The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1923-10-25
WAR TO BE MADE
ON THE ROAD HOG
FAILURE TO DIM LIGHTS is
CAUSE OF TWO BAD ACCI-
DENTS RECENTLY
Suggestion is Made hat New Car
Models be Equipped With Holster
for Sawed-off Shotgun; Sane Mot
orists Very Indignant.

The tragic death of John H. Burke
of Helena, president of the Stock.
growers association and head of the
state live stock commission through
an automobile accident directly due
to the failure of the passing car to
dim lights is calling down the wrath
of serious minded men on the night
road hog, and there are those who
suggest that the new models of auto
mobiles be equipped with a holster
for a sawed-off shotgun, or perhaps
a mount on the steering wheel for a
machine gun. Sane motorists every
where are up in arms.
Burke was the second person with
in a month to lose his life from the
same cause, and drivers who ack-
nowledge a sentiment for direct ac-
tion are wondering just how effect
ual would be a charge of buckshot
or a round of machine gun fire if
loosed in the direction of a car that
wantonly endangers the lives of per-
sons in the machines it meets in the
public highways. There were few
times when men foregathered to dis
cuss the Burke accident that the
question vas not put.
EIudes Officers
Efforts made to trace the machine
whose glaring lights forced the Burke
car off the road and into the accident
that cost the driver his life, were flu
tile, but from information gathered
along the Vaughn road, it appears
that had the outlaw machine been a
projectile from a l~ong-range cannon
it would have constituted no less a
menace to other airs along the road.
Before it passed the Burke car, the
outlaw machine was seen several
times, always with the same glazing
lights, and going at a rate of speed
that had no regard for the safety of
the other cars. One automobile party
whose names could not be learned at
the time, reported that while they
were repairing a tire by the side of
the road, the car flashed by, it's lights
so binding one man that he, although
considering himself in the clear, mar
rowly escaped being run down.
The lights on the Burke car were
dimmed by F. R. Van de Putte, one
Of those injured in the accident when
the other machine was seen ap-
preaching. The outlaw car had fail
ed to dim it's lights, or to give half
he road, and Burke, who was driving
he machine in which he was riding,
.urned towards the edge OF the grade,
the glare of the oncominng lights
prevented him from picking his
Turns Over Twice
When the machines were virtually
breast, the Burke car caught in the
otter ground at the side of the road,
lid off the grade and turned over
vice. Van de Putte, William Dee of
Butte, and Hugh Messner, also of d
Butte, were knocked unconscious, V
Burke sustained a broken leg, a
/ fractured skull and conclusion of
he brain. Burke died at Columbus
hospital a short time after he had +
,een brought into the city in a pass e
ng automobile. i,
A charge of manslaughter will be +
lied forthwith against the driver of n
he car that forced Burke's machine u
)ff the grade, if he can be found, \
according to Cascade county officials. n
Outside of any accident that may u
esult from his act, any driver is q 4
riolater of a state law, if he fails n
dim his lights when passing an i,
Ither car. u
This statute was enacted at the h
asst session of the state legislature, r.
nd that no driver may offer the old
xcuse of Ignorance of the law" the .
r%ovisions of the enactment is printed =
n the back of the notice any car =
must read when he gets his =
cense from the secretary of state. !,
Verain, a plant found growing on =