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Mail Tribune 100, Sept. 18, 1922 By Alissa Corman Sep 18, 2022 12:00 AM A A News from 100 years ago The following news items were drawn from the archives of the Mail Tribune 100 years ago Sept. 18, 1922 FIVE INJURED IN AUTO RACE AT COUNTY FAIR GROUNDS SUNDAY ARE EXPECTED TO RECOVER; CAR DRIVER’S CONDITION IS STILL GRAVE Earl Koplin of Portland Suffers Fractured Skull, But is Expected to Get Well — Broken Steering Knuckle Arm Cause of Accident — D. M. Lowe Painfully Hurt The first serious accident of the Jackson County Fair occurred yesterday afternoon when, in the twenty-first lap of the fifty lap professional auto race, Earl Koplin of Portland, driving an Essex Special, No. 13, left the track on the southeast turn, tore through a Page wire fence and knocked the underpinning from a 30 foot tower surmounted with a water tank. The tower is on the D. M. Lowe property and a number of spectators were seated upon it watching the races, among them D. M. Lowe. A. W. Walker, who examined the racing car after the accident states that the cause of the accident was a broken steering knuckle arm, on the Essex, which threw the car to the right and through the fence. As the car left the track it leaped several feet in the air, crashed through the fence and the base of the tower, which was about 40 feet from the fence. The tower leaned and fell slowly toward the track, disintegrating in the air as it fell, as though it had been dynamited. No one has yet been found who can definitely state how many spectators were on the tower. Lowe was pinned beneath the wreckage of the tower as it fell. Howard Doran’s brother, who was also on the tower was badly jarred by the fall but was not seriously injured and is resting easily at his home. Howard Doran received a broken leg, evidently from falling wreckage. Hibbard and Kauffman were also evidently struck by wreckage of the tower. ... Confusion on Track When the tower fell excitement and confusion ran rampant and the crowd started across the track with no regard for its own safety of the safety of the racing drivers who were still on the track. Officers were at once sent to hold the crowd back from the scene of the accident and the racing cars continued their grind around the course. ... Ambulance Run Into While on the way to the scene of the auto racing accident, Perl’s ambulance, driven by John P. Hill, was overturned. The ambulance was going south on the highway and was on the left hand side of the road passing a string of cars that were moving slowly in the same direction. — Alissa Corman; [email protected]