3 KILLED, 12 INJURED IN AUTO ACCIDENTS

The New York Times
December 7, 1922

Chauffeur Dies as Collision Overturns Limousine in Fifth Avenue.

BOY IS RUN DOWN IN STREET

Store Worker Loses His Life, Two Others Hurt In Islip Crossing Crash.

Three persons were killed and twelve others were injured in automobile accidents in and near the city yesterday.  Those who lost their lives were a chauffeur of a limousine which was upset in a collision in Fifth Avenue and a three-year-old boy who was run down by a truck in Jersey City.  A policeman on his way to reserve duty received a compound skull fracture when a taxi on the running board of which he was riding struck another car.

Joseph Brundage, 55 years old, of 322 East Fifty-eighth Street, a chauffeur for Mrs. William H. Payne of the Hotel Belmont, was the driver of the car that was upset in Fifth Avenue.  He was taking Mrs. Laura Bassett of the Belmont and Mrs. Harry Otis Parley of Detroito ut for a morning ride in Fifth Avenue.  Mrs. Payne, who is 80 years old, was not in the car.

As Brundage was passing Ninety-sixth Street a car driven by Samuel Cahn, a dry goods merchant, of 204 New Main Street, Yonkers, emerged from the Park and struck the Payne car.  The limousine was overturned and the occupants were pinned inside.  The chauffeur and the two women were lifted from the car and driven in a taxicab to Mount Sinai Hospital.  Brundage was dead when the taxi arrived there.  The women had received but slight bruises and said that they preferred not to be attended.

With Cahn were Abraham Silberman of 46 Randolph Street, Yonkers, and his wife, Eva.  They escaped injury, although Cahn's car was badly damaged.  Cahn was placed under arrest on a charge of homicide by Patrolman Abbey Kemack of the East 104th Street Station.

The car which Brundage was driving was the property of Ewen Dugg, owner of the Hollywood Garage of 328 East Sixty-fourth Street, from whom Mrs. Payne leased it.

Boy at Play Is Killed.

Dominic Morcia, 3 years old, was killed while playing in front of his home at 37 Wales Avenue, Jersey City, yesterday afternoon.  The car that struck him was owned by the Standard Wet Wash Company.  John Bannard, 74 Bergen Avenue, Jersey City, the driver, was arrested on a charge of homicide.

Patrolman Frank L. Frazone of 4,532 Park Avenue, the Bronx, attached to the East Twenty-second Street Station, received a compound fracture of the skull, and Andrea Cuomo of 45 President Street, Brooklyn, was injured in a collision at Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue yesterday morning.  The policeman was on his way to reserve duty and was riding on the running board of a taxi driven by Thomas Carney of 10 Columbia Place, Brooklyn.  Cuomo was a passenger in the taxi.  The other car was driven by Charles Oddo of 134 Edson Street, Corona, L. I.  Carney was arrested on a charge of assault.

One man was killed and two persons were injured Tuesday night in an accident at an unprotected grade crossing of the Long Island Railroad as Islip, L. I.  Louis Matthies of Islip Terrace, who is employed in a store at Lindenhurst, lost his life, and Mr. and Mrs. Emil Bruger of Islip Terrace were injured, Mrs. Bruger so seriously that she was taken to Babylon Hospital.  Matthies had taken Bruger to the station to meet Mrs. Bruger, and when the train on which she had arrived had left they started across the track with several other automobiles.  They failed to see an approaching coal train.

Car Hits Pole, Injures Two.

Helen Dittus, 26, of Westfield, N. J., and Justine Rodiger, 22, of 165 East Sixty-sixth Street were injured by pieces of an electric light pole at John and William Streets, which was shattered when a heavily laden auto truck got out of control.  According to the driver, Joseph Spirano of 151 Courtlandt Avenue, the Bronx, the brakes refused to work.  Several other persons who were near the two girls narrowly escaped injury.  They were taken to Beekman Street Hospital, where it was said that Miss Dittus had a broken ankle and internal injuries and that Miss Rodinger had two toes of her left foot crushed.

While chasing a speeder on Hudson Avenue, Brooklyn, Motorcycle Policeman William R. Cunningham collided with an automobile owned and driven by Benjamin Klein of 235 Montgomery Street, Brooklyn, at the intersection of Johnson Street and Hudson Avenue, Brooklyn.  The policeman was thrown from the motorcycle.  He was treated by Dr. Whitman of the Cumberland Street Hospital for bruises.

Ernest Jud, a chauffeur, was injured in a collision of two motor trucks at Pitkin and Saratoga Avenues, Brooklyn.  Jud was driving a truck belonging to the James O. Hubbard Company when he ran into another truck owned by West & Roman of 52 West End Avenue, Manhattan.  He was taken to Kings County Hospital, where it was said he might have suffered internal injuries.

A one-man Greenpoint trolley car was struck and carried along several feet by a Graham Avenue car at Flushing and Classon Avenues, Brooklyn, last night.  Although the Greenpoint car was wrecked and he windows of both cars shattered, no one was injured.  Fifty persons riding in the Graham Avenue car left when the two cars came to a stop.