Imperial Valley press., 1913-12-22
Left Man to Die
Under His Auto

San Diego Union: A tale of despic-
able meanness seldom equaled was
brought to San Diego by Bert Ander-
son of Pasadena, who left in his auto
mobile yesterday for Imperial valley.
Anderson arrived Tuesday night from
Los Angeles after meeting with al,
accident which nearly cost him his life
near Del Mar. A party of motorists
saw him, gave him up for dying and
passed along without attempting to
give aid.
Coming from Los Angeles to San
Diego" said Anderson, 81 fell in with
a seven-passenger Haynes, filled with
men and women. They were not ex-
perienced motorists and several times
| stopped to help them. Three times
| changed tire for them.
1--WE came along together and got
quite chummy. | did not learn their
names, but found out that they live
next door to a doctor l know in Pasa-
dena.
"Just this side Of Del Mar my steer,
ing gear went wrong and | hit some
sand and skidded The car went over
the bank and turned over, pinning me
underneath. The breath was knocked
out of me and | was too weak to
talk, though was conscious. In
about fifteen minutes the party in the
Haynes car came up. They stopped
and looked at the car. Some one
tried to pull me out by the legs. but
l was too tightly wedged in. Then
the women began to get restless, COM
planning of the cold They said that
was going to die anyway and that
they might as well leave me there as
anywhere else.
"Every word of this | heard clear
ly, but could not answer. Next they
complained that if they did get me
out there would be "a mess and they
might have to appear in court and
testify. So they prevailed upon the
men to give up trying to help me. and
made them promise to say nothing
about it to avoid any unpleasant pub
licity to themselves.
"They were not even going to tell
some one else to come along after
hours of delay on the chance that |
might possibly be alive and in shape
to recover after hospital treatment.
They simply jumped at the conclusion
that / was as good as dead and de-
cided that they had better not risk
catching cold to help man who was
all in.
$50 they drove off, apparently not
much concerned except that they
might get mixed up in the affair. /
would not have minded so much If
| had not gone out of my way to
help them. AS it is I'll admit that
l am pretty sore.
"If a chance car had driven along
and seen me it might be possible that
some sort of weak excuse could be
patched up for not rendering the best
aid they could give. But for party
who were just touring along easily,
who had no pressing business and
whose only attempt at excuse was that
it was a little chilly, to deliberately
leave a man to die after that same
man was known to them and had
given his time and energy in helping
them out in minor difficulties was, to
express it mildly, trifle raw.
"After lying there about an hour l
managed to get little strength. Even
then | did not expect to live until
morning. Finally | managed to get
one arm free and began to scoop out
the dirt underneath me. In this Ia
borious way dug my way out from
under the car and lay down on the
ground outside and rested"
Anderson was not seriously injured
in spite of his terrific experience. One
arm was wrenched and his face was
badly battered. Beyond having the
breath knocked out of him his rugged
frame was not injured.
The next day Anderson got help
and went back to right his car. The
windshield was smashed and the whole
machine battered, but he was able to
run it into San Diego under its own
power Coming into town, he says, he
met the party which had deserted him
face to face. They pulled up and tried
to explain matters, but after deliver
ing a few well chosen remarks he
drove on.
81 believe that the matter should be
brought to the attention of every auto
mobile club in the state" said one of
the proprietors of the California Ga
rage, at Tenth and Market streets,
while Anderson was working on his
car there. II hope that he will find
out the names of these people and
publish them everywhere he goes. In
behalf of clean sportsmanship this
should be done. There is too much
meanness breaking into the automo-
bile game anyway, but this beats any
of the stories / have ever heard"