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Carnage: Amazing News Photos of Early Car Wrecks From the City Streets of Boston

Mar 13, 2024BangShift NewsComments Off on Carnage: Amazing News Photos of Early Car Wrecks From the City Streets of Boston

Carnage: Amazing News Photos of Early Car Wrecks From the City Streets of Boston

Leslie Jones was a staff photographer for the Boston Herald Newspaper for nearly 40 years, starting in 1917. Over that time he shot hundreds of thousands of images of a city on the move and in constant evolution. As it was the ‘teens when America really got obsessed with wheels, cars, and the pleasures of all things automotive, it was also that era when inexperienced operators in flimsy machines were involved in crashes. These crashes ranged from somewhat comical fender benders to horrifying affairs with parts of people, cars, and property spread over large debris fields.

During this time when the below photos, now archived at the Boston Public Library, were taken, there was no licensing process for drivers. Literally anyone that could afford a car was able to drive it, no matter what their level of proficiency or ability was. The cars in the below photos were obviously operated by people who were low in both proficiency and ability.

There’s not much more to say other than scroll down and enjoy this journey of twisted steel through the streets of pre-WWI Boston. It is both history lesson and cautionary tale. It also makes us happy that we didn’t live back then. It seems that no one was safe at any time or in any location!

Thanks to Malc for the tip!

Scroll down to see some amazing photos!

 

 

Officers examine a car that has wrapped itself around a tree, spilling its interiors onto the street in Boston in 1933
Passersby try to figure out how this car ended up nose-down in a trench in Boston's West End. A glance at the rough, dirt-covered road provides a clue
The scene of an accident in 1935. Information with the photo reveals a car stolen by joyriding children crashed into a lawyer's car, killing him
Giving a rare glimpse of the day's fashion, a group of men look over a crumpled car that sits by the side of a residential Boston street
Crowds pose for photographer Leslie Jones alongside a mangled and burnt out wreck in Boston in 1933
A police officer poses next to a car that flipped over manoevring around corner in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1935.
This truck stood no chance when it came into contact with a tree on a rural Mass. road, disintegrating on impact - leaving just the steering wheel intact.
A fireboat struggles to haul a car out of the Fore River in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1933. They succeeded, but couldn't save the three passengers, who drowned
This car came out loser in a battle of wills with a trolley bus on Boston's South End in 1932
Children peer out of the undergrowth as photographer Leslie Jones captures a nasty wreck smoulding by the side of the road in Hingham
Crowds watch in awe as a car is winched out of the Charles River in Cambridge, Mass. close to the Harvard University campus
Taken in 1934, this photograph shows a truck balancing on a bridge in Dorchester by just one wheel. Workers from the Walter Baker & Co chocolate factory rushed out of the building in the background to watch
This car remarkably survived a collision with a utility pole in Cambridge, Mass - with just a mangled bumper to show for the crash
The driver of this car was unlikely to have survived this collision. The wreck is wrapped entirely around a tree, which sits in the driver's position
The shell of a truck is pulled from the Charles River after it careered off the Harvard Bridge
Photographer Leslie Jones had to part crowds of onlookers to capture this accident in downtown Boston. An out of control car collided with a shopfront, smashing windows and ending up on its side
Local businessman Byron Harwood and Byron Grover were hurt when their car collided with a bus in Waltham, Mass. in 1921. They were lucky to survive this nasty looking wreck. Their car certainly didn't
Taken in 1934, this photo shows a car that skidded out of control on ice-covered roads and wrapped around a tree in Auburndale, Mass.
A bus hit a truck and flipped over in south Boston, stopping just before it smashed into a cafeteria storefront
Another view of the same accident shows eager children posing with the upturned truck. it also demonstrates how close the vehicles came to nearby buildings
Sitting in a Boston wrecking yard, this cross section of a wreck shows how basic car interiors were in the early days of motoring.
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