own statement on the stand
Schafer said:
"When / turned into Beretania l
noticed the street was muddy; thought
that it had been raining but when |
saw a sprinkling wagon in front l
knew the street was being sprinkled.
/ was going then about fifteen miles
an hour as I noticed from my speedome-
ter. / slowed down a bit until we
passed Alexander street and then l
started to speed up little more. We
were going about eighteen or twenty
miles an hour
"Just as we came to this corner
the motorcycle came into view cutting
the corner, should say, about three or
feet. l put on my brakes, but did
not stop the ear. rode aOout twenty
or twenty-five feet. / did not say to
the officer that we were going forty
miles an hour. What I said was that
if we were going forty miles an hour
the riders would have been killed"
On his cross examination he added
that there was a three or four foot
hedge at that corner, but that he did
not blow his horn "The reason that
1 did not foot my horn was because
the street was muddy. All could do
was to keep my hands on the steering
gear"
lin rebuttal, William Keawe testified:
at might have been muddy or some
what wet on the makai side of the
street, but where / picked the motor
cycle up it was dry and dusty"
Concerning sprinkling carts, the driv-
err of the wagon, subpoenaed by Scha-
fer himself, testified: 81 don't sprin-
kle out that way at all, where the
accident happened. 1t wasn't raining
that day at all.
Miss Lucy Dimond Schafer's com
panion in the automobile, said: awe
were going TO Kaimuki. I did not
look at the speedometer. We were GO
ing about twenty miles an hour. We
saw the motorcycle coming and cut
the corner and the accident happened.
MI sshafer proceeded twenty or TWEEN
ty.fve feet and turned around. Parish
howled at us to turn back
The collision happened so suddenly that
did not notice what Sehafer did"
-s-A-s-