Echo Daily Newsletter 8
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Flings Man 20 Feet In Wild Auto Ride
CHAUFFEUR FOR DETECTIVE BURNS TEARS UP FIFTH AVE, SPREADING CONSTERNATION
From
The New York times, 25th June 1913
NEW YORK — John H. Camp, chauffeur for Willlam J. Burns, the detective, went on a wild automobile ride up Fifth Avenue early last evening. As a result one man was mortally hurt. Another was taken to the hospital suffering from a fracture of the right arm and dangerous internal injuries.
Camp was finally arrested by Patrolman Bernard Kane of the East 104th Street Station after the automobile, a big black touring car, had been disabled by a collision with a milk wagon. He fought desperately with Kane, breaking two of the policeman's fingers, and also blackened the eye of Isador Prezint of 302 East 101st Street, who went to Kane's aid.
In the fight Camp was cut on the forehead and chin. He was treated at the police station by Dr. Boyd of the Harlem Hospital. He said that he had been celebrating his fortieth birthday. and admitted that he had drunk too freely of Hungarian wine.
Charges of felonious assault and intoxication were made against him. He will be arraigned this morning in the Harlem Court.
Where Camp started on his wild ride the police were unable to ascertain, but Patrolman Kane saw the automobile flash by him on the west side of the avenue at Ninety-sixth Street at the rate of more than thirty mlles an hour.
A moment later the car struck Frank Agramompe, manager of the George Meyer Carriage Company of East Sixty-fourth Street, who had started to cross from the west side at Ninety-eighth street. Spectators said that Agramompe was flung twenty feet in the air. At Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was taken, it was said that he had sustained a fracture of the skull and internal injuries and would die.
Camp didn't stop to see what had happened, and at Ninety-ninth Street ran into a milk wagon driven by Samuel Okum of 52 East 103d Street. who was proceeding slowly downtown on his right of way, The wagon was upset and the milk bottles were sent flying over the street. Okum was thrown out. His head hit the pavement and he was made unconscious. He was taken to Mount Sinai hospital, his right arm hanging loose. His condition is considered dangerous because of internal injuries.
The automobile was disabled in the collision. Camp jumped from his seat and was at work on the engine when Patrolman Kane arrested him.
Camp, a big, strapping fellow, turned on the policeman. Kane struck at him with one hand and with the other rapped on the pavement with his club for assistance. A crowd of men quickly collected, but Prezint was the only one to offer assistance. He was felled by a blow and his eye was blackened.
Kane, with two of the fingers of his right hand broken, was continuing his struggle with the chauffeur, when Patrolman Rowley came to his assistance. They took Camp to the East 104th Street Station.
According to the police, Camp, after he had quieted down, admitted that intoxicating liquors were responsible for his actions. He said that he had devoted several hours to celebration of his birthday.
The fact that Camp dld not injure others was considered a remarkable feature of his wild ride, as he chose the side of the thoroughfare which by the traffic rules is reserved for down town traffic. Many women and children who were crossing the avenue had narrow escapes as the automobile leaped unexpectedly upon them.