1915-06-09al

The streets in the downtown core of 1915 Hamilton were congested at most hours of the day or night. A mix of automobiles, electric street cars and horse-drawn vehicles led to collisions of some sort on a frequent basis.

A collision which occurred on Monday evening, June 8, 1915 at the corner of James street North and Robert street was a serious one, complicated by the subsequent actions of the auto driver

Byron Taelle was a jitney chauffeur  who ran down Samuel Smith, breaking his leg. As bad as that was, Taelle made the matter worse by neglecting to stop at the scene of the accident, choosing to flee.

Taelle was identified by witnesses and was soon located by the police.

On Monday morning, the jitney driver made an appearance at Hamilton Police Court:

“The indictment against him was that he, by willful negligence, occasioned serious bodily harm to Smith. On the other charge of neglecting to stop the auto and furnish the injured man with his name and address, Tealle was fined $50, with an option of thirty days in jail.

There was no lack of witnesses to the accident, but the one summoned to testify was an Hamilton Street Railway man:

“A street car motorman said that his car was stalled at the corner of Robert and James streets to take on passengers and that Taelle, in his auto, passed the car at high speed. When the street car reached Barton street, the auto was standing there, and one of the jitney passengers boarded the street car.”¹

¹ “Auto Driver Was Heavily Fined : Bryon Tealle Failed to Stop After Hitting Man “

Hamilton Spectator.  June 9, 1915.

The passenger who vacated the jitney and got on the street car was identified and the motorman told the court what said after the accident :

“ That man, named Argent, told the conductor that he’d never ride in another jitney as long as he lived.

“ ‘We just knocked a man down at Robert street, breaking his leg, and the driver kept on going, leaving the man lying there like a dog.’ ”¹

Tealle, evidently was not fully aware of the trouble he was in as he elected to be tried by the police magistrate without benefit of a lawyer to help him. When it was time for Tealle to give evidence on his own behalf, the police magistrate advised him not to do so, as he (the magistrate) was about to send the case to a higher court. The magistrate had convicted and fined Tealle on charges that the jitney driver faced at the moment. However, there were more serious charges pending.

Police Detectives Cameron and Goodman told the magistrate that after they had arrested Tealle, he admitted that he did not have a chauffeur’s license, but was just driving the jitney to help the owner out:

“ ‘He can be prosecuted for driving without a license and also for passing a stationary street car. It’s up to the city to launch the charges.’ ”¹

The magistrate allowed Tealle to leave, without having him post bail, but he was told that in the not-too-distant future he would have to appear at the Wentworth County Court House to face more charges, charges which might well lead to some time in jail.