FATALLY HURT BY AUTOMOBILE

Vehicle Carrying the Son of ex-Mayor Edson 
Ran Over H.H. Bliss, Who Was
Alighting from a Trolley Car.

H.H. Bliss, a real estate dealer, with offices at 41 Wall Street and
living at 235 West Seventy-fifth Street, was run over last night at
Central Park West and Seventy-fourth Street. He was injured fatally.

Bliss, accompanied by a woman named Lee, was alighting from a south-bound
Eighth Avenue trolley car, when he was knocked down and run over by an
automobile in charge of Arthur Smith of 151 West Sixty-second Street. He
had left the car, and had turned to assist Miss Lee, when the automobile
struck him. Bliss was knocked to the pavement, and two wheels of the cab
passed over his head and body. His skull and chest were crushed.

Dr. David Orr Edson, son of ex-mayor Edson, of 38 West Seventy-first
Street, was the occupant of the electric cab. As soon as the vehicle was
brought to a standstill, he sent in a call to Roosevelt Hospital for an
ambulance, and until its arrival did all he could to aid the injured man.  
When he was taken to the hospital Dr. Marny, the house surgeon, said that
Bliss was so seriously injured that he could not live.

Smith was arrested and lock up in the West Sixty-eighth Street Station.  
It is claimed that a large truck occupied the right side of the avenue,
making it necessary for Smith to run his vehicle close to the car. Dr.  
Edson was returning from a sick call in Harlem when the accident happened.

Mr. Bliss board at 235 West Seventy-fifth Street. The place where the
accident happened is known to the motormen on the tolled line as
"Dangerous Stretch," on account of the many accidents which have occurred
there during the past Summer."




The following story was printed on the next day, September 15, 1899:

"AUTOMOBILE VICTIM DEAD

Henry H. Bliss Succumbs to His Injuries in Roosevelt Hospital

Henry H. Bliss, who was struck by an automobile at Eighth Avenue and
Seventy-fourth Street on Wednesday night as he was alighting from a
surface car, died from his injuries in Roosevelt Hospital yesterday.  
Arthur Smith, the man who was in charge of the automobile, was arraigned
before Magistrate Flammer in the West Side Court yesterday afternoon and
was held in $1,000 bail for a hearing on Monday.

Mr. Bliss was a native of Vermont, and was born about sixty-eight years
ago. He had been a resident of this city for thirty-five years, for the
greater part of which time he had been in the real estate business, both
as a broker and as an operator for his own account. His offices were at 41
Wall Street. Mr. Bliss was the step-father of Mrs. Mary Alice Almont
Livingston Fleming, who was tried about three years ago on a charge of
having poisoned her mother, who was Mr. Bliss's second wife. Mr. Bliss
leaves a son, Herbert, and a daughter, Florence."




Here's an account from an individual:

>1899 13 Sep, Henry H. Bliss, 68, a real-estate broker returning home from a
>trip to Harlem, alights to help his companion, Miss Lee, out of a streetcar
>at 74th St. & Central Park West, NYC, and is hit by an electric-powered
>taxicab, Automobile No. 43, driven by Arthur Smith who swerved to avoid a
>(motorized?) truck.  Cab passenger, Dr. David Orr Edson, son of former NYC
>Mayor, Franklin Edson, tries to give aid, but Bliss has a crushed skull.
>Dying on 14 Sep, he becomes 1st pedestrian killed by an automobile in the
>US.
>  Driver Smith is arrested, charged with manslaughter, but later acquitted 
>on
>grounds the accident was unintentional. (American Heritage (Sep99), p97-98)
>
>Neel Scott, Campaign Coordinator
>Transportation Alternatives
>(212) 629-8080 phone
>(212) 629-8334 fax
>ped *AT* transalt.org
>