E. D. Seymour wrecked his car on Asylum Avenue below Huntington Street

09/02/1904 |

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E. D. Seymour crashed his car on the front lawn of a house directly across Asylum Avenue from Huntington Street at about 8:00 PM.

More details

E. D. Seymour was “running his big locomobile” southbound on Huntington Street, “bowl[ing] along at a good rate of speed”.
He had two passengers, a man and a woman, in his car with him.
As he approached the intersection with Asylum Avenue, the “electric light at the head of the street” allowed him to see that there were no cars approaching in either direction on Asylum Avenue.
The accident

As he “reached the car tracks” he quickly saw that there was a curb and gutter in front of him.
He cut the power to his vehicle and “put on the breaks”.
The street, however, was “slippery from the street sprinkler,” and he could not stop.
He was going too fast to make a sharp turn, so he steered to avoid “a tree close to the sidewalk.”
The vehicle “bumped over the curb and plowed along the lawn in front of the house opposite Huntington street.”

The damage

Seymour and the two passengers were jostled but not injured
The front axles were bent under
One tire had burst

The aftermath

Seymour telephoned the Palace Automobile Station to get a tow.
A “big auto” with “ropes” arrived from the station, but Seymour’s car couldn’t be towed due to the damage to the axles.
Policeman Powers arrived on the scene, and he corralled some men to help push the vehicle farther off of the sidewalk so that it wouldn’t impede passing pedestrians.

And then there's this

Seymour was on his way to Windsor when the accident occurred.
He was from New Hartford, but he “frequently comes to [Hartford] with his machine.”
Apparently, he mistakenly believed he was on Sigourney Street, which passes through Asylum Avenue.

Why this is important

The report on the accident gives a glimpse of accommodations for automobiles and pedestrians at this point in time.

Trust but verify

The article was published prior to the vehicle’s planned removal from the scene.
The article also doesn’t identify the two passengers in the vehicle or give the first name of the police officer who arrived on the scene.

The future foretold

The damaged vehicle will be loaded onto a truck tomorrow morning and taken to a repair shop.

Caught my eye

“It was fortunate for Mr. Seymour and his friends that there is a deep yard opposite Huntington street instead of a brick house close to the flag walk.”

Source

Unattributed. “Auto wrecked on a lawn,” Hartford Courant, September 3, 1904, page 13.

History

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