WICONISCO MOTORIST FOUND GUILTY BY JURY
Lester Rowe, 21, of Wiconisco was on trial this week in the Dauphin County Court, charged with being the driver of an automobile which on January 1st, struck and fatally injured Mrs. James Keen, 40, and John Clouser, 17, in Williams Township. Mrs. Keen and Clouser were members of a group of pedestrians who were returning from Williamstown to their homes in Williams Township that Sunday evening.
Rowe had faced two charges of involuntary manslaughter, a charge of failure to stop and render assistance and another of drunken driving. Assistant District Attorney LeRoy Keen told the jury that Rowe was drunk when arrested the same evening of the accident after his automobile had been found more than a mile from the accident scene.
Melvin Zimmerman offered testimony that he was walking with Mrs. Keen and Clouser when he saw two automobiles traveling towards them. He said he escaped by jumping a fence but that his companions were struck by the car.
Dr. R. E. Barto and Mrs. Harold C. Swab of town were witnesses in the case Tuesday. The local physician was returning from Pine Grove and Mrs. Swab was a passenger in his car. The former said that a car sideswiped his, scraping the fender of his machine, and ran into the group of walkers.
The prosecution attempted to show that it was a tan or brown colored car that figured in the accident. The testimony of Mrs. Swab bore out this contention. Brown paint found on the fender of the physician’s car, where the two cars touched, added weight to this testimony.
A jury yesterday found Rowe guilty.
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From a local newspaper at the time of the accident, 1932.
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