Prompt: “Should have been a movie” May 4, 2023
The Case of the “Hobby Horse” was a real whodunnit what
should have been a movie.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s Coney Island, New York offered much fun and relaxation for the rich and poor alike. The beaches, the delicious new Coney Island Hot Dog, and the Steeplechase ride! This ride was invented by George C. Tilyou who was looking for ways for people to have fun. He had started with the Ferris Wheel and then built this magnificent structure in 1897. The ride was gravity-powered, and the six horses made of steel, wood, and wheels could go up to 25 miles per hour on six parallel rails.
Each horse held 2 people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steeplechase_Park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRiwXzgCaVQ
-video of the Steeplechase Ride at Coney Island
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After being on the
ride for about 30-40 feet, George says, “(I) experienced a sudden jar which
threw (me) violently forward and to one side and then off the horse. The horse
proceeded and (my) leg was mangled”.2 George went right to the
hospital and that night had his left leg3 amputated from above
the knee. (The 12 Mar 1903 newspaper article “Mounted Horse in Court” says it
was his right leg that was crushed-we cannot be sure which leg was injured,)
Having only one leg must have caused hardship for George,
his wife Margaret (nee Rush) and their children: Marguerite, Helen, Bernadette,
Ester (who died at 2 weeks of age) and their newest child, Vincent born 1901. As
a Mercantile clerk, he couldn’t earn much to support his family. George likely used
a prosthetic leg such as the one in the picture.
In March of 1902, George decided to sue the West Brighton Amusement Company, who owned Steeplechase, and George C. Tilyou, one of the directors, for $30,000 . It became known as the “hobby horse case” because the steeplechase horse stood in the middle of the courtroom during the trial. After a week and a half of testimony, Justice Betts awarded George $25,429.24. WOW!! This was one of the “heaviest verdicts ever rendered by a jury in Kings County”. That was a lot of money in 1902!! This much money could have offered the Huneke family a nicer home, clothing and maybe a better prosthetic leg!
By July 1902, the West Brighton Amusement Company still had not paid a cent and George started another judgement against the Company, In February 1903 the
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court reversed the earlier judgement and the case was
sent back for another trial. According to The Brooklyn Daily Times4,
during the first trial, the jury was instructed to “Infer from the accident
having occurred that the defendant (West Brighton Amusement Company) was
negligent”. Justice Bartlett, who was now proceeding with the current judgement
said,
“It seems quite clear
to my mind that in a case like this, where there is a square issue upon the
proof, as to which of two actors, the plaintiff or the defendant, caused the
fall which injured the plaintiff, it is error to tell the jury that they many
infer that the defendant is the party responsible therefor simply from the fact
that the accident occurred.”
The defense, West Brighton Amusement Company, gave up
interest in the steeplechase ride in April 1902 and the property now belonged to George C.
Tilyou. Tilyou says that all the
equipment on the Steeplechase was working well on that summer day in 1897 but
George was “skylarking” (horsing around – no pun intended). They say he was leaning over to interact with
the woman on the next horse trying to grab her reins when his leg got caught under
the hind leg of his horse and his leg was mangled.
In trying to prove a point, Stephen C. Baldwin, George’s
attorney, mounted one of the steeplechase horses that was in the courtroom and
per the Brooklyn Daily Times and said:
“Gentlemen of the jury,….you notice that my legs are long.
The defense set up is that Huneke was skylarking and leaning over to catch the
bridle of another horse ridden by a young woman, and that his leg went under
the body of the horse and was caught by the horse’s hind leg and a
stanchion. Gentlemen of the jury, I am
now leaning over. As I said, I have long
legs, yet you see that it would be impossible for even my long legs to go under
the horse and be broken and torn as was the leg of Huneke”.5
The jury could not agree on a verdict. There was talk of
another trial, but I was unable to get any court documents regarding any of the
trials . One can only imagine what really
happened on that day on the steeplechase ride.
1. “Verdict of $25,000 For Loss of a Leg”, The
Brooklyn Citizen 14 Mar 1902 page 11
2. “25,000 Verdict
Set Aside” Brooklyn Times, Brooklyn, New York, Friday February 13, 1903, page 1, column 2.
3. “Verdict for
$25,000.” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York, Friday March 14,
1902 page 12.
4. ”$25,000 Verdict Set Aside” The Brooklyn Daily Times: Brooklyn,
New York, Friday, February 13, 1903 page 1.
5. “Mounted Horse in Court”, The Brooklyn Daily Times;
Brooklyn, New York; Thursday, March 12, 1903 page 4.
