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  • Writer's pictureRochelle Gridley

Accident on Air Line Hill


Mr. and Mrs. James Brady of the Chenoa vicinity were traveling in their motor car just four miles east of Carlock when they met with an accident on September 22, 1916. The road at this point was only wide enough for two carriages to pass and was ascending a steep hill, which was called Air Line. As they were ascending this hill, Mr. Brady realized that he would not be able to reach the summit in second gear and needed to shift down into first. Shifting caused the car engine to roll backwards down the hill, and Mr. Brady had no choice but to back down the hill. This maneuver meant that Mrs.Brady had to stand in the back seat of the car to watch the road. As he backed, the car left the roadway and slipped on the steep shoulder, completely overturning the car. Mr. Brady was thrown from the car, but Mrs. Brady was trapped under it. Mr. Brady had been knocked unconscious and when he awoke he feared that his wife had been killed under the auto. But she was alive and able to drag herself out from under the car as Mr. Brady lifted a small part of it. She suffered three broken ribs and a fractured wrist. Mr. Brady went for help and another man helped take Mrs. Brady to the hospital.

This was truly amazing, because Mr. James Brady was not a young man. He was born in 1832 in Dublin, Ireland. In 1916 he was 79 years old! He died three years later, and his obituary told of his expertise as a breeder of hogs. He sold so many hogs that he sometimes filled 14 railroad cars and the railroad company had to send a special engine to carry his stock.

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