Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-08-05
HARRISBURG AUTO
DRIVER HELD FOR
DEATH Of Writers
Gilbert Stewart Is Under Heavy
Bail on Charge of
Manslaughter

$50 ~ AA9A
charge of Involuntary manslaughtel
at the September quarter sessions
court. Alderman r. l.. Miller, of this
city. at a hearing on Tuesday after
noon, having decided hat a prima
facie case had been made out against
him in connection with the death OF
Claude Writer'S. of Palmyra, in ar
automobile accident on the Berks and
Dauphin county turnpike, about a mile
July IL.
W. Justin Carter, an attorney OF
Harrisburg, appeared as counsel fol-
the defendant, who later ven before
Judge Charles v. Henry and entered
$1,000 bail. His bondsman, Homer
Simonetti. of Harrisburg, furnished
the bail in cash.
Simonetti also furnished a n OF
500 as bail for Stewart OF a charge
of violating the state automobile act
in having driven a car under a strange
number tag on the night of the acct
dent. County Detective Sattazahn
made this additional charge after the
hearing on the manslaUghter charge.
One Victim Still Near Death
Walter C. Graeff appeared as attor-
ney for the Commonwealth. having
been engaged by Abram Stauffer,
father of Roy Stauffer, one of the VIC
Tins of the accident. who is still I'M
conscious at the Good Samaritan Hos
pital and who is lowering between life
and death. 1t appeared from the line
of questioning that the Commonwealth
will try to prove that the Ford Ear
driven by Stauffer, and the Abbott
Detroit car, driven by Stewart, struck
H. 1900, s.--- L. n D--I -
Snyder, about the same time, the Ford
car being turned completely around
by the impact, or perhaps turning a
somersault.
Witnesses testified that in Annville
a few minutes before the accident the
two cars were fully a squar apart
n MI. Graeff commended that Stew
art was guilty of criminal negligence
in running nj the Ford car after he
was that far away n with that much
opportunity to observe caution. I'm
less Stauffer RECEIVERS, however, and
tells his part of the story, Stewart will
probably never be convicted, for the
evidence is regarded by those present
as barely sufficient to hold the defend
ant for trial.
Doctor Testifes
DR.. E. S. Bordner, of Palmyra, who
was called to the scene of the acct
dent Immediately after it occurred,
testified that he found Writers dead
and Roy Stautfer unconscious. His
most important evidence was that the
young men were all lying in u row in
front of the Ferd car, which was lying
at the side of the road on its side in a
crippled condition. His evidence that
the body of Writer'S showed no evil
dence of having been run over by an
auto, the only marks being abrasions
and the back of the head crushed in,
WAS seized nnnn ga parlW hu tho do
Tense as being in their favor.
Prosper Boyer testified to having
met Wilbur Reed at Annville on Sat
urday night about 11.30 o'clock. He
said they took a drive in Reeds rig
n were returning to Annville via the
pike when they saw the Ford car APP
preaching from the east. He testified
that they were in the middle of the
road, but turned to the right when the
auto approached, and were hugging the
street railway tracks when the Ford
car stripped them, tearing off the two
wheels on that side and breaking the
axle. lie asserted that the Abbott car
was only a few feet in the rear when
the Ford car was approaching and
that the second car crashed into the
Drst o the same time the first car
struck the buggy. Boyer said he was
thrown out, but ecoverc from the
shock almost instantly, and he then
grabbed the horse and held il. and
therefore knew little of what went on
at the wrecked automobile, which laid
twenty feet in the rear. lie said he
remained there until 4.3O O'Clock in
the morning and that the automobile
was not touched to remove it from
the point where it had fallen-an-
other point which the defense claimed
pointed to the fact that the injury was
all lone before the Abbott car arrived
on the scene.
Says Car Was Racing
Frank %Spangler, one of the passen-
gers with Writers and Stauffer in the
Fcrd car, stated hat at the time OF
the accident Stauffer was driving the
car, although earlier i'm the evening
Stauffer had occupied a back seat
while he relinquished the wheel to
Paul zimmerman. He said they left
Lebanon about 11.30 n at Tenth
and Cumberland streets noticed a car
following them, supposedly h Abbott
car. driven by Stewart. though he
would not swear to that fact positively.
He testified that the rear car fol.
lowed at a high rate of speed and
near the city limits forged ahead with
the passengers shouting Come on
The witness insisted that Stauffer
made no attempt to race and at Ann
vile saw the other car standing in
front or a restaurant. The Stauffer
car went right ahead. however, and at
the tollgate. half a mile west, the wit
ness said, the other car was again hut
fifty feet in the rear The t~ollgate is
NJ the top of the big hill at the foot
OF which the accident occurred and
the witness knew nothing more than
that there was a crash. He was rem
dered unconscious for some minutes
and he revived only in time to see the
other car departing. This is the wit
ness who is alleged to have heard one
of the Harrisburg men say: MY God,
we've killed four men," but no effort
was made to introduce that evidence
and he did not volunteer it.
S%pangler oss-Questioned
~Spangler was put through a grill
ing cross-questioning by Attorney Car
ter. who ~endeavored to make him adj
init that the Stauffer party had been
drinking and were under the influence
of liquor at least early in the after
noon. The witness admitted that the
party had been at the hotel at Swatara
Station and at Hockersville, and that
they spent the evening in Lebanon, but
denied that anyone had drank any,
thing but Stauffer, who was not, how
ever, under the influence. Asked why
Stauffer had surrendered the wheel to
Zimmerman at H~ockersville, the wit
ness stated that Stauffer was sick.
Spangler asserted that he had spent
the evening in Lebanon in the COM
pany of a young lady and that he did
not know where the others were, but