AWFUL AUTO. ACCIDENT.

NZ Truth, Issue 66, 22 September 1906, Page 8

AWFUL AUTO. ACCIDENT.

CRAZED CHAUFFEUR RUSHES SELF AND PASSENC^RS TO DOOM. Lady Roasted to a Cinder Under Blazing Motor-car. Horrible End of a Moo Wight Frolic.

The: following account of a fearful automobile accident brought about by the madness of a fool motor hog, at Pasadena, a lovely town of fertile liojyer, California, is taken from tbe Lps Angeles "Daily Times." It will' serve to show what may happen to unfortunate passengers who are placed at the mercy of a speed-fiend at the , controlling :■ wheel of the modern , mile-eaten ;. As : a result of an unsane desire for speed _on the ''part of a chauffeur, who is said to have been" intoxicated to a degree -that .made him reckless, the very heart' of Pa&adeha's l finest residence section '.Was the scene of a tragedy early -yeStei^y/ Moraing. MRS 'JAMES OODORL. Dying : ' 'JACK' ! HENDERSON, chauffeur.. , Injured : JAMES A. CODORI. " MRS ELLA MAY NORRIS, C. WHITE. .,. ; . ..:. It will not be m an earthly court' that "Jack" Henderson, the chauffeur, answers for the taking of a woman's- life. While Mrs Codori "was beine roasted to death under -the overturned automobile, Henderson received fatal v burns. Yesterday., "afternoon Dr. Fisfce, his physician, stated that the reckless young auto driver had but a few hours to live. Mrs , . Codori's body. was burned so hideously that her husband was not allowed to see the charred remains at the Pasadena undertaking parlors yesterday. The details brought out since the accident make it more horrible even than the first reports denoted. AUTO I BLOWS UP. A few minutes before 2 o'clockiyesfcerday morning people who live on Colorado-street, Pasadena., heard the auto rush by throught the night-<L hum and a roar. It. was going at such a -frightful rate of speed thaifc ! it was nothing niore than a streak of liftht and a rdsb of wind. Patrolman Schultz. on Coloradostreet, tried to see the number as it' flew past. While -he peered after it, following on a ; bicycle, the car ducked over the brink of Orann-e Grove- | avenue hill. Just as it went out of sight, there was. a loud explosion and flames shotlii'irli m the air. In that ma^s,,,pf fire Mrs Codori perished 'and Hfenderson received his death ap-onv. A r.ifjjit _ watchman— E. ;S, Blake— Oto ot4Qg9 Utav« ftVgnus, saw tbe / «

wild-going auto tear up Coloradostreet and turn turtle m trying to round the corner. He heard the crack of the exploding tire and saw the machine burst into flame. MAN'S GARMENT BLAZING. Out of the wreck staggered a man whose clothes were blazing. With the crazed idea of runnim? away from tbe flames, he was headed toward a field of barley. Blake stopped him with a blow of his fist whioh knocked him •down. Tearing off his own coat, the watchman smothered the flames m the man's clothing. The moaning, agonized wreck of* humanity whom he laid on the sidewalk was Henderson, the chauffeur. Blake then rushed back to the burning automobile. A man, raving and frantic, who afterwards proved to be Codori, was trying to rush into the flames, screamine madly .for his wife, who was roasting to death. Blake seized Codori by the clothing and flung him back. As he did so, Codori tried to draw a, revolver and end his own life. The night watch.man knocked his hand from the pistol with one crushing blow. FIRE ENGINES ARRIVE. Mrs Norris and White, who had been m the tonneau with Mr Codori, were dazed and could with difficulty be kept from stumbling into "■ the flames. At first Blake handled them alone. Then neighboring houses began pouring their half-dressed people m bath robes with excited eyes and tousled hair. Other officers began arriving. A chemical engine dashed up the hill and extinguished the flames. A steam fire encine followed soon after. Grappling hooks were applied to the overturned machine. When the twisted wreck was righted, Mrs Codori 's body was discovered. She was lyine. flat on her face with arms outstretched. The fingers of one hand were weighted with handsome rings. These finders had been burned off to the edge of the rinps. Although some of tlie bystanders claim to have heard Mrs Codori crying out m agony and calling to her husband, it seems more probable that sbe was instantly killed— or stunned. This will always be a matter of doubt, however. BEGS FOR CHLOROFORM. While the auto was beine; righted and the body of Mrs Codorj dragged put, Henderson lav on the sidewalk Bhrieking with pain.

