For our “Only in Ohio” series, we select shorter topics we really want to cover, but that don’t really fit anywhere else.
That Legendary 1895 Car Crash
According to several different sources (you’d be surprised how many) in 1895, there were only two cars anywhere in the state of Ohio, and one day they crashed into each other. Sometimes, this is said to be the first auto accident anywhere, others claim it to be the first one in America.
This “fact” has appeared in numerous sources, including a number that really do try and tell the history of this great state. It’s the sort of fact that people seem to want it to be true, but … is it?
The definitive answer is: We don’t really know, but … probably not.
There is no verifiable reports or evidence that this occurred, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it didn’t happen for that reason alone. Therefore, if we’re going to try to determine things for ourselves, we must look elsewhere.
One thing to consider here is that there is no possible way of knowing just how many automobiles there were in the state in 1895, but we do know that there weren’t all that many. Another thing to consider is that Ohio didn’t start registering cars until 1908, many years after this event supposedly took place. So … how did anyone know how many cars were on the streets at that time?
In 1895, cars were more of a novelty, less a luxury, or even an every-day thing. So, it is possible that there were just two of them in the state … or, maybe it depends on how you define “car” (or “automobile”).
Before we had the “gas engine” (the early version of what we mostly still use today) we had the steam engine. Sometimes, these were basically a form of glorified wagon, used to haul heavy objects from one place to another, but some were equipped with compartments for people to sit.
We do have some reports of these vehicles being in some sort of accident, although mostly they tended to hit things like hitching posts or the occasional tree and usually after the “operator” lost control after hitting a hole in the road or a rock. Still, if you don’t consider these things “cars” then … nevermind.
Quite often when you read about this, the story will accompany the following photograph (seriously, why should I be any different?)…
Unless you are some kind of car historian, this picture may look convincing enough. However, if you are, you just might recognize what kind of cars those are in the photo, which means you probably also will know that they weren’t even produced until the 1920s and 1930s.
So, it kind of looks like that photo might be a dud.
If this more heavily relied upon fact is this well documented today (for lack of a better word) then certainly we should be able to find stories going back to sometime around 1895, right?
Sadly, that’s not the case.
The earliest mention of this “fact” that has been found so far dates back to something published in Life Magazine back in 1967. So … (counting on fingers) … quite a few years after the fact.
Also, in case you noticed my phrasing of “something published” that was intentional. The reference comes not from a news article or even a written piece, but from an advertisement.
So, was there only two cars in Ohio in 1895, and did they crash into each other – we can’t prove it one way or the other. What we can say is that what evidence we do have makes that possibility highly (extremely) unlikely.
What’s the Spanish Word for “Felony”?
I think we all have memories of having a substitute teacher when we were in grade school. Maybe we played pranks, like swapping names with our classmates, or maybe something with fake bugs or a fart machine taped under the teacher’s chair. Sometimes, our substitute teachers are really cool, fun teachers although others can be stern and strict. But I am going to guess you’ve never had a teacher like Sheila Kearns.
For reasons that are still somewhat debatable, Miss Kearns decided to show a movie during class called “The ABCs of Death” in April 2013. For the unaware, this 2012 film was written and directed by a bunch of different people (from a bunch of different countries) because it contains 26 short films of a comedic horror nature. The first short film, A is for Apocalypse tells the story of a woman who slowly poisons her husband, only to stab him once she discovers the world is about to end.
While many have objected on principle to the entire film, a large portion of the outrage seems to be over other chapter titles, such as O is for Orgasm and L is for Libido.
In hindsight, maybe not the best thing to show to students during school hours. Kearns would later say in her own defense that she was certain these kids saw a lot worse than that when they were at home.
She also claimed that before watching the film, she had no idea what it was about, as if a film called “The ABCs of Death” could somehow appear to be a heartwarming story on the importance of getting a good education and overcoming obstacles by hard work, compassion, and most important of all, the power of friendship.
At some point, on the fifth consecutive day of showing this film, the school’s principal walked past the classroom and saw what was being shown and quickly put a stop to it, confiscating the DVD in the process. Kearns was removed from the classroom immediately and quickly became a “former substitute teacher”.
She was arrested and before long was trying to convince a jury what she did wasn’t really all that bad. The major issue at trial was whether or not she understood the film’s context before she started the movie. After she was convicted (but before she was sentenced) a member of the jury told reporters that the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she knew the film’s content before she started to watch the movie. However, it was clear that she knew what kind of film it was on the second, third, fourth, and fifth days she showed the film in class, thus explaining why they convicted her.
(I am just curious, considering that she was a substitute Spanish teacher, did the film have a Spanish language audio track or subtitles?)