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Show PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S NARROW I ESCAPE FROM INSTANT DEATH i f j I ITTSFIELD, Mass., Sept. 3. The I I president . of the United States I I escaped a tragic death' by only a i I few feet in a collision between his car-1 car-1 If ,-jage and an electric street car in this 5 I city today, while one of his most trust- ed guards, Secret Service Agent Wil- I liam Craig, was instantly killed, and i pavid J. Pratt of Dalton, who was i guiding the horses -attached to the ve- I I hii le, was must seriously injured. Pres-I Pres-I ident Roosevelt, himself, ' was badly f f hiiken up, but received only a slight ; I fa. ial bruise. j I Secretary Cortelyou, who occupied a j I j teat directly opposite the president in j j the carriage, sustained a minor wound j if in the back of the head, and Governor Crane, who sat beside the president, M scaped without a scratch. The carriage car-riage was demolished by the impact of the rapidly moving car, and the wheel horse on the side nearest the car was killed- The crew and rassengers of the V car escaped injury. ij.ii view oi Hundreds. . i The president and party were driving driv-ing from this city to Lennox, through j Smith street, one of the principal thor-? thor-? ouphfares of Pittsfield. which was lined with cheering people, and the catastro-' catastro-' Ihc happened in plain view of hundreds ! whose happiness at the advent of the nation's chief was sudderi turned to r grief. Thousands had poUred into the I I city in the early morning from the j j country to see and hear , the president, ! J and his address at the city park had i' been loudly cheered. At the conclusion i f the exercises he wished to make a brief call on Former Senator Dawes, I whose house in Elm street Is but a I short distance from the park. The president's carriage, on whjch he I had ridden in from Governor Crane's home at Dalton. was accordingly driven driv-en to the Dawes residence, and carriages car-riages containing a number of other gentlemen in the party followed. President Pres-ident Roosevelt's call was a short one, m and then the carriage returned to the ' ".y square. Journey to Lennox Begun. After a few minutes' delay the journey jour-ney to Lennox was begun. Meanwhile the mounted escort of police officers j and the carriages carrying the news- j paper correspondents who have accom- panied the president on his tour had started off ahead on the road to Len- nox, and were some distance in ad- ; I vance of the president's equipage, i Three or four other open carriages fell : in line immadiately behind the landau , in which the president rode with Sec- ! j retary Cortelyou and Governor Crane. Secret Service Agent Craig, who, throughout the New England trip has been almost constantly at the president's presi-dent's elbow, was on the driver's box beside Coachman Pratt. Out through South street is a broad highway. The tracks of the Pittsfield Electric Street railway are laid in the "? center of the road, with ample room ' f for the teams on each side, and scores f of vehicles of every description fol- r lowed along this road behind the pres- ! ; laeni s party. if The Fatal Car. ! Shortly after he left the park an elec- j trie car, which had been filled with j passengers at that point, started to- j ward Lennox well behind the proces- 1 sion. It passed all and was about a ! mile and a half out from the city at 1 the beginning of Howard hill, and was nearly up to the president's carriage, I which was traveling on the west side of the highway. j Just at the foot of Howard hill the I road bends a little and teams are com- f relied to cross the street railway tracks 1 to the east side. The ' railroad "then i continues alongside of the street instead in-stead of in the center. Just at this point the up-grade of the hill begins, and but a short distance beyond the crossing there is a narrow bridge span- 5 ning a small brook. The trolley car 1 approached the road crossing under a . good head of speed, with gong clang- f i ing, just as the driver of the president's carriage turned his leaders to cross the I Alarmed by Clanging Gong. I On each side of the chief executive's - L carriage rode two mounted troopers of J the local cavalry company, and the I horsemen on the left of the landau had turned on to the track with the trolley. ! car immediately behind them. Alarmed I bv the clanging gong, they both turned in their saddles and waved vigorously I to the motormarr to stop his car. Almost Al-most at the same instant Governor ! Crane, who quickly perceived the dan- I gr, rose to his feet and likewise mo- I tinned to the motorman. ij The latter, in great excitement, des perately tried to stop his car, but it I was too late. . It crashed into the car riage as a loud moan went up from the frenzied onlookers who thronged the roadside, and who, but a moment before, be-fore, were cheering the president. The horsemen managed to get the fright-ened fright-ened animals out of the way Just in j time, and the car struck the rear wheel I of the carriage on the left side and t roughed through to the front wheel of the vehicle, which received the full force of the blow. The carriage was upset, and one horse fell dead on the tracks. ' Craig Killed. I The powerful grays attached to the I vehicle started to run, and, dragged by them and pushed by the force of the car. the wrecked carriage was moved thirty or forty feet. Mr.