Station Road Motor Accident 1900

MOTOR ACCIDENT AT BURTON LATIMER

Northants Evening Telegraph 9 July 1900

Yesterday afternoon two young men of Northampton met with a nasty accident near Isham Station. It appears that they were coming down the hill from Burton Latimer towards Isham Station on a motor at a terrific rate, and when nearing the bottom of the hill they suddenly lost control of the steering apparatus, with the result that the motor dashed into a hedge on the left hand side of the road near the gas house, completely smashing the front part of the machine, both riders being thrown with considerable force into the hedge. Fortunatley, no bones were broken, and with the exception of some nasty scratches on their faces and wrists the men escaped unhurt, though naturally they suffered a good deal from shock. Mr. J.A. Wallis, of the Mill, and two young men from Burton Latimer, named George Tapsell and Edmund Geagan, were soon on the spot and rendered what aid they could. The young men in charge of the broken motor were able to journey to Northampton on the 6.25 train.
It appears that earlier in the afternoon they had taken some of the children of the village for rides up and down the village street in return for small money payments, and either from inexperience or some other cause they also narrowly escaped a serious accident before they left the village. Spectators declare that they rushed the hill leading to Isham Station at a speed of from 30 to 40 miles per hour, and no one who witnessed the ride was at all surprised that in making the curve over the bridge they lost control of the machine. Fortunately the collapse ocurred just beyond the bridge, ot the results might have been of a far more serious, if not fatal, character.