Death by taxi

Sadly, New Zealand has a terrible road toll. As long as there have been cars in the country there have been fatalities.
In 1919, there were about 17, 000 in the country and for many were still novel.
In Wellington, there was already a taxi service and trams running back and forth but the roads were still designed around horse and cart. Horses were still used to deliver milk for another four decades.
So a road death was a big deal.
Bevet Barker Williams was a taxi driver. He had picked up his passenger Mary Louisa Powell and was heading down Kent Terrace to Courtenay Place about 2pm. He was turning through the intersection when he hit Mabel Black, running her over. She died at the scene.
The case went to an inquest and then to a Supreme Court trial.
At the inquest numerous witnesses mentioned the speed Williams was going. Several said they thought it was going too fast.
One witness thought Williams was going the grand speed of 15 miles an hour, which he agreed with.
One thought the speed was not too fast for a street but too fast to turn into the intersection.
All thought Mabel had not seen or heard the taxi coming as she was crossing the road. Alice Martin said she only saw Mabel realise there was a car and began to run at the last minute.
Mary Powell countered that evidence. She had been in the taxi and at no point thought it was going too fast.
The coroner at the inquest gave an open finding and Williams was charged with manslaughter and the case taken to the Supreme Court.
The case was extensively covered in the papers - a death by car was rare enough to be fascinating.
Williams had been a taxi driver and had his licence for about six months. He had never before had an accident.
Williams said it was as he got to the intersection that he could see Mrs Black and he sounded his horn several times to warn her.
He said she looked like she was going to stop then kept going, so he sounded the horn again.
But Mrs Black made a mistake and thought she would out pace the car. Williams said he was already slowing but was unable to avoid to her.
The jury was taken to the street to see where it happened and were able to see the close distances for themselves.
It took the jury only an hour to find Williams not guilty of manslaughter.
Mabel Black is buried in the Karori Cemetery.
Picture from Te Papa’s photographic collection.​