The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-06
Mad Burst Of Speed On
NewtOwn TurnpikeK Kills
Alma Best; Injuries Three

and as the car is capable of develop
ing between 70 and so miles per hour
was thrown into full speed, it is |
thought likely they were travelling
about 20 miles per hour when the ac-
cident occurred.
The car had proceeded until WITHIN
half a mile of Stepney village. In front |
of the William Craft residence and at
the crest zof the hill descending into
upper Stepn there is a broad curve
in the state highway The car was
speeding along the curve when 1t sud
denly swerved to the grass-plot on the
right Control was evidently lost of
the steerfng-gear and skidding into a
telegraph pole, it. shivered the mas
sive chestnut timber into thousand
fragments, bringing down the main
line wires of the telephone and tele-
graph companies and temporarily sus-
pending service With it's terrible mo-
rnentunn the. car shot up low en-
banknaent and crashed through a stone
wall into an abandoned farm nome
stead and garden. Flowing over the
rock filled basement the : car shot
through the tangled 1ndergrowth and
gained a cow pasture, soft and spongy
and interspensed with outcroppings or
rocks and boulders. The car STRUCK
one of these sidewtse and the oecu-
pants were hurled into the air and Tell
some twenty or thirty feet distant.
directly upon her forehead, which was
cut from the scalp to the bridge of the
nose and laid bare her skull with
diagonal cut AS the skull Wasfcrush-
ed in, it is the belief of physicians that
death was instantaneous. The car.
though thought by some to have turn
ed a complete soInersault was upright
when aid arrived upon the scene. NO
emergency brakes had been applied
and the speed levers were thrown into
the highest gear.
The machine was wrecked, its front
wheels being torn from the body and
the. engine and front smashed COM
pietely from it's contact with the stone
wall The distance from the spot on
the roadway where the car left the
macadarn to the telegraph pole which
was struck upon the inside Is ais
tance of 125 feet. From that point
to the point where the bodies were
found is a. distance of about 6B feet,
which isA1n1Ite evidence of the terrific
speed maintained. At the tinae pf the
crash Miss May Fest NTs4s Seated IN
The 'front.' Of the five passenger car
wifi, TIawes while Miss Alma Fest
Eoccup4eAsthe rear seat with Merwin.
The noise of the crash caused two.
nearby residents, Mrs. Arthur Hull
and Mrs Clark to hasten to the scene
They found the two men lying prone
upon the ground though regaining
reached the side of her dead sister
and was attempting to keep life In
the body by artificial respiration. She
refused to believe her sister dead even
after DR.. George A. Smith of Stepney
and DR.. F. C. Gale, who was hastily
summoned in his automobile from
Newtown had pronounced her beyond
hope and probably instantly killed
Besides the deep cash in her fore
head in which a sharp rock had I'M
bedded itself, the face was crushed
The injured were removed to the
| Hawes and Miss May Best were taken
back to the Milford Inn. Medical
| Examiner Frank j. Wales was called
and after viewing the body, permitted
| removal to the, Bishop undertaking
parlors in this city. The matter was
at once reported to- Coroner John j.
Phelan OF this city who ordered
| F5awes detained until the inquest
| which will be held tomorrow. He
will be kept in q room of the New
| town Inn under guard of Sherfn
| Brakeman.
when word of the accident reached
/ this city, two brothers, Leo and Ar
| fl,lr Best at once started for the
| scene, 1t was but a few weeks ago
/ that Leo Best was seriously injured
| In an accident at Sangatuck, when a
| duplicate car to the present model,
1 V
| struck a trolley ear on the River road
| beyond Westport
| Alma, and May best are, daughters
| of the late Thomas Best, for many
/ years the proprietor of a butcher shop
| on the East Side. Miss-Alna was
| born in this city, and received her
lpreIiminary schooling in ST. Joseph's
| Parochial school, on Madison avenue.
! later she attended the Bridgeport
Public High school from which she
| graduated with honors. At the Jen-
| niIlgs Garage, where she has recently
been employed, it was said that she
was honored and beloved by all. Her
| sudden demise will cast a shadow up
on a large circle of friends and ac-
quaintances.
Miss May Best, who likewise re-
/ ceived her schooling in this city, was
! valedictorian at the High school two
years ago. She has since been train
| ing as a hospital nurse in the Post
| Graduate hospital. Her attention to
| said to have been heroic ard pitiful.
Late reports from the scene of the
wreck advise that Charles Merwin
| was later removed to the Newtown
Inn
Halves, in the only statement OBJ
cident said he believed the trouble.
was caused by a bursting tire In
spection of these showed them to be
| intact and properly inflated
William B. Craft who Will be an i'm
| portant witness in the inquest, is, SO
| far as is known, the only eye witness
to the tragedy Here is his story, re-
lated on the scene. to a reporter for
The Farmer:
"I heard the machine coming down
| the road. I knew it was coming fast.
I could tell by the sound It would
~ ,4-aT-
i made 60 much noise. So ran out of
the house to watch the car go around
| the curve. I looked up the road just
| in time to see it run off into the ditch.
: CONTINUED on Page Two)