Statesville Daily
A 17-year-old boy in Catawba county ran a motor car over a 6-year-old boy, inflicting fatal injuries. The driver of the car was convicted of manslaughter in Catawba Superior court and sentenced to not less than one nor more than five years in the State prison. Of course the youth didn’t intend to kill the small boy, but he was criminally negligent, wantonly and wilfully reckless, or he wouldn’t have been convicted of manslaughter; and the court was evidently impressed with the seriousness of his offending or he wouldn’t have been sent to State prison, the minimum punishment for manslaughter being a few months in jail. There will be suggestions that State prison isn’t a place for 17-year-old boys, but it is better there than on the chain gang, the choice being between the two, or the county jail; and evidently the judge didn’t consider a jail sentence sufficient to impress the seriousness of the offense.
It is obviously necessary to impose on reckless drivers a punishment that will give some of them pause—absolutely necessary for the public safety. Drinking drivers are more dangerous than a wild beast abroad, and some who do not imbibe are as reckless as those who do. They have absolutely no regard for the safety of pedestrians or of other motorists. The pedestrian is careless at times, but it is the business of the motorist to have regard for his safety when he sees him in the way. Some of the motorists rush on at a high rate of speed and let the pedestrian look out for himself, seemingly indifferent to what happens to him. That is a spirit that is little short of premeditated murder when a fatality results, and the evidence must have shown the Catawba boy in that light, considering what has happened to him. Imposing fines and suspended sentences on drinking and reckless drivers is more likely to encourage a repetition of the offense than to deter. One disposed to recklessness will take another chance if he gets by one without serious consequences. There is a spirit of daring that will manifest itself unless the consequences have been made so serious as to repress it.
From page 3 of The Concord Daily Tribune, Aug. 8, 1925
newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn92073201/1925-08-08/ed-1/seq-3/
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