-Craig foil from his seat immediately in front of the car. and it passed completely over his body. Driver Pratt, in .falling, struck the dead horse immediately, in front of him, and' rolled off clear.of the car, thus escaping a similar fate. President Pres-ident Roosevelt, Governor Crane and Secretary Cortelyou were thrown together to-gether in the bottom of the carriage. Almost instantly a score of men jumped to the heads of the frightened horses and stopped their further progress. prog-ress. Governor Crane was the first to get on his feet, escaping entirely unhurt. un-hurt. He turned immediately to the president, helped the latter to arise, nd together they assisted Secretary Cortelyou. The President's Injuries. IThe president's lip was cut, and blood as flowing from the wound. His iothing was much disarranged, and ne was seerely shaken up. Secretary "ortelyou had a severe wound in the back., of his head, fcom which blood ius flowing freely. The president quickly regained his composure, and the three soon after repaired to the residence of Mr. Charles H. Stevens, near the scene of the ac- i ient. Mr. Craig's body was crushed ard frightfully mangled. Driver Found Unconscious. Driver Pratt was found unconscious in the road. His shoulder was dislo-Cbted, dislo-Cbted, his ankle sprained and his face tadly cut and bruised. He was immediately imme-diately placed in a carriage and taken to the House of Mercy, where he "was attended by Drs. Flinn and Paddock, v ho. tonight, say that he will recover, ''raig's body was taken to the resi-dence resi-dence of Mrs. B. Stevens, adjoining the kouse which the president had occu-Med occu-Med with Governor Crane and Secretary Secre-tary Cortelyou. and later was removed to undertaking rooms in this city. But a few moments after the col- ' lision Drs Colt, Thomas and Woodruff 1 arrived and'attended the president, and, his secretary. Half an hour later the Partv appeared and. resumed the Jour-, Jour-, nPJ' to Lennox. An anxious crowd sur- 4 A rounded the house, and the' president ( topped long enough to assure the peo- I'le that he was not injured in the least, I f and to express his grief at the death of Agent Craig. ' ' 1 Chief Nicholson of the Pittsfield po- Hce and Daniel Ryan, an officer of the New York City department, who is on his vacation in this city, were driving about 100 yards ahead of the president's carriage, and were among the first to reach his side after the collision. They immediately placed under arrest the motorman, Euclid Madden, and Conductor Con-ductor James Kelly, and they were later taken to headquarters in tms city. Governor Crane, in relating his experience, ex-perience, said that he heard the gong of the approaching car in ample time, and he immediately arose and warned the motorman to stop. He says the man paid r.o attention to his signal or those of the troopers alongside, and the car continued until it struck the carriage with great force. No one on the car seems to be able to explain how the accident happened. Even the motorman and persons on the front seat are apparently unable to tell why it was not avoided. It is asserted as-serted that Driver Pratt turned to cross the track sooner than ordinarily teams make the turn, but this he was forced to do because of the fact that his team of four horses required more room, and that the troopers on the right of the carriage also needed space to get through. Charged With Manslaughter." Motorman Madden and Conductor Kelly remained in the station from 10 o'clock this morning, when they were then under arrest, until 6:30 this evening, even-ing, when ball was furnished. The charges against them are manslaughter. manslaught-er. Bail for the motorman of $5,000 was furnished by ex-Alderman M. J. Madden, his brother, and Patrick H. Dolan, manager of the Pittsfield Street Railway company. Kelly was bailed in the sum of $2,500 by Mr. Dolan. Kelly is 25 years old, single and has been employed on the road for three years. Motorman Madden is 32 years old and has a wife and five children. Madden and Kelly probably will be arraigned- in court tomorrow on the chaige of manslaughter. It is likely that the case will be continued for a week or more, and in the meantime an inquest will be arranged. The defense probably will present.no evidence, and the men. will probably be held for the grand jury. Brothers of the Victim Arrive. George and Hugh Craig of Holyoke, Mass., brothers of William Craig, the victim of the accident, arrived here tonight to-night and are in consultation with the authorities. It has been decided to take the body to Chicago, Craig's home, for interment. In arranging the programme for the day. Mayor Engler had requested all business to be suspended in this city during the time the president was here, also he had made special requests re-quests of the Pittsfield street railway that it suspend business on North street during the exercises at the park and while the president was driving to that point. He also asked the management man-agement of both sfreet railway companies com-panies in the city to be especially careful care-ful as to the running of cars on all streets through which the procession would pass. ' Story of Eye-witness. Frederick S. Clark, who was an eyewitness eye-witness of the accident, says that he had gone to the top of the Howard hill for the purpose of securing a photograph photo-graph of the president in his carriage. He was near the "Howard House, he says, when he kw the party approaching.