First Auto Fatality

While the family of Harry Bliss mourned, they surely had no idea of the tide of grieving his death would unleash. He died in 1899 in New York City, the first recorded automobile fatality. Many million times since the tragedy, his death has been reenacted, and not even a single one of us has escaped the pain. If Jesus had come along 1900 years later and traveled in a Ford or Toyota instead of on foot or by donkey, no doubt he’d have been concerned about responsible driving habits.

Rev David Peterson, First Presbyterian Church, Spokane, WA