MOTOR-CARS IN COLLISION

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 48, 26 February 1913, Page 2

MOTOR-CARS IN COLLISION

SERIOUS INJURY TO MR. W. B. R. MOORHOUSE MARVELLOUS* ESCAPES. (From Our Own Correspondent). LONDON, 17th January. As the result of a serious collision of two motor cars, which met head on on a hill in Northamptonshire, Mr, W. B. R. Moorhouse, well known in aviation and motoring circles, is lying in Northampton Hospital suffering from concussion and severe ' scalp wounds. The accident was due to a dense fog which overhung the whole countryside. Mr. Moorliouse's car, a large covered Fiat, was coming into Northampton, and was driven by Tookey, his chauffeur. The latter had been summoned to appear at the Borough Police Court for a motor offence, and was on his ' way to Northampton to meet the charge. The other car, which belonged to Mr. Heaps, contained Alderman W. George, of Gayton, Mr. John Cooper, of East Haddon, and Mr. O. Wallis, J.P., in addition to the chauffeur and a young blacksmith. Th,ese gentlemen were on their ,way to Chapel BramptOn to examine some horses in connection with the Army Remount system, and tho blacksmith had with him the branding apparatus to jbrand such horses as might be chosen. HOW THE ACCIDENT HAPPENED. On the Welford-road, where the collision occurred, there is a moderate gradient, and it was half-way down this that the cars met. Mn account of the fog, Tookey was taking his master's car up the hill at» a moderate pace, and Mr. Moorhouse was. inside. All of a sud» den, it appears, another car loomed up out of the fog ( and almost in an instant the collision Occurred. 5 ,"I was going so slowly— being on the bottom gear"— says Tookey, "that 1 could not turn out of tho way of the other motor. , And I was on my right side. Had I been going faster I should have been able to turn my car on to the grass and so avoid the collision. As it Was, all I could do wwats t to wait for the smash, which came in a moment, though it seemed an almost indefinite period." The cars came together head on, and the collision caused the two off wheele to be,come locked— so tightly, were they locked that it was two hours before they .could be separated. The impetus on the car as it was going down, hill was suf-, ficient to swing Mr. Mobrhouse's car round. The chauffeur, Tookey, was the only person to be thrown out of either of the cars. The force of the impact threw him off hia seat through the glass wind screen in the front on to the bonnet of the car. Scrambling off as quickly as he could, and looking inside, he found Mr. Moorhouse lying stunned at the bottom of the car, bleeding from the head, he. having evidently been thrown with great violence against the upright which divides the window at the back of the driver's seat. In the other car, Alderman George was the only person seriously hurt; he, too, evidently had been thrown against the woodwork, breaking his arm and injuring his head. Mr. Moorhouse was at once removed from his car and placed upon the cushions from it on the side of the road, and the alderman was made as comfortable as possible with what materials were at hand. Medical • aid was sought, and Dr. Cairns arrived on the spot ten minutes later, advising the removal of the injured to the hospital in Northampton, where Mr. Moorhouse was detained, and where he still lies. Assistance was rendered by Mr. A. H. Geldart-, Chairman 1 of -Brixworth District t Goiim&l, 1| 'Whdße : 'houso-' is"' close" to the .scene of the accident. - DENSITY OF THE FQ<& So thick was the fog at that time, 9.15, a.m. last Monday morning,, that "lookouts" had' to be. stationed some distance from where the two care stood in the middle of the road, to warn other motorI ists to proceed with caution. It was Well that this precaution was taken, for within a very few minutes no fewer tfcan five other motor-cars arrived on the spot. One of them belonged to Lord Annaly, and into this Alderman George and Mr. "Wallis were placed and • taken to the hospital, while Mr* 'Moorhouse was placed in a car belonging to Mr. Drage, of Chapel Brampton, and Tookey, who had a bad wound on one' side of his face, travelled with him. It is stated that when Mr. Moorhouee was being attended by Dr. Cairns he enquired if the accident would have 3, fatal termination, but the doctor was ablo to reassure him on that point. In a condition of semi-consciousAess the injured aviator thought he had met with a flying accident. During the mornrng reassuring mes< sages were telephoned through to Spratton Grange to Mr. and Mrs. Moorhouae, a,nd later in the day Mrs. Moorhouse went to see her son. / It seems likely that the charge against Mr. Moorhouse, for manslaughter, fixed to be heard at the coming Gloucester Assizes, may have to be postponed, as a cohseqitence of this week's accident.