People v. Adams

• Decision Date: 27 October 1919
• Docket Number: No. 12734.,12734.
• Citation: 124 N.E. 575,289 Ill. 339
• Parties: PEOPLE v. ADAMS.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

289 Ill. 339

124 N.E. 575

PEOPLE

v.ADAMS.

No. 12734.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Oct. 27, 1919.

Error to Criminal Court, Cook County; Henry Guerin, Judge.

Samuel Adams was convicted of manslaughter, and he brings error. Reversed and remanded.

Frank R. Reid, of Chicago, and Charles A. O'Connor, of Aurora, for plaintiff in error.

Edward J. Brundage, Atty. Gen., and Macklay Hoyne, State's Atty., and Edward C. Fitch, both of Chicago (Edward E. Wilson, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

DUNCAN, J.

Plaintiff in error was convicted in the criminal court of Cook county upon the third count of an indictment charging him with manslaughter. The jury in their verdict recommended the minimum penalty. Motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment were overruled, and plaintiff in error was sentenced on the verdict. He has sued out this writ of error to reverse the judgment.

The indictment charged plaintiff in error with having killed Helen O'Connell on December 2, 1917, in the county of Cook and state of Illinois. The first count charged manslaughter in the ordinary form, with an automobile as the instrument. The second count charged the killing by the operation of the automobile at a dangerous and excessiverate of speed. Those counts are eliminated by the finding of the defendant guilty by the jury under the third count. That count charged, in substance, that plaintiff in error was driving an automobile on Twelfth street, in the city of Chicago, at a place where he knew it was the habit and custom of large numbers of persons to be upon the street, and at a place where it was his duty to drive said automobile with care an caution and to observe and ascertain whether persons on foot were then and there on or crossing the street in front of his automobile; that plaintiff in error, in violation of his duty, unlawfully, willfully, negligently and feloniously, and with culpable negligence drove the automobile without watching and observing to ascertain whether persons on foot were then and there crossing the street in front of the automobile, and by reason thereof did then and there unlawfully, willfully, feloniously, and with culpable negligence drive the automobile upon Helen O'Connell as she was upon or crossing the street on foot, knocking her to the pavement, and then and there drove the automobile over her body, inflicting on her wounds and bruises from which she died.

Plaintiff in error was 29 years old at the time of the killing and was running a garage at 1524 Taylor street, Chicago. He was the owner of the closed limousine driven by him on said day, in which he was conveying passengers between 2 and 2:30 o'clock p. m. eastward on Twelfth street. He stopped his car at the west line of Ashland boulevard where it crosses Twelfth street. On the west side of Ashland boulevard Twelfth street is very much wider than it is on the east side of Ashland boulevard. The street car tracks on Twelfth street west of Ashland boulevard are near the north and south curbs, and vehicle traffic there runs between the east-bound street car track on the south side and the west-bound track on the north side. As the car tracks approach the center of Ashland boulevard they both curve abruptly toward the center of the crossing,so that when they have reached the east line of Ashland boulevard they are in the center of Twelfth street, and vehicle traffic there is confined to the space on the north and south sides of the street between the double tracks and the curb lines, the east-bound vehicle traffic being confined to the south side of the street and the west-bound vehicle traffic to the north side. A double street car line occupies the center of Ashland boulevard, and the south-bound vehicle traffic uses the west side of the boulevard and the northbound traffic the east side. After stopping his automobile on the west side of Ashland boulevard plaintiff in error started to drive across the street car track to the east side of the boulevard and the south side of Twelfth street. A street car came from the west from behind him, and was curving in front of him to the center of the crossing. The account given of the killing from this point by plaintiff in error is, in substance, the following: He started his machine at a speed between 6 and 8 miles an hour to cross the east-bound Twelfth street track to the east side of Ashland boulevard. When he reached the track the street car going east on Twelfth street cut him off by running in front of him. He could not go further east. If he stopped, the street car would cut him on the side of his machine. If he went further forward it would jam him, and he would spill some people. If he stopped, his automobile ‘would slide over,’ and the street car would knock his machine over sidewise. If he went forward the street car would run into him. So he turned north toward the north side of the street to go on Ashland boulevard. When he came to Ashland boulevard he saw a couple of machines coming toward him from the north. To save himself he speeded up his car up the north side of Twelfth street after crossing Ashland boulevard, with a view to pass the street car and cross in front of it on Twelfth street and regain the south side of the Twelfth street car tracks, where he belonged as a traveler on that street. When he cut in front of the street car, going southeasterly, there was screaming, and he saw something happen, and got sick and fell down. He didn't know what happened at that time, and came to a stop against the south curb of Twelfth street. He claims that his speed was 12 or 14 miles an hour as he was passing in front of the street car, but states that his front axle was bent by striking the curb, which is a point from 50 to 60 feet away from the point where he crossed in front of the street car. Witnesses for the state testified that his speed was from 15 to 25 miles an hour.

It does not definitely appear whether the deceased was, at the moment she was struck by the machine, moving from the south side of Twelfth street in front of the street car to the north side of Twelfth...