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Show ADVENTUREKb CLUB . "Oft Jacob's Ladder' By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter. WELL, sir, here's one of those automobile stories Ie been looking for. By golly. I knew they were there waiting for me. Why, doggone it, there must be a million good auto adventures adven-tures in hiding. The field isn't even scratched yet. Half our adventuring today is done in automobiles, and I II bet most every one of you has a good gas-buggy yarn in mind that you just haven't gotten around to sending me yet. This automobile yarn is a lulu, too. It comes from George II. Smltn, and the trouble George got Into, well, gosh hang It. It's almost enough to make a man sell his car and put the dough into life Insurance Of course, George Smith can't very well sell that bus of his. In the first place he doesn't own it, and In the second he makes his living driving the doggone thing. George has been a truck driver since 1021 and he must be a pretty one. too, for he drove that old patrol wagon for 12 years without getting get-ting Into any really serious trouble. Here Begins the Story of George's Woes. One day. back In 1933 though, George did get Into trouble. But Tin not the man to tell you about that Let George do Itl "I was driving a big freight van," says George, "from Boston to Albany. I was getting along fine until Just before I got to Pittsfleld. Then, coming down a steep hill called Jacob's Ladder, the car teemed to get away from me. .. u v . "I had to grab the hand brake to prevent a smash, and what racket that brake made. I got her to the bottom of the hill all right though, and there I found I'd broken the brake shoe on the drive shaft "That left me nothing but the foot brake. Maybe I should have stopped right there and had it fixed. If I'd had any Idea of what was going go-ing to happpen. I darned sure would have. But lots of drivers got along with a hand brake so I stepped on the gas and took a chance." Only One More Big Hump to Get Over. George's truck rolled on through Pittsfleld and took the steep grade down Ibanon mountain without any trouble. He had left all the steep spots in his route behind him now-all except one, and he was coming to that a small mountain that drops down Into the town of Nassau, New York. George rolled over the top of that mountain and had Just started down the other side when suddenly his foot brake slipped and the van leaped forward. George grabbed for the shift lever tried to throw her back Into first It was no use. He tried the brake again, but this time the foot brake SMASH! The Side of the Van Hit a Tree. didn't work nt all. And all the time the truck was gathering speed us It raced down the steep Incline toward the bottom. It's Not the Hill It's What's Eelow! It was only four miles to the bottom of that hill, but, as George says, a lot can happen on u four-mile hill, especially when there's a town at the bottom. The truck, by this time, was going faster than any truck was ever built to go swaying from side to side and all but leaping from the road. George made a right turn and negotiated a left prayed that he wouldn't meet any traffic. Now houses began to flash by, warning warn-ing him that the town at the bottom of the hill was not far away. "All I had," says Oeorge, "was a horn and a prayer. I dropped down i grade steeper than the rest, with a sharp curve at the bottom. And at the speed I was making I knew I'd never make that turn." Crash of Truck Saves Driver's Life. Well, he didn't exactly. The van hit the curve and started to dip. George clutched the wheel and held his breath as both his left wheels raised off the ground. He braced himself for a fall and then SMASH the side of the van hit a tree, tearing half the body from the wheels. I5ut that crash had saved George's life. The force of the impact knocked the big truck back on all four wheels again and It caromed off down the last steep grade toward the town. Ahead of him red traffic lights turned green as he roared through the village of Nassau, his horn screeching a frantic warning. George steered the big van to the side of the road rubbed his tires against the curb in a vain effort to slow it down. Then he bit a short upgrade up-grade and came to a stop on the outskirts of the village. "My knees," George says, "were like rags and I had to sit down a while. Hooked back down the street and there was freight scattered along the curbing as far as I could see. I looked under the truck and found that the pinion gear was gone out of the rear end. "A town officer drove up and I was arrested. Reckless driving was the charge, but when the kindly old Judge heard my story he let me off with a $10 fi"e." WNU Service. |