Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1914-02-10
THAT AUTO BILL.
Local Writer 10 Baltimore Paper
Hopes il Will Protect Horsss and
Vehicles.

FA&A~AAea
Writing to the Baltimore Sun rel
tive TO the automobile bill. Mr.. Geo.
r. Buffham. OF Annapolis. says:
II understand from the columns
at The Sun that new automobile bin
Is about to be brought before the
Legislature. Should this be the case,
I hope that the members from the
counties will see that the rights and
safety of the majority of their con-
stituents ars safegusrded, viz: the
drivers of horse vehicles.
Auto drivers in the city are COM
PEELED BY those wstebful censors, the
traffic SQUAD, to obey the laws, but in
the counties some Of the drivers are
brutal aud overbearing in their reck
lessne IS of speed, and it is time to
legislate to curb it. Only recently
two collisions by autos with horse We
hicIes occurred near Annapolis, and
in each case after the collision the
auto raced away to avoid response
bility. In both collisions personal
injury and damage to vehicle were in
fiictsd.
ION November 3 last. while driv-
| ing a spirited horse in a buggy with
a young lady passenger on my way 70
/ Annapolis. my horse, hearing an auto
/ behind him, increased his speed; at
/ the same time ! heard two toots Of
the auto horn. quickly followed by
furious and angry footing close be-
hind. This made my horse more
nervous, and the road being narrow
and the horse difficult to control,
instinetively held TO the centre Of
the road, fearing TO let the auto
pass until / got the horse under
better control and out 20 where the
| road widened sufficiently TO let the
autos pass with safety to ourselves.
Immediately following the furious
footing was a rush by Of the auto to
our left. The rear part of the auto
caught the hind wheel Of the buggy
the greater speed Of the auto dragged
us a few feet, showing the buggy
around II early eapsizing it) till il
got clear. Then the driver raced
away and was soon out of sight. The
collision bent the rear axle and the
shaft irons Of the buggy, etc. If the
horse had not lin collision) SHE'D off
TO the right, relieving the shock, the
buggy would certainly have capsized
and We would have been most serious
ly injured. Following clues, came
up with the auto and swOre out war
rant for the driver. The case came up
before a justice, the young lady and
myself testifying as aforesaid, while
the driver in his testimony said that
il was ! who ran into the auto. To
my indignation the justice dismissed
the case. then told the owner that
/ would push the case further. he
defantly replied If you do you will
get all you want Ct it.
They were delayed very little. as
my horse, in his fear, was going at
least ten miles an hour before, and al
the time of the collision and am GER
tain il was not over ten seconds from
hearing the first toots to the actual
collision. Self-preservation the first
law of nature, surely justified my
conduct, especially as ! had my COM
panion to protect.
81 consider the action Of the auto
driver brutal and reckless, committed
in anger, thinking / was purpossly
delaying him, and hope the publica-
ton of the particular will draw the
attention Of our lawmakers to the
necessity Fl making such laws fully
protecting the rights of horse vehi-
Icles on the country roads.