DEATH CAUSED BY SATIRE

Evening Star, Issue 15477, 27 April 1914, Page 9

DEATH CAUSED BY SATIRE

Hadi it not been for the lively exchanges between a "cabby" and a butcher's boy, of the blend of satire and abuse fox which London vehicle-drivers are iremowneC a serious accident would not have occurred in Aldersgate, street the other day. The- victim was a young inotor<-fitter J who, when cycling, was overtaken by a runaway cab-horse and fatally injured. At the inquest held by Dr Waldo two witnesses said that a boy riding' a. butcher's mflat-carrymg tricycle " cheeked " the driver of a four-wheeled cab, and that, when the driver got down to " chastise" the lad, the horse, bolted- The cab collided' with a railway van and turned over, the horse breaking away and continuing its mad career alone. The butcher's b6y said his iriaebins accidentally touched the horse. The driver became anjxy, and the witness retorted: "Go on, old London!" (Laughter.) The coroner asked a policeman: "What does 'Old London' mean " and the officer replied: "Well four-wheelers are behind the times, sir. (Laughter.) They also call them 'old iron.'" (Laughter.) The cab-driver said the butcher's boy zigzagged in front of the horse, obstructing him along the street. He regretted that he felt annoyed and got down to "clout his ears." The witness added, with sadness and indignation combined, that it was a frequent thing for riders of box-tricycles in the City to be very obnoxious in their remarks to cabdrivers. " They knock against us and sauCß us, sir, and all that sort of thing," he said. A verdict of " Accidental death" was returned. '