The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-09-20
r. G. Bills Killed
In Auto Accident
CONTINUED From Page ~

| tOOutluueQ rTOm F0R0
Bills and got out, saying it was too
high speed for him. A. T. Springer
Of the Blackfoot Electric company
was asked to ride, but he declined,
saying, mot on your life." Mr..
vaught was invited. to get In and he
responded. After riding around
about three times, the car was
brought to standstill and Mr..
Vaught started to get out. At the
same time Mr.. Springer approached
the car, laid his arm on Mr.. Bills
shoulder and asked him not to drive
that fast again. He laughed and
said he would not. At the same time
Mr.. Vaught started to get out, Mr..
Bills laid his hand on him in q
friendly manner and said, "Oh, come
on" and at the same time started
the car. Oren Bills was running
with the Essex. Gordon Bills al
lowed him to run by and then Cor
don passed him with the Ford. Again
Gordon allowed Oren to run by with
the Essex and again passed him with
the Ford, that time curving round
at the east end of the track. Both
cars were exceeding sixty miles an
hour and the Ford skidded on the
curve. Mr.. Bills, working the steer
ing wheel. to correspond with slip
ping or skidding interrupting the
skidding by picking it up, as he said.
! AS they came around on the straight
track, Gordon remarked that It skid
ded beautifully and that he was 60
ing to see what there was in it. He
turned on little more power and
as 1t approached the curve, where
the accident happened, the speedo-
meter recorded sixty-eight miles
speed. The rear hind wheel had
been strained in rounding the curve,
for the carpenters watching the car
from the rear, saw that the right
wobbled and it was throwing spokes
in the air. They shouted to Bills,
but he could not hear them. Some
clay had been dumped on the track
at the west end and had not been
perfectly smoothed down. 1t had
been wet and tramped, but not per-
fectly carved with the grader. A
slight rut had been formed, appar-
emily by wagon wheels, where the
ground was crimped from a half
inch to two inches lower than the
rest of the surface and it was on
such a place that the rear wheel col
lapsed and the car .vaulted thru the
air. Spectators, watching it from
different directions estimated that
1t leaped from ten to fifteen feet off
the ground, and all agree that It
turned somersault in mid-air. 1t
was difficult to tell exactly what else
happened, for there was merely a
flash of red paint in the sunlight,
winding movement and rush of
dust. Nobody seemed to know Just
when or how Mr.. Vaught left the car
but all agree that Gordon Bills threw
up his arms as the car went high
in the air. He was evidently trying
to jump, but could not He struck
with the right side of his face and
his breast on the ground, and these
were terribly bruised. His hip and
side was pressed firmly against the
end Of the seat, and the seat itself,
was badly bent where it pressed his
body in the stroke against the
ground. The seat was of sheet iron
and is was considerably bent cor
responding with the shape of mans
body. The blow on the head and
face would render him unconscious.
The blow on the breast would render
him unconscious, and the weight Of
the car striking him across the hip
and side was sufficient to cause fatal
injuries. He remained unconscious
to the end, but he moaned a couple
of times, after he was placed in his
hospital. His breathing was inter-
rupted as If by blood in the lungs. A
cash was cut around his right eye
corresponding to the form of the
goggles he wore
The instant the car went into the
air, some of the spectators started
for the scene. When they arrived,
Mr.. Bills was lying on his back,
breathing with difficulty Mr..
Vaught and Oren Bills were the first |
once to reach him, both being spill
led near the spot.
Mr.. Bills was twenty-nine years |
old and was the senior member of |
the Bills Auto company with gar
ages at Aberdeen, Blackfoot, Shelley |
and Arco. They have an $4,000 |
building in course of erection at |
Blackf0ot, and he was one of the |
best informed men in the Snake river |
valley on automobiles and the auto |
business. For a number Of years he |
had taken annual or semi-annual
trips to the eastern factories to learn |