- He saw them as they turned from the west to the east just before they reached the culverts. The car he saw came at a fast rate of speed, but some distance, behind. He says he saw that in a moment an accident must occur. In his opinion the car was about 100 feet to the rear when the . leading horses were turned onto the track to cross to the other side of the road. He heard considerable yelling just before the crash, and he be-tves it came from the mounted men. He saw the car strike the rear wheel of the president's presi-dent's carriage on the left side, plowing plow-ing it along and striking the front wheel on the same side, and then the wheel horse on the left side, upsetting the vehicle and throwing the driver and officer to the ground. Mr. Clark says that it was very dusty at that point. He says he saw the president thrown out on the left side and saw the governor assist him to his feet. As the president rose, Mr. Clark ays, he saw him walk to where the motor-man motor-man was standing after leaving the car and speak to him. Motorman Maddep's car had motors of sixty horse-power. The car is fitted with air brakes. He says that as he passed over the railroad bridge about 350 or 400 feet from the scene of the accident ac-cident he shut off power and put on the brakes, the car being on a down grade. He says there were teams on both sides of the track, and he was exerting every care to avoid an accident. In his opinion the car was running over eight miles an hour. He received no warning warn-ing to stop and did not see the mounted mount-ed men and Governor Crane wave their hands. According to Madden's story, there was plenty of room for the president's presi-dent's carriage to have passed on the west of the trolley track, and he would have plenty of time after he passed .the president's carriage before the turn was made to the east side, of the road. He said that the leading horses were turned short across the track. He could not tell just hcrw the car struck the carriage, but-he says he reversed the power and went for the brake just as quickly as possible when he saw the horses turn on the track. He said it was dusty and with difficulty he saw what was going on. The story of James Kelly, the conductor, con-ductor, is much the same as that of Madden.. He said he saw no warning given. " . ' HAS A FEW BRUISES. The President at Oyster Bay For a Short Rest. Oyster Bay, N. Y., Sept. 3. President Roosevelt returned at 8:30 o'clock tonight, to-night, but little the worse for his thrilling experience. His right cheek is swollen, there is a black bruise under un-der his right eye, and his mouth Is slightly swollen. Otherwise he shows no effects of the accident. He will go south the latter part of the; week, ac-r ac-r cording to' the original schedule, and I will be accompanied by Secretary Cortelyou, Cor-telyou, who, considerably shaken up. expects that his injuries will not incapacitate inca-pacitate him. Mr. Cortelyou s nose is I badly bruised; there is a lump on the I back of his head, and bruises behind : his left ear and one on his body. I Mrs. Roosevelt had arranged in advance ad-vance to meet the president at Bridge-l Bridge-l port, and this she did, going there on the Sylph, accompanied by two of the children and Assistant Secretary Loeb. When Mrs. Roosevelt learned of the accident she telegraphed Mrs. Cortelyou, Cortel-you, who was at Hempstead, to come to Sagamore Hill and meet Mr. Cortel-. you. This she did, and Mr. and Mrs. Cortelyou dined with the president and Mrs. Roosevelt, leaving on a late train for their summer home at Hempstead. HIGHLY EULOGISTIC. London Press Comment Called Out by the Accident. . . London, Sept. 3. The escape of Pres-; ident -Roosevelt has universally called out in the London dallies congratulatory and eulogistic editorials and expressions expres-sions of England's thankfulness that the president .was spared to his coun-; try. : - - - ' The Paily Telegraph says: "President Roosevelt has taken in his time many risks, but he never eheated death by a narrower margin. A singularly dramatic dra-matic moment, such as this occurrence, will confirm among the mass of the American people the feeling that Roosevelt is, In the best sense, 'their man of destiny.' " This occasion is seized as an opportunity oppor-tunity for the publication of general reviews of the president's personality and the crucial political period facing the United States. The Dally Telegraph, Tele-graph, the Standard and the Daily Chronicle all rank President Roosevelt with Emperor William as the world's two most interesting and picturesque figures. The Chronicle says: "In range. President Pres-ident Roosevelt is at least Emperor William's equal, and in solidarity and depth he probably excels the German emperor. His life is one that the world, no les3 than America, could ill afford to lose. Perhaps at no time, except during the civil war, has the United States been in greater heed of a statesman with the character and capacity ca-pacity which PresiCJwit Roosevelt possesses, pos-sesses, than she is today." |
