This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: LEEK, BLEDSOE, EVANS Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ZW.2ADI/610.1 Message Board Post: I was intrigued by this newspaper article while searching for another story the other day. News Story from the Modesto Daily Evening News, Monday, Dec. 20, 1909, p1 MODESTO LADY SERIOUSLY INJURED WHEN AUTO JUMPS BRIDGE INTO CANAL TODAY Mrs. N. E. Leek Sustains Two Broken Ribs Fractured Hip and Other Injuries -- Husband and Children Bruised Slightly. Mrs. Newt E. Leek is lying at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. Bledsoe, on Sixteenth street, with two ribs broken, in addition to numerous minor injuries as a result of the Leek auto jumping the bridge into the canal, one mile this side of the Hatch ranch this morning. Mr. Leek and three children - Elbert 11, Geraldine aged 9, and Chester aged 5 - who were all in the machine when the accident occurred, were badly shaken up and all are more or less bruised, but not seriously injured. The accident occurred about nine o'clock this morning while Mr. Leek and his family were hurrying into Modesto from their ranch near Hughson, Mr. Leek having an appointment as Court Reporter at 10 A.M. The drizzling rain made the roads very slippery, and as the machine approached the bridge over the canal at Bony Farrar's place, about 2 1/4 miles from Modesto, he slowed down to take the bridge. He was probably going faster than he estimated, and in striking the plants, the auto skidded, pitching off one side into the canal. Mr. and Mrs. Leek were sitting on the front seat, and the children were in the rear. A cream separator was in the bottom of the tonneau, and in falling it is the opinion of the children that the separator struck their mother, inflicting the injuries. Mr. Leek is certain that the auto did not fall upoln his wife, as she was free from the machine when picked up. Seldom are accidents arranged as happily by providence as the one today, for not more than one hundred yards below where their auto jumped the bridge, was Dr. C. W. Evans, their family physician, who was driving home in the rain from a professional visit in the county. Both had taken the river road, because it is the shortest. To the prompt treatment administered by Dr. Evans is attributed the fact that Mrs. Leek is alive at this moment, as her heart would hardly have stood the shock of exposure, in addition to the injuries. Dr. Evans stated late today that he thought Mrs. Leek's chances were excellent for recovery, and believed there were no internal injuries. There was a follow-up article in the Dec 21, 1909 edition of the paper, but I did not make a copy of it. Judy Ewbank