HIT-AND-RUN STORY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 66, 17 February 1931, Page 7

HIT-AND-RUN STORY

DRIVE WITH MUSSOLINI.

PASSENGER’S NARRATIVE,

NOT DISCREDITABLE TO DUCE.

(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) Received February 17, 12.25 p.m. ' NEW YORK, Feb. IG. In a statement to-day at Los Angeles, Mr Cornelius Vanderbilt, junr., described the alleged story of the hit-and-run automobile incident, saying there was nothing at all discreditable to Signor Mussolini. He added: “I told the story not as an indictment but merely as an interesting dramatic episode in the life of a great man.” Mr Vanderbilt said the car driven by Signor Mussolini ran over a child during a military inspection. He was driving with the Premier at his invitation. Air Vanderbilt did not know whether the child was hurt badly; “but I recognised at the time that every precaution had been taken for the safety of onlookers. Signor Mussolini was not to blame. Furthermore, I realised that to stop would have served no purpose. Driving on was not cowardly or an endeavour to avoid detection. Had Signor Mussolini stopped at the time, which was of possible danger to himself (anti-Fas-cists were believed to have been in the crowd) it might have precipitated a riot, or even a great tragedy.”