Russell's place in automotive history

 

I've used this vintage image of the intersection of Maple and Shaw streets in Russell before, but the emphasis then was on the old bank building on the corner. The attention this morning shifts two doors west to the Huston livery barn with, of all things, an automobile parked in front.

Ruben "Rube" Huston (1854-1925) operated a livery business here from the mid-1880s until about 1920 but in one of life's oddities was piloting an automobile rather than a horse back in August of 1910 when he became the defendant in a case alleging reckless driving after his vehicle allegedly scared G.W. Sims' team of mules off the road and through a fence.

The resulting lawsuit was, according to The Chariton Herald at least, the first resulting from an encounter between this dangerous new form of transportation and horse- or mule-power. Here's the report from The Herald of Aug. 25, 1910:

The first law suit, so far as we know, that has taken place in Lucas county over an automobile meeting a team on the highway, was held before Justice Seward last Saturday. G.W. Sims of Washington township was the complaining witness, and Rube Huston of Russell was the defendant.

The case was a state case, Sims claiming that Huston had met him on the highway and scared his team of mules so badly that they ran through a hedge fence and dragged the carriage containing his family through after them. Mr. Huston, who had Homer Caughlan and wife, with his sister, Miss Kiser of Ottumwa, in the auto with him, contended that he was not running at a dangerous or scary speed, that Mr. Sims was standing beside his mules as the auto approached, and that though they ran through the hedge, it was through no fault of the auto or of himself, and no damage of any nature resulted from the scare.

Justice Seward concluded after hearing a long list of testimony that Mr. Huston was right and gave him the verdict, assessing Mr. Sims with the cost of his own witnesses and assessing Mr. Huston's witnesses against the state. Even though Mr. Huston was found innocent, the fact remains that some auto drivers in Lucas county, and a few right here in Chariton, are driving their autos at a dangerous speed, and they should hold themselves within the limits of the law before some terrible accident occurs and saddens the whole community.