The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-15
BOB CHAMBER BADLY
HURT IN CAR SMASH
His Right Leg Fractured When
Motor Car Hits Tree i'm
Central Park.
MAY ESCAPE LAMENESS
Mrs. Albert Herter Also IN
jured in Mishap-Accident
Follows Camp Visit.

II was learned only yesterday that
Robert Winthrop Chanler. widely known
rs a decorative painter and at one time
Sheriff of Duchess county, was seriously
injured in an automobile smashup while
Mr Chanler and Mrs. Albert Herter-
whose husband Is also well known
artist-were driving south through Cen
trail Park early on the afternoon of Au-
gust 81. Mrs. Herter was also injured.
but less severely than Mr.. Chanler.
Mr.. Chanler, who has been in St.
Luke's Hospital under the care of DR..
Walton Martin of ISL East Sixty third
street since the accident and will be
compelled to remain at the hospital for
perhaps a month or more longer. suf-
fered a serious fracture of the right leg.
broken rib and minor outs and bruises.
Mrs. Herter's nose was broken and she
also suffered a fractured rib and an in.
jured back when the car in which she
and Mr.. Chanler were returning from
the Pelham Bay naval training camp
smashed into a tree on the East Drive
in Central Park, opposite Eighty-sixth
street
Mr.. Chanler's Injuries.
Mr.. Chanler was thrown against the
front seat of the touring car SO forcibiy
when the crash came that the head OF
one Of the bones of his right lower leg
ut the knee literally was telescCped up
ward and backward along the thigh
bone. causing a bad fracture OF the
femur and leaving the knee cap and the
head OF the tibia overlapping the lower
part of the femur. The chief efforts of
Or. Martin and his assisting surgeons
No 10 IN RI he 1ay hv ~
weights and other appliances. back to
its normal length again. with the hope
that the stalwart politician will
not be compelled to limp for the rest of
his days.
Whether or not there is likelihood
that Mr.. Chanler will escape permanent
!ameness could not be learned authori-
tatively yesterday. The opinion of DR..
Martin was not to be obtained as he
had left Manhattan for the week end
earlier in the day. Mrs. Herter, II was
learned, however. has recovered suffi-
GENTLY from her injuries to walk about
her room. but is still confined in the
Herter residence at 130 East Sixty-sev-
enth street.
Mr.. Chanler. who rs brother Of ex-
Lieut. -Gov. Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler
and a grandson Of the late Mrs Aston.
social leader of New York. had gone to
morning of the accident to do some work
on theatre curtain in the naval Y NJ.
c. A. hut, one Of series OF splendidly
decorative curtains OF the kind which
. Mr.. Chanler has painted for and .con-
tributed to army and navy Y. NJ. C. A.
huts In camps and cantonments through
out the country.
Mrs. Hertcr Invited to Ride.
great deal of particularly beautiful
decorative work in Y. VI. G. A. military
huts in many camps and cantonments.
likewise had gone to the Pelham Bay
training station to work on her decora-
tons. When. shortly after the noon
hour. II was necessary for both to re-
turn to Manhattan Mr.. Chanler invited
Mrs. Herter to ride back to town with
him. Mr. Chanler having hired n large
touring car to take him to the camp and
back.
The two war workers were seated in
the tonneau coming down the East Drive
Of Central Park from then work about
80 O'Clock in the afternoon. with Yugo,
Mr.. CHAMBERS japanese valet, seated
beside the chauffeur OF the hired touring
car Just above Eighty-sxth street the
chauffeur turned his head, so Mr.. Chan
Ter told a reporter from THE SUN. who
look at a car which was coming along
just behind.
Evidently while the chauffeur's head
was turned the car was accidentally
steered from its course. At any rate.
Mr.. Chanler suddenly saw that the car
was headed straight for the trunk Of a
large tree and the artist shouted to the
chauffeur to straighten out or jam on the
brakes. Whether the chauffeur, in the
excitement of the moment. jammed his
foot onto the gas accelerator by mistake
or not, is not known. but an instand
later the radiator of the big touring car
crashed into the tree with great force
Chanler Lies Helpless.
All the occupants OF the car were
jounced forward in heaps. Mr. Chanlers
right leg was stretched straight before
him at the moment of impact, with the
result that the bones of his knee and
shin were driven back into his lower
thigh as described After the first mo-
ment of shock Mr.. Chanler tried 10 help
Mrs. Herter from the ear. but was COM
PEELED to sink to the roadway. where he
lay helpless after he and Mrs. Herter
had crawled from the wrecked automo-
bile. The Japanese valet escaped with a
few slight cuts and bruises and the
chauffeur was uninJured.
way Mr.. Chanler directed. that Mrs
Herter be driven Immediately TO her
home in taXicab. which was dona
Three policemen, attracted to the scene
by the noise OF the crash. insisted then
that Mr.. Chanler, after they had taken
his name and address. be carried of
the road and laid upon the grass to
await the arrival of an ambulance, but
injured as he was Sheriff Chanlcr
protested with all the oral rapidity for
which he Is famous.
II told 'em loud enough to be heard
ACROSS the park" laughed Mr.. Chanler
yesterday in rapid fire sentences. that
os an American citizen / had a gosh
almighty right to lie around wherever
was hurt as long as ] wanted to-till
my own surgeon arrived anyway. And
SO I lay right there in the road, bio *.
ing traffic for one hour, or until w
had got DIR. Martin on the job No a H.
bulance surgeons messing around me-
not by a gosh almighty sight, I was
messed enough and plenty. What!
Patient Launches N Joke.
And listen" cried the exuberant ex-
Sheriff of Duchess county and citizen
of the world at large whose mishap had
not seemed to interfere with the gayety
of the Bob Chanler OF old even though
he was braced and trussed and strapped
in bed to keep his leg immova BILE