The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-10-09
Held for Manslauphter

On Tuesday AFTERNOON a little DO,
named Carlton Wilkins was killed b.
being struck by an automobile driver
by Charles Coate, who lives near Lum
berton. The boy had been to school a
the latter place and had alighted from
the auto bus which conveys the chill
F.; dren to and from their homes to thu
schoolhouse. The accident occurred
at Fostertown. At this place the road!
cross, one going north toward Lumber
ton, the other going west toward Ma
sonville. The driver of the auto bus
always turns into the Masonville road
in order that the main road may be
clear. The children who live in the
neighborhood of Fostertown get out
and 60 to their homes, crossing the
main road going east.
On Tuesday the bus had stopped in
its usual place and some of the chill.
dren had crossed. Carlton started to
go across but had just reached the mid
die of the road when he was struck by
the automobile which came tearing
from the direction of Medford. The
driver of the bus is positive there was
not any vehicle in sight when he
turned to let the children out. He
could see up the road a distance of q
half mile and the first that he knew
there was an automobile coming was
when he heard the noise made by it.
Looking around he saw some school
books flying in the air and a few sec
onds later he saw the boy lying on the
ground. The auto kept on going
Cook the driver of the school bus
called to the man in the machine and
he finally stopped and came back
The little boy was found, in g
dying condition. He was picked VI
and hurried to the hospital in Mount
Holly, but he died about eight o'clock
in the evening without regaining con
sciousness.
The little fellows skull was horribly
crushed and his left leg was broken in
two or three places at the thigh.
Coroner Gaskill held an inquest on
Saturday, the following jury acting, in
the order in which they are named
Joseph c. Kingdom, Samuel w. Bish.
OPP, Andrew r. Bedwell, Harry M.
Hulse, Christian J. Krayer, Edward
Y. Gunsche.
Albert Cook, the driver Of the school
bus told the circumstances as related
above, adding that the automobile
was running with its cutout wide
open.
Some of the children who were going
home from school told of seeing the
books flying but none OF them saw the
boy struck. Some of them had already
crossed the road, the Wilkins boy be-
ing behind them. None of the chill
dren noticed the auto coming down the
road.
Emma Beebe, who lives at the juno
ton of the roads, told that the school
bus stops almost in front of her house
every day. 1t is her habit to go out
whenever the bus arrives to see that
her children get out safely and to see
that they do not get in the way of any
machine that might be coming along.
She saw Carlton start to cross the road
but did not see any auto coming and
did not know there was one in sight
until the boy was struck. She saw the
accident. The boy was struck on the
leg and was thrown down on his head
and dragged some distance, The auto
kept going and did not stop until it
was some distance down the road.
Charles Coate, driver of the automo-
bile, was called and was given the
usual warning that whatever he might
say could be used against him. George
B. Evans represented him and said
that Coate was perfectly willing to give
testimony. The young man was
sworn and said he had been running a
car for three years. He was on the way
from Medford to his home, which is
about quarter of mile from where
the accident occurred. He did not see
any children crossing or in the road.
He did see some on the side in front of
the Fostertown schoolhouse and he
was watching them. In doing this he
swerVed his car to the left and when
he struck the boy he was on the left
side of the road. He said the children
were several feet off the roadway and
he could not give any reason why he
should be paying particular attention
to them. When he went over the
cross road he was running at about
twenty miles an hour, having slowed
down somewhat. He did not see Carl
ton and did not know he had hit him
until he was called to by Cook. The
latter testified that Coate did not blow
his horn but the latter said he did. He
admitted that his cutout was open. He
said he knew that the auto bus stopped
on the Masonville road every day and
he was able to see it as he came down
the road but he did not see any chill
dren crossing the road. Asked what
time he left Medford that afternoon he
said he could not tell. This question
was pressed upon him in different
forms: WAS it three o'clock; half-past
three; quarter of four?" And the an
swer was the same: 81 cannot tell. -
He was asked if he did not know il
was illegal to run his car with the cut
out open but his counsel would not let
him answer on the ground that the
question was one which did not figure
in the case. One of the jurors con.
tended that it went to show whether
Coate was driving his car illegally and
carelessly, but counsel would not lei
the answer be given. He said that was
point for the State Department tC
take up. MIR. Evans said he would
admit that the cutout was open, the
reason being that the muffler was out
of order and that the cutout could moi
be governed.
There were other witnesses, children
who had seen part of the accident, but
the above covers the main portion O.
the testimony. The jury returned thu
following verdict:
We, the jury summoned by Samue
X. Gaskill, one of the coroners OF tht
county Of Burlington, New Jersey, t
inquire into the death of Carlton L
Wilkins, do, on this sixth day of Octo
Der, 1917, find that the deceased wa
the son of Harry s., and Jennie E
Wilkins, of the township of Medford
and that he died in the Burlington
County Hospital in the township @
Northampton, on Tuesday, Octobe