Suffering terrible agonies, be begged for chloroform ; for some one to take his clothes oft Several times he said : "I .don't see how it happened ; I was going slow around the corner. I dom't see how it happened." The position m which the wrecked, auto was found did not bear out his' statement. So mad was the speed that the car not only turned clear over, but whirled completely around m its own tracks. The street at the coiner of Colorado and Orange- Grove, avenue is scarred and cut. with ihe' marks of the death struggle of the ill-fated machine. , The marks show how Henderson tried to avoid smashing into the cupb as he swept round the wide, corner— and turned too short. The tire evidently blew up as the machine skidded. HURLS BLAZING FLUID. It is believed that the overturning of the car caused tlie sparking apparatus to set fire to the gasoline tank, which exploded with a heavy detona-' tion, throwing the blazing fluid allover the auto and its passengers. The party had been to Arcadia. White, at least, had been drinking. They were m what was practically a stolen automobile. It was a Buick touring car belonging to M. J. Nolan, who had just purohased it. Mr Nolan had never been m the car. He had left it at 1 the garage with orders that no one be allowed to take it without his permission. In some way Henderson borrowed it. Earlier m the day he had taken two other women for a ride. In the evening he took out. the party that met disaster. After the accident the injured were taken to the Norton residence m Pasadena and later to ttie Pasadena jE-lospital. Mrs Codori's body was oarricd to the undertaking parlors of; Turner and Stevens. At dawn yesterday morning Mr' Co-, dori, Mrs Norris and young White came to the city, m a hack. During the day Codori returned -> to = Pasadena and wanted to see tlie body of his wife, but the undertakers spared him this horror. INQUEST WILL BE HELD. An inquest will be held at 10 o'clock this morning at the undertaking parlors. "The automobile came up the hill like a, bat out of hell." said E. S. Blake, who stood within fifty feet of the car' when it turned over. Blake is a niglitwatchiiian employed hy the W. W. Freeman detective agency, and his beat is along the fashionable section of Orange Grove avenue. "At 1.55 o'clock I was just coming to the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado when the car swung around the corner with a roar," said Blake. "I knew something terrible was goinp to happen. I felt it. I knew he couldn't get around that corner. "The man may have tried to slow ud. He went m a wide circle far over toward the south curb of Orange Grove avenue ; then came the crack of the. bursted tire and crash of the overturned car. TELLS OF THE HORROR. "I was only fifty feet away," continued Blake. "It was horrible beyond imagination. I saw Henderson come out of the wreck. The lower part of his body was on fire and he was running for the barley. I knocked him down with my fist and ruined my coat trying to beat out the flames. "After I laid him on the sidewalk, I saw this other man— the husband of the dead woman— trying to pet back into the flames. He was calling to her and yelling. I knocked him back. I saw him reach toward his back pocket for a pistol, and I' knocked his hand away. "It is a mistake to say the woman under the automolnle cried out for help. • She never made a sound. It is mv belief, tbat she fainted when the car went over. I have seen ueopletbat had been burned to death •but I never saw one stretched out like she was; they were always drawn up and contorted. "The other woman and Mr White seemed to be confused, and I had to drag them away from the flames. "When the corpse of Mrs Codori was taken out, she was not much burned about the upper part of the body. but her lower limbs were charred to a cinder." CAPTAIN INTERVIEWED. Fire Chief Clifford and Capt. Fancher of the Pasadena chemical engine arrived soon after the accident, with their crew. "When we got there," said Capt. Fancher, "the flames were roaring twenty feet into the air. The chauffeur, Henderson, was lying on the sidewalk rolled up m a "blanket. He seemed to be m frightful pain. He was moaning and pleading for chloroform. He said- that he didn't see how it happened ; he was not running, fast around the corner. "I didn't hear the woman under the automobile screaming. At any rate, she died iri the first burst, of flames. She was right under the gasoline tank. "We put out the fire easily, but the auto was simply a wreck. It had wooden wheels, and they were, of course, entirely destroyed. "Someone, turned m a second alarm and the engine from Villa-street came down. The fire was neatly out by that time. They fastened on grappling hooks, and the automohile was pulled over right-side up, and the body of the dead woman was carried away. TRIED TO MISS CURB. "We examined the ground about the accident," continued Capt. Fan- ; cher. "The cuts m the ground showed where Henderson had seen his danger of hitting the curb, and had tried to turn, "We found the car not only turned over, but completely reversed. It had turned back m its own tracks ; headed almost m the direction from which .it had come. This gives an idea of the rate of speed at which it must have been travelling." One of the policeman who arrived soon after the accident, says that the throttle was wide open, and that the spark was advanced— showing that the auto was going at its highest limit of speed. No absolute confirmation of this fact could be had yesterday. POLICEMAN FOLLOWS AUTO. Police Officer Schulta of Pasadena lias made a report to the Chief of Police on the accident^

