6/11/2005:
The news out of Beulah during this week in 1949 included a story of a car owned by one Leo Miller. When Miller cranked his car to get it started, he didn’t realize it was in gear – in reverse. When the engine started, the driverless car took off backwards, shot across the street and picked the fender off a car owned by the editor of the Beulah Independent.
It then went through the 12-foot garage door of Liebelt Cheverolet, nicked a new car, kept going, and rammed squarely into another that was thrown against yet one more. Joe Pandorf, the garage foreman, estimated it was going 30 miles an hour when he jumped out of the way. Harold Dally, the newspaper editor, estimated Miller’s car was worth $50, and damages were close to $400.
Source: The Fargo Forum, June 8, 1949
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm