ISLE OF THANET GAZETTE NOVEMBER 22nd 1930
Fifty mile per hour car that did not stop!
A verdict of ‘Manslaughter against some person unknown’ was returned by a jury at an inquest at Ramsgate Police Station yesterday (Thursday) on John Brockman, a seventy-two year-old farm worker, of 10, Fitsroy-avenue, Margate-road, Ramsgate, who died on Tuesday as the result of injuries received by being knocked down by a car on Saturday night, November 8th.
The deceased met with an accident when crossing the road by the Hare and Hounds public house, Margate-road, after having alighted from a bus, and witnesses described to the Coroner (Dr. F.W. Hardman) how a saloon car, travelling very fast on its extreme off-side of the road, struck the deceased, carried him a short distance along the road on the wing, and proceeded on its journey without stopping. No one was able to take the number of the car, and efforts by the police to trace it have been unsuccessful. After the accident some broken glass and a metal cover of a ventilator were found on the road, which, it was believed, had dropped from the car.
Mr. P.A. Kelsey was chosen foreman of the jury.
John Brockman, a stoker, of 16 Montefiore Cottages, Ramsgate, son of the deceased, gave evidence of identification, and said his father had been working on the land, but was previously a general labourer. Witnesses saw him at work on Friday, November 7th, when he was in good health. His sight and hearing were good. On Sunday morning witness received a communication that his father had been knocked down, and went to see him at the hospital. He was then only partially conscious. He visited him daily until his death on Tuesday evening.
The Coroner: During that time was your father ever fully conscious?
Witness: No sir.
Were you able to put any questions to him? —None whatever.
Did he make any statement about his accident? —Only rambling statements.
Robert Louis Wood, of 54, Coleman crescent, Ramsgate, employed as a foreman on the sewerage works at Birchington, said he met the deceased by appointment at the Market-place, Ramsgate, about 8:30pm on Saturday, November 8th, and they had two pints of bitter each. At 9:10pm they went to the Harbour and boarded and omnibus to go to the Hare and Hounds. It was about 9:25pm when they reached there, and witness alighted first. After waiting for the deceased to get off the bus, he walked across the road towards the Hare and Hounds a pace or two in front of him. He noticed a motor car coming on the right from the direction of Ramsgate, and called to the deceased to be quick. The car seemed to be coming straight at them, and witness jumped forward out of its way, but it just touched his left heel. At the same time he heard a crash, and looked round for Mr. Brockman, but could not see him. He found him a little further up the road past the Hare and Hounds, lying in a heap against the kerb. The car, which was then almost out of sight, had come at a very great rate—faster than the average car travelling on the road. The only light was from a street lamp and the Hare and the Hounds, and witness could not see what the car was like, but it appeared to be of a large type. It did not have very brilliant headlights, and did not give any warning of its approach.
The Coroner: Do you think there was any slackening of speed as it approached you before the accident? Witness: No sir.
Was there any slackening of speed after the accident? —He may have attempted to put his brakes on, but I cannot say for sure.
When you saw the car disappearing, did you think it was going about the same speed as before the accident, or slower or faster? —I should say it could not go much faster.
In further reply to the Coroner, witness said he did not see any other traffic about at the time. The road was very wide at that point, and the bus had moved off on its proper side of the road when the accident happened. Witness thought it was a closed car, but he could not say whether there was one or more persons in it. When he went to the spot the next morning he saw a skid mark on the road, which he thought was made by the off-side wheel of the car and suggested that the driver had to swerve to avoid hitting the brick wall of the Hare and Hounds. He was certain the mark was made by that car, because traffic did not drive so close to the public house, which was set back from the road. As the car approached the Hare and Hounds from Ramsgate it could only have been two or three feet from its off-side kerb. The road was so wide that the driver need not have gone off-side of the road to pass the bus. Deceased was unconscious when witness reached him, and was taken to the hospital in the ambulance.
Frederick Allen, a bus conductor, of 73, Norman-road, St. Peter’s, said he came out of a small shop on the corner of Newington-road and Margate-road about 9:25pm, and crossed to the other side with his wife. He saw a large dark car approaching from Ramsgate at about fifty miles per hour, and noticed that it was only about 3ft from its off-side kerb. He had to run to het out of its way, and pull his wife out of the way. On turning round he saw the car strike the deceased, and carry him along on the off-side front wing until he dropped off. The car maintained the same speed throughout. Witness found the deceased lying near the kerb past the Hare and Hounds, and rendered what assistance he could
In reply to the Coroner, witness said he thought the driver must have known of the accident. There was no driving reason why the car should have gone to the off-side of the road. There was a man at the wheel, but he did not sound any hooter.
Horace Percy Watford, of 9, Cannonbury-road, Ramsgate, the driver of the bus on which the deceased travelled , said that when about thirty yards past the corner, he heard a noise which sounded like the slamming of a door, and thought it was someone who had come out of the public house. When a little further up the road near Thanet Mill , a medium sized dark saloon car passed him at thirty-five to forty miles per hour, went to its proper side and was soon out of sight. There was nothing to indicate to witness that there had been an accident.
Louis Ford, employed as a gardener at the Haine Hospital, and living in a cottage in the hospital grounds, stated that about 9:30pm on November 8th he was standing at the Westwood bridge corner of Nash Court-road, when he saw a motor car stop at the Star Corner, Margate-road. The driver spoke to a man and woman who were walking in the road, and then turned to the left in the direction of Haine village, passing witness on the bridge. The car had only two small lights on the front. It was about a six-cylinder car, of dark blue colour, and from the rear light witness could see that the number plate was almost new, but he could not read the number. The only person in the car was the driver. He thought the man and woman who spoke to the driver were persons who lived near the Star Inn, whose names he did not know, but he was not certain. It seemed as though the driver stopped to ask the way.
John Edward Bootes, of 2, Prince’s-avenue, Newington, Ramsgate, employed at Rose Farm, Haine, said he was standing by the Star Inn about 9:30p.m. waiting for a bus, when he saw a motor car coming from the direction of Ramsgate and turn into Haine-road. The bus came a minute or two later.
P.C. Thompson gave evidence that at 9:25pm on November 8th he was off duty in the Hare and Hounds, when he heard a car whizz by and then a thud. He rushed outside and saw deceased lying against the kerb by the Hare and Hounds garden. Someone said,’ There goes the car,’ and he just saw the tail of it near the omnibus garage. Whilst the deceased was being attended to he telephoned to the Margate police to inform them of the car, and then telephoned for the ambulance. Then he went to the spot again and found some pieces of broken glass, and also a piece of metal, which he had since ascertained was part of a ventilator on the side of a car, near the bonnet. Inquiries had been made to trace the man and woman to whom the driver of the car spoke at the Star cross-roads, but they could not be found. They were not the persons whom the witness Ford thought they were.
Dr. T.C.Outred, house surgeon at Ramsgate General Hospital, said when the deceased was admitted he was suffering from fractures of the left arm and right leg, laceration of both hands, abrasions on his back, and probably a fracture of the skull. He was unconscious, and never regained full consciousness, or made any statement as to the accident. He died as a result of his injuries on Tuesday.
Addressing the jury, the Coroner said the evidence would probably give them a strong impression that the accident was due to a motor car being driven at a very high speed, and with little or no regard for the safety of persons on the road. One of the outstanding features of the case was that the motorist must, have been aware that an accident of serious nature had occurred, yet he drove on without stopping or making any inquiries. If the jury came to the conclusion that the circumstances showed such a culpable degree of negligence and recklessness on the part of the motorist as to amount to manslaughter, there was certainly evidence to support such a finding. At the same time it was proper that he should point out that failing to stop after an accident was a separate distinct offense. If the circumstances of the accident did not themselves amount to manslaughter, the failure to stop could not turn what was not manslaughter into manslaughter.
As stated above, the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against a person unknown.
Reprinted for legibility only by LSP.