Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1920-12-31
JOHN MACDONALD
HEARS AUTO CASES
Three Drivers o. Carpet Eseape
With RspsinanAs

Three Drivers o. Carpet Eseape
With RssrinasAs
John Macdonald. deputy state auto
mobile commissioner, son Of Mr.. and
Mrs. Archibald Macdonald. George
street, was in Putnam over Sunday.
and Monday morning sat in the SUPER
ior court rom to hear evidence in
three automt bile cases. This was the
first hearing Of the kind ever held in
this city.
The deputy commissioner disposed
Of three cases, and In none were Ii.
censes suspended, but some sound ad-
vice was administered to the offend
era
The only Putnam ease was that Of
Euclid Marion. who was charged with
reckless driving last July. While
driving . light truck up hospital hSi
Marion swung out 70 pAD . ear just
a. IN approaching ear came around .
curve. Marion admitted he did Il but
offered - An excuse that he thought
he had plsnty Of time 10 paD the ear
ahsad. Is the ear coming frsm the sp-
pesite direction was . hundred test
away. Marien wss svslhsd WAeo
told that . car travelling thirty miles
IN hour covered forty feet per second
which In tAis' instance would allow bot
three seeenAs without making allow.
anee for the ground covered by he
car approaching. The commiesionex
told Marion that he had no right to
pass under such conditions. and that
the act could Be classified a. reckless
driving. and punished. "You ought to
be fined" said the commissioner. THE
next time you viii be incl. and your
license suspended"
Anthony Kildsy was heard ss to
how he happened to crash through
lowered railroad gates at the Day.
vile grade crossing on a rainy night
some months ago. II developed that
II was only by . narrow margin that
Kilday and members Of his party es-
capped death, for when the ear stopped
on the crossing q freight train was not
far away. 1t was due to the presence
Of mind Of the crossing tender. George
Kennedy, who took q red lantern and
hurried up the track to nag the train
that a serious accident was averted.
Kilday said he had come from Dam
ielson where he and his friends had
dined at a restaurant. He had several
times cleaned Of his wind shield as IL
was raining. He did not see that the
gates were down and gave it as his
opinion that they were just being low
cred as he passed under them, and
that gate hit the top Of his ear.
The gate tender said the gates were
down and that lantern was hanging
from them. A freight train was ap-
preaching from the north about half
a mile away. He saw the automobile
approaching and saw it crash through
the gates to the crossing. Apparently
he engineer Of the train saw the lights
on the crossing and began to slow
down. Kennedy took his red light and
ran up the track swinging it as dan
ger signal, and the train came to a
stop.
Commissioner Macdonald said he
was satisfied that the gates were down
and that the gate tender did all he
could and more than his duty in trying
to protect the automobile party He
said he could not find Kilday guilty of
reckless driving as he had been taking
precautions as evidenced by having
cleaned his windshield that he might
see ahead, and was taking ordinary
care. 81 will not suspend your Ii
cense, but if you appear again this
case will be taken into consideration"
concluded the commissioner.
The last case heard was that of Jo-
seph Tyrcha Of Moosup. He was the
driver of car that was in collision
with machine driven gy f. V. Dupris
of Moosup last Thanksgiving after
noon on the state highway leading in
to Plainfeld from Central Village.
Tyrcha was found guilty of intoxica-
ton in Justices court in the town Of
Plainfeld, but nothing developed dur
ing the hearing on Monday to indicate
that Tyrcha had even taken an intoxi-
eating drink on Thanksgiving day. He
denied that he was speeding when the
accident occurred, testifying that his
speed as he came down the hill just
before the cars crashed was not over
20 miles an hour. II was storming at
the time, making vision poor, and the
roads were slippery. The cars were
wrecked in the crash, but Tyrcha has
arranged settlement with Dupris for
the damage to his car.
Commissioner Macdonald said he
would not suspend Tyrcha's license
this time, but warned him to exercise
great care in driving.