Amanda Colbern Murder Case Study

The first serious accident as a result of the jitney service in Long Beach occurred February 6, 1915, when sixty-year-old Amanda Colbern (1853-2/6/1915) was struck at Fourth Street and Atlantic Avenue when returning from a revival meeting. Twenty-two year old W. J. Holloway was the driver. Some witnesses stated that young Holloway turned about in his seat to listen to one of his passengers and at that moment Mrs. Colbern walked in front of the car. The woman was hurled to the pavement, sustaining a skull fracture and a broken right arm. She was unconscious when picked up and rushed to Seaside Hospital. Despite witness testimony Holloway was not arrested by police. Amanda is buried at Sunnyside Cemetery next to her husband Presley E. Colbern (1846-10/12/1921). The following month 78-year-old Emma J. Ryan (1836-3/8/1915; buried Stockton Rural Cemetery) died when the jitney in which she was riding
He said they were his wife and child, and that he had to quickly get back to them. As he turned into Tenth Street from Pine Avenue he sped up. Mrs. McPherson said the ride was the fastest she had ever taken. As she was about to ask him to slow down she felt the car hit the train. She didn’t remember hearing any bells or whistles coming from the locomotive. All she could recall was almost going under the wheels of the train and then being thrown out. When she regained consciousness she was lying beside Mrs. Weilenman, who was dying in a huge pool of blood. Conductor J. E. Edwards of the Salt Lake train said the jitney seemed to rush right into the engine, though the train engineer blew the whistle as usual as he approached the Tenth Street crossing. After viewing the situation from many angles, a jury decided that had Mundy been driving at moderate speed he could have seen the train in time to stop his