Sehultz says that he was walking, along his beat on Colorado-street, when the auto went by r almost*' shrieking with the velocity withwhich it cleaved the air. Remarking to some 6ne that he.intended to find out the number of 'the " auto, Schultz mounted his bicycle and rode rapidly, along Colorado-street, inthe wake of the car. He had gone but a few. yards when, the auto snuffed out of sight over tht» crest of the hill, the explosion and the burst of flame following immedi- ! ately. Schultz rode- up, and was one' of the first to "arrive at the scene. WRECK VICTIM TALKS. Mrs Ella- May Norris, who was injured m the wreck, is an artist of Pueblo, Colo. She has been m Los* Angeles but a short time and had known Mrs" Codori little more than a week. When seen at No. 321 South Grand avenue, where she man-' ages an apartment house, she appeared cool -and collected. "I think that the truth, should be " told about a terrible accident of this kind," she said. "I hate the notoriety, but tragedies are sometimes exaggerated and the blame ' shouldered .* on to somebody. It was .simply fate, tliat.it happened and the Icindness ,of providence that we were.- riot all killed. I do not blame Jack Henderson, and I am positive that lie was perfectly sober. Mr .Codori ; aieVer drinks and young White refused to imbibe liquor. "I remember going around the.,curve and at just that point there was anexplosion of the right rear tire, I" knew what that sound meant, for Vr have often heard those tires explode, along tlie street. There were several smaller reports, the machine seemed to sink and then, m a flash, it was over. This was only the third time that I had ridden m an automobile and I am probably a poor judge of speed, but it did not seeiii to me 'that we were going so terribly fast. FLAMES DART ABOUT. "I must have been stunned, for the (first thing I recollect after that aw-' ful sinking and upheaval of the car is "that Mrv Codori was lying prostrate beneath me and that 'flames were darting about us. I screamed and-'thum-ped him on the head, good and hard, several times and that seemed to bring hinix to his senses. I don't know how we got out. I couldn't see. anything but tangled rods, crumpled leather and fire about me. White got his knife out pf his pocket and cut a hole through the canvas or something and . crawled out. I was going to follow but was pulled out through the top supports by Mr 'Codori. All' three of us were stunned and did nothing but run ahout the burning wreck. . "Mr Codori was almost insane and kept saying over and over again, 'My God ! My God ! Mv wife is burning up.' He ran into the flames and out again and held his hands over his head. I went as close to the machine as the fire would allow me and tried to see Mrs Codori, but the sickening odor of burning hair and flesh drove me away. I could not see her and I never heard her utter a sound after the machine skidded. SKIN PEELED OFF. "Henderson was over on the curb, moaning arid crying, and I went over to him. He begged me to take off his shoes and trousers, both of which were smoking. Some one had thrown a coat about his legs and put out the fire. His shoe lacings were all burned off and the shoes almost fell to pieces m my hands. When I tried to remove his pants I could only pick tliem off m pieces and the skin came with every piece I pulled off- ..I could not stand it, but he begged me 'to pull off some more pieces. "Then a big woman who said she was a nurse led me away to a house near by and they put me on a couoh. Later 'we were all taken to tlie Piasadena Hospital, but there was no room for air Codori and me there, and after our wounds were dressed, ,we. drove to Los Angeles. HOW PARTY WAS SEATED. "I was called up by telephone, and asked to be one of the party, to go out for a little spin," continued Mrs Norris. "I was not dressed for a long ride and thought we were just going around __ few blocks, hut once m the machine we went on and on. The ground flew beneath us so~ fast that I did not realise how time was passing. The boys insisted upon goin^ out to' Arcadia. I was seated m .the tonneau with Mr Codori on my right and the young fellow on my left. Mrs Codori wanted to ride m front with the chauffeur, §o her husband allowed her to." It was said at the apartment house where Mrs Norris lives that when she reached home yesterday morning, her mind was affected to such an extent that she could • give no coherent account of the accident. HEARTRENDING NEWS. " The home coming of James A'. Codori was heartrending. He drove from Pasadena m the early dawn and reached the little vine-covered house of his father-in-law, Robert Krause, at No. 1019 West Fourth-street, about 6 o'clock. All night the sister, Pauline Krause, and the father of Mrs Codori had awaited m anxious unrest the arrival of the . automobile party. Fear was on their faces as they rushto the door at the sound of wheels. Up the steps and along the garden path walked the broken widower. As Pauline darted to meet him she saw his bruised and swollen forehead and scorched clothing. "What has happened ? Where is sister ? Are you much hurt ? Is she killed ? Tell me ! tell me ! vfailed the frightened girl. A moment later a Times route carrier sertt a paper flying up to the porch steps, containing the terrible story which, the heart-broken man could not tell. CODORI 'S STORY. Codori had regained his composure when interviwed last night. "It was just about as you had it m the paper this morning, only the accident did not occur m our home town, but abroad," he said. "I want it quite understood that I do not blame any- , body for this little thing, and if the chauffeur was a little careless, it was not m any way due to drinking. It was purely an accident. Henderson told us that he had been given permission to use the automobile and invited us to take a little spin with Mm.. •

