BOY JUMPS OFF CAR;
KILLED BY AUTO.
NOT THE HOPPING KIND, JUST
PLAYING, COMPANION SAYS.
Edgar Palin, Aged 12, Dies in Hos-
pital From Injuries Received in
Alighting in Path of Machine
Giving Children Ride.
EDGAR PALIN,
Twelve-Year-Old Boy Who Leaped from Street Car Fender and Was Mortally Injured by Automobile.
As Edgar Palin, 12 years old, 2802 East Sixth street, jumped from the back fender of an eastbound Independence avenue car yesterday afternoon at Prospect avenue, he was run over and fatally injured by a motor car driven by E. T. Curtis, 3338 Wyandotte street. He died at 7 o'clock last night at the German hospital, without recovering consciousness.
With Allen Compton, 400 Wabash avenue, the boy had been playing all afternoon. About 3 o'clock the two lads started northward on Wabash avenue, and at Independence avenue both noticed an approaching street car.
"Let's catch the fender," called Edgar, as he waited along the curbing. The car was moving at moderate speed and the boy ran behind, and caught hold of the fender. His companion, 10 years old, ran behind on the sidewalk. At Prospect avenue Edgar, without looking around, jumped from the fender directly in front of an approaching auto, barely fifteen feet behind him. Curtis attempted to dodge the boy. The left fender of the auto struck the child and he was sent tumbling on the pavement. He was picked up by Curtis. Several children were in the auto. With Curtis was Herman Smith, of 3606 Olive street, whose father owned the car. In a nearby drug store it was found the boy had been injured seriously.
GIVING CHILDREN RIDE.
"I was driving at about fifteen miles an hour," Curtis said. "The auto belonged to young Smith's father and I was running it because I had the most experience. A party of school children were with us. We were taking them for a ride around the block. I noticed the child on the fender and did not have the least idea that he was going to run in my path. I swerved to one side, but the machine skidded and the fender of the auto struck him in the back. I realized at once that he had received a fearful blow."
After the child was given emergency treatment in the drug store by two neighboring physicians, he was taken to his home in the motor car, and after being attended by Dr. Max Goldman, was removed to the German hospital. Dr. Goldman found that the boy's spine was broken and that his skull was probably fractured.
Allen Compton, his playmate, was in a condition bordering on hysterics last night. The two had been gathering old papers during the forenoon and had just been to the paper mill, where they had received a few pennies with which they intended to buy Christmas presents.
"Edgar wasn't no car hopper," Allen said last night, in defense of his friend. "He was just running behind and holding on to the fender. Edgar wasn't that kind."
With Judge J. E. Guinotte, a friend of the family, young Curtis went to police headquarters last night and made a statement to Captain Walter Whitsett. After consulting Virgil Conkling, prosecuting attorney, it was decided not to hold him. He promised to come to the prosecutor's office Monday and make a complete statement. He said that he had been running a car for eight years. He is the son of W. E. Curtis, a live stock commission man.
The injured boy was the son of W. M. Palin, a real estate dealer in the Commerce building. The body will be taken to Gridley, Kas., for burial.
