Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1920-07-02
TURN TURTLE AT SIXTY
MILES PER HOUR AND LIVE
Speed Maniac Drives Mother and
Sisters into Ditch

Louis Levin played with the lives
of his mother and two sisters as we'll as
his own last Monday afternoon when
he drove a new Essex touring car
down the Salisbury village hill near
the Goose Neck Corner at a speed
of fifty miles an hour How he es-
capped without paying the penalty of
his reCklessness, when his car was
ditched and overturned twice, cannot
be accounted for. Levin was speeding
home from the Commencement exerci-
ses at the University of Vermont His
light car with difficulty held the road
and when he tried to pass a double
team at the corner without Stacking
his terrific rate he ran into the ditch
and turned turtle.
Besides Louis Levin, son of Nathan
Levin of Bennington, driver of the car
the party was made up of Mrs Nathan
Levin, his mother, two sisters, the
Misses Minnie and Frances Levin, and
cousin Mrs Stella Sher of Perth Am
boy, N j. They had attended the
graduation of Miss Frances at the
University of Vermont and were
hurrying to reach Bennington before
nightfall
The accident happened near the
Bump estate mile north of Salisbury
village When the party rounded the
curve they sighted a double team
driven by Rex Sheldon of Salisbury
Levin thought to pass it without re-
ducing his fifty mile clip. He said
afterward that he did not even know
whether it was on the left or right
that he passed it. HIS one object was
to get by without a collision and as
fast as possible. He turned to the
extreme right of the road and in try
ing to get back again his wheels
skidded in the gravel, causing the car
to zig-zag for more than a hundred
yards finally to drop into the ditch on
the opposite side of the road.
The left rear wheel broke and the
momentum of the car forced it to over
turn twice, hating against the fence.
In an instant it caught fire Several
farmers who had noticed the wild
race of the tourists and witnessed the
smashup rushed to their assistance.
The blaze was extinguished by sand.
Three Middlebury young men, return
ing from Brandon, Milo Moore, Tr.,
Ernest Hayden and K. Preston aided
in righting the car and removing the
injured to the Bump residence near by.
On examination it was found that
Miss Minnie Levin had her right arm
broken Later in the hospital it was
learned that two ribs also had been
fractured. Mrs Stella Shers nose was
badly cut Young Levin himself
escaped with a Slight scratch on the
shin.
The party remained at the Bump
residence until a car arrived for them
from Bennington late that night.
They attributed their fortunate escape
from serious injury to the fact that
the side curtains which were in posi-
ton had prevented their falling under
meath the car as it overturned the sec
ond time.
Deputy Sheriff Edward Higgins of
Middlebury has secured sufficient evil
dence against Levin to arraign him be-
fore the local Municipal Court on a
charge Of reckless driving Earlier
that same afternoon his speed had
forced another car out of the road and
into the ditch He was to have been
arraigned Thursday morning but on
account OF the condition of his sister
Minnie, his case was postponed until
early next week.