100 years ago in Spokane: Woman described being dragged by a car for 13 blocks before dying from her injuries

Mrs. S.S. Kirkpatrick, a widow, was hit by a car and dragged 13 blocks – and told the harrowing story herself before she died later that night at St. Luke’s Hospital.

She was knocked down by the apparently oblivious driver at the intersection of Sprague and Division.

“I could hear people calling to him to stop,” she said. “We seemed to be going awfully fast. I was hanging on so my head would not hit the pavement. If he only would have stopped just a moment, it would have been so easy for me to get out from under the machine. I couldn’t let go. Something was caught and holding me.”

At least 12 witnesses saw the accident. They screamed at the driver to stop but he just kept driving faster. Some testified that he veered off the pavement several times and veered back on. A Western Union motorcycle messenger pursued the car in an attempt to stop it, but the car was going too fast for him to catch up. Two firemen also chased him, but were unable to catch up.

At one point, the car veered off Sprague and onto Perry Street for a short distance, but then veered back onto Sprague. By this time, the motorcycle messenger was ahead of the car on Sprague, but did not know the car was behind him. The motorcycle stopped to let a streetcar pass.

And then, the car ran into the messenger motorcycle.

The messenger was apparently uninjured, and the chase finally came to an end.

The driver, W.J. Van Skike, 55, claimed that up until that moment, he had no idea that he was dragging Kirkpatrick under his car. He claimed he did not hear her screams because he is hard of hearing. He admitted he heard other motorists and pedestrians “hollering” at him, but he “thought they might be drunk.”

When asked why he was driving so fast and appeared to be taking evasive actions to escape, he claimed he did neither. Multiple witnesses asserted otherwise.

Police charged Van Skike with manslaughter and held him in city jail.