Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1920-09-03
DATAL
TO TWO AUTOISTS
Accident in Putney Causes the
Deaths of Vacationists
Car Leaves Road and Strikes Pole
Leon Kelley Dies on Reaching Brat
tleboro Hospital.

Striking q telephone pole after their
right front wheel had collapsed on Vhe
outside of a gutter on a down-hill curve
n mile north of Putney on the Bellows
Falls road, Leon Kelley of West Lynn,
Mass. and Edward j. Rice of Lynn sus-
tanned injuries Saturday night when re-
shifted in the death of both in the Brat
tleboro Memorial hospital, neither having
recovered consciousness.
The accident happened about q O'Clock
as the car was coming toward brat'le-
boro. The injured men were brought TO
the hospital about o'clock and were
attended by DIR. Harry p. Greene, MI
Kelley died about 10 minutes after arriv-
ing Mt the hospital and Mr. Rice dled
about $50 Sunday night. 1t was real,
lied from the first that Mr.. Rice could
not recover.
Only these two men were occupants OF
the car. which was Ford bearing the
Massachusetts number plate III -50I, not
withstanding a rumor that third man
was in the machine and disappeared. 1t
was reported that the men were III inc
police court in Bellows Falls Saturday
but the report was without foundatloh'
Sheriff Frank L. Wellman of Brattleboro
made an investigation of the accident
'''"N 49,
Sunday.
Mr.. kelley sustained fracture of the
left hip, a cut over the hip and rupture
of the intestines. Mr.. Rice sustained q
fracture of the skull and fracture OF
the left arm. and hemorrhages from the
lungs were caused
The body of the car was wrecked, but
the engine and running gear with the
exception of the front axle and one
wheel apparently were not much dam
aged. The radiator was demolished, as
were the right fender, lamps, windshield
and right side of the body.
Both bodies were taken to Bond &
Sons undertaking rooms, and Sunday
Lynn undertaken arrived here about
midnight and returned with the body OF
Kelley. Rices mother, Mrs. Ellen Rice,
came here Monday.
Kelley and Rice left Lynn few days
ago on a vacation trip, but how far
north they went is not known. They
were equipped for camping at night as
thew carried q tent At the time of the
accident they were on their way home,
and indications are that they were driv-
ing rapidly.
The exact location of the scene of the
wreck is near the top of the long hill
beyond the Puffer place, at the southern
end of a comparatively level stretch OF
road. On the west is barway about
two rods from the highway and on the
east a ravine.
Whether the men were going 80 fast
they could not make the turn or whether
they were crowded out of the road by
another car is not known, but in any case
the right front wheel collapsed, as sew |
eral spokes were found together about |
10 feet north of the telephone pole and
others were scattered along from that
point.
The outside of the curve is on sharp
down grade toward the ditch, and at the
point where the several spolles were
found together the wheel apparently
struck a shoulder of sod. The impact
and the weight of the load as the ma.
chine tipped toward the gutter were too
much for the wheel to stand.
Eighteen feet away in n southerly di
rection, on the same side of the road but
perhaps a dozen feet from the edge OF
the grass, the telephone pole was set in
a grassy knoll. 1t was struck by some
part of the car about foot above the
top of the knoll and was broken of
squarely. Whether it was struck by the
spokeless hub or some other part of the
car is not known. The right side of the
car was wrecked, and the machine landed
on its right side but was Strengthened
up by the first arrivals
The conduct of the occupants, of an
other Massachusetts car which was GO
ing in the opposite direction seems pecu
lar in the absence of full knowledge of
all the facts. This car either met the
Ford at the time of the accident OF
passed Immediately after the wreck. 1t
met another car which wSs behind the
Ford, and the occupants of the Massachu
sets car told the persons in the south
bound car that there had been an acct
dent and suggested that they stop in
Putney and tell somebody about it.
At Walter L. Parker's garage woman
in the southbound car, whose identity
was not learned. said she thought il
strange that the informants did not stop
to investigate so abe took the number of
their machine, which she said was the
Massachusetts number 204-507.
Mr.. Parker went at once to the
wreck, as did DIR. L. II. Bugbee and many
Others. The injured mem were then
lying on the ground near the telephone
pole, both unconscious and bleeding
On the ground near where their blankets
tent and other contents of the car. in
Guiding several broken whiskcy bottles,
said to have come from Canada, and
there was strong odor of whiskey. DIR.
Bugbee gave the men hasty examina
ton, after which it was arranged t.
convert Dwight Smiths automobile
truck into an ambulance and take the
men to the Brattleboro Memorial hos
pital, where Kelley died shortly after
his arrival.
Before the men were removed Mr..
Parker went through their pockets for
means of Identification and in Kelley's
pocket he found letter addressed to
Leon Kelley, 44o Summer street, West
Lynn, Mass" In Rice's pocket he found