East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1915-04-20

apparently excited He hastened for
ward and saw the boy lying On the
pavement with the occupants of the
car standing around him. He Jeff i'm
mediately. however, he said In re-
sponse 10 Mr.. Thompson's request that
he secure a physlc an. On cross ex-
animation he said he did not remcm-
Der seeing John Play but was after.
wards told that the woman he first
saw was Mrs Play.
+. V. Corley was the last witness
before noon and was examined thor
oughly by both sides. His principal
testimony had to do with the tracks
which he said he noticed after has
tening to where the boy lay He de.
clared the car was near or against a
wagon on the right side Of the street
with tracks leading from 1t diagonally
across the street to point about five
feet from the east curb where they
Strengthened and ran parallel with the
curb In a northely direction. The
tracks where they turned Just before
reaching the point Of the accident he
said, were heavy and more discernible
II being his presumption that the
brakes had made the wheels slide.
On crOss-examination, Col. Raley
tried to establish that the witnesses
had been making diagrams among
themselves in order to make their |
testimony correspond
Thompson First Witness.
Judge Bennett for the plaintiff
sprang a surprise late yesterday aft
ernoon when he called as his first
witness none other than W. I.l
Thompson, the defendant. He re-
quired the witness to describe the
course Of his car from the time it
left the McComas home on Lewis |
street until the collision occurred. |
The most notable part of Mr. Thomp- |
sons testimony was his declaration
that his automobile was stopped when
the collision occurred. statement
that is in striking contradiction TO !
the contention OF the plaintiff that
the machine was travelling at rate
exceeding the speed limit of Is miles
per hour.
Mr., Thompson stated that he and
his wife and son had taken dinner
with Mr. and Mrs. McComas on the
evening of July 23, 1914, and that,
between $3.50 and left the house, |
he driving the car Mr. McComas sit
ting at his right, Mrs. McComas d. |
rectly back of him and Mrs. Thomp-
son in the rear seat with Mrs Nc
Comas. His son Edward, he said |
was standing on the right hand run.
ming board. His intention was. he |
said, to drive from Lee street into
Alta and down Alta to the Alta the
ater where his son was to stop.
In turning from Lewis street into
Lee street, he said he drove about to
the center Of the intersection before
making the turn, doing this because
Of the presence Of rick Of wood
along the west line Of Lee street
which shut off his view. He did this
as a precaution against colliding with
any vehicle that might be coming
up Lee street behind the woodpile
he said
After turning into Lee street Mr..
Thompson testified, he guided his
car to the right hand side and pro-
ceeded until near the intersection
with Court when he was Obliged to
turn a little to the left in order to |
avoid two Warren, Construction Co.
wagons that were standing on theI
right hand side of the street He
turned out about 25 feet from the
tongue Of the first wagon, he testi-
lied and just as he did so noticed the
boy coming toward him. riding
through the frame of a mans bicy-
Gle. He did not see the boy turn
from Court street but presumed he
had come down that street from the
east
Immediately that he noticed the boy
making straight for his car. Mr
Thompson said he threw his machine
out of gear, applied the brakes and
steered his car to the right until he
ran into the first of the two wagons.
Almost at the same time that he
struck the wagon, he said, the bicy-
Gle struck his car, the front wheel
striking the bumper in front about
foot or less from the left end. The
force of the collision made the BIZ
cycle rebound backward, he said, be-
fore the boy fell to the pavement.
Where the boy struck, he said. was
just a few inches beyond the center
Of the street.
Judge Bennett obliged the witness
to go into detail in describing his
being especially insistent
in his reutests for distances NJ