7/14/1914 A car crash inspires literature

July 14, 1014.  On this date an automobile driven by silk factory owner Henry Kaufman smashed into a horse-drawn wagon in the streets of Paterson, New Jersey.  The wagon was the property of three sisters, Constance, Norma, and Fleurette Kopp, who got badly banged up in the accident.  They demanded that Kaufman pay $50 to repair the wagon.  He refused, they persisted, and the result was months of terror that wound up in a trial in Newark the following summer.

All true, and it inspired Amy Stewart's charming novel, Girl Waits With Gun.  The title, by the way, is a headline from a newspaper story about the case.  And the "girl," Constance Kopp, was in her late thirties.  Ah, the good old days.