The Hawaiian gazette., 1915-03-09
OPINIONS DIFFER
. INVOLCANO ROAD .
TOURIST TRAGEDY
Coroner's Inquest Develops the
Question Of Safety in At
tempt To Pass *

/ Injuries sustained through the over
turning of an automobile, driven by
Dan Kalai, in which she was passen.
ger, at point twenty-five and one.
half miles from Hilo on the Volcano
road.v 81. - NJ
The above Il the form of the verdict
arrived at by the coroner 3 jury in the
eases Of two women, members Of the
steamship Great Northern excursion
lparty, who were killed on the Volcano
road, Island Of Hawaii The verdict
in the case of the driver, also killed,
was the same, except that the words
"of which he was the driver" were
substituted for "in which she was a
passenger. The jurors were J. d.
Kennedy, r. 7. Forrest, II. l.. Pfeffer,
John p. @. Kennedy, t. A. Dranga and
Otto M. Rose. H. .....-, y
II was only after two hours discus
sion, after the. evidence closed, that
the verdict was decided upon. Some
of the jurors we're in favor of adding
clause fixing the blame, and one was
for declaring IL due to the Careless
ness Of the driver. Most of the
jurors felt that q proper verdict was
enc declaring il due to a miscalcula.
tion on his part, for the evidence was
4 all strongly against any showing Of
carelessness on the part of the dead
chauffeur, and his reputation for ex.
IRENE carefulness was fully shown,
while there was much to support the
idea that he made d slight miscaleula,
ton.
i Except as to whether il was a safe
proposition to try to pass another ma
chine at the point on the road where
the accident occurred, the evidence Of
all witnesses agreed as to the facts.
Measurements of the two cars and Of
the width of the road showed there was
room for them to pass. r.
The tourist victims of the accident
were Mira Bell, aged about forty-seven,
and Mrs. M. =. Rule, aged about fifty.
both Of Portland, Oregon. They board
ed the steamer at San Pedro. They
were travelling together and were moi
much known among the other two hun
bred passengers, large proportion Of
! whom did not know them at all. 81 NJ
Saved by Tree Stump " ,tF}.F
The car which turned over was 10
White touring car, and had nine pas
, sengers in it. There was an embank
, ment at the point where it met with
disaster, and as soon as one of Its
, wheels left the edge of the road /,
toppled over, resting finally with its
wheels in the air. The driver and the
other two victims of the accident were
in the front seat. The three were in
j stantly killed, None Of the other SIS
, passengers sustained any injuries be
II Il al A. L.. 800
! marvellous escape is explained by the
, fact that the rear end of the car fel
on q haapu stump which held it up
If this stump had not been there, un
doubtedly there would have been NOR,
injuries and probably deaths. ...'',
Porter, a well-known driver, wal
in charge of the car ahead, which Dar
; Kalai was attempting to pass. It wal
q huge truck car, and carried many
. passengers. G.. Il. Wright, manager o.
the Volcano Stables Company, was II
car close behind, and was quiclSl,
on the scene, helping to drag the sur
vivors from under the car. In the ex
] citement Of the moment there was mucl
confused advice. One excited indi
vidual wanted to cut away the from
supports, q bit of work which Wrigh
and others prevented. 1t would prob
ably have turned the car down anG
( killed those under it, For this, Wright
q who was busy rescuing the ladies, wa
accused of trying to save the carl
Il Wright hurried to Glenwood and Sc
cured Doctor Irwin, but the three vic
tins were dead long before the docto
= arrived, A physician and nurse at tn,
Volcano House, members of the excur
sion party, were started down 10 De
p mosthenes machine with a g first aid !
|, kit loaned by j. +. Haworth, wheI
;, news came that the survivors were OF
their way up, uninjured The bodie
: were taken to Hilo to be embalmes
= and sent home. 4 ~ IN F ~ X.
0 In accordance with instructions
!. George Richardson subpoenaed a 10
of witnesses, including the survivor
g from the wrecked car, One of these
q lady, declined to pay any attention
j, to his request that she attend the in
8 quest She demanded that the /" Ameri
!, can consul" be sent for, and said sh,
s would not stir until she saw him
Q When the situation was finally ex
y planned to her and she realized tina
D she was on American soil, she consent
| Ou y" bonO ~ SSob IN inc oubO bCub vi
by Martin. t,,''' : .f,'.
Q However, only one of the survivor
: was called. This was Hugo J. Donau
p He said that there were nine passen
Q gers in the car; that in trying to pas
Q the truck ahead it went too near tn
| embankment and turned over. Every
= body was pinned under the car, RoC
3 two ladies and the driver, who wer
L.. in the front scat, were killed." he said
= 1.-THE car was going slowly, with yer,
5 careful driving" :.
A The jury visited the scene of tn,
D accident and took measurements, j. A
{. Kennedy and Otto Rose doing tn,
. measuring. 1t was found that wher
t the rear wheel of the car left the roat
r the width was sixteen feet, seve
a inches, And where the front wheel lef
the road seventeen feet, ten inches
The combined width of the two car
! at the widest point was thirteen feet
|, six inches.
o Differ as to Safety
Porter, in his testimony, said tina
e there was 'plenty of room to pasi
!, "W0uld you consider that safe plae
l. for an auto to raso anotherf" aske
h