*% am not __ judge ot speed,"- Co-* dori went on, "but White has been 1 with a garage for a long.' time and swears that the machinewas not going more than twen.ty-£wo, miles an hour as .we rounded" the^ curve." « Codori' is an .auctioneer by traded •but has recently been operating amoving picture show at 336 Spring-street. He has lived m this* city, for- eighteen years, is an Elk and. has* many friends. He was married eight years ago. The only other relatives surviving. Mrs Codori are the ( father, sister and a brother, August' [Krause, who 'is living. '-in Michigan.; . HOLD FUNERAi; TO-DAY. The funeral of Mrs Codori will be-, held at the chapel of the Rosedale ; Cemetery this afternoon at ' 4 o'clock. It is probable that Henderson will be exonerated at the inquest over.* the body of Mrs Codori, which is 'to.-! be held at Pasadena this morning. Had he escaped unscathed the result, might have been different and if he lives he, may have a damage suit on his hands at the complaint of the* ,owner-of the automobile, and be arrested for violating the speed ■ordinance of Pasadena. Among those sunpoenaed to testify at tlie inquest are J. A. Codori, C. Wbite, Mrs OE. M. Norris, Night Watchman E.S. Blake * and Patrolm an Shultz. CLEAR' WRECKAGE^A WAY;, The fatal corner of Orange Grove^ i and Colorado, held a curious throng .all morning yesterday ; church-goers ; ' forgetting the hour of service. as theyy assembled about the spot where the'v wreckage lay. A mass of tangled ■■ pipes, rods, clutches and steel.framework seemed to writhe on the scorch--ed and blackened ground. Tlie heap could hardly be recognised!; as the remains of a big throbbing i touring car. The barren branches of a, pepper tree and the burned leaves of a giant palm stood there, mute evidence of the height and . consuming power of the flames. The ruin was terrible to look upon, and action was taken to clear the debsis away as soon as possible.