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- [S115] Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2002. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington,, Census Place: Brookhaven, Suffolk, New York; Roll: 1650; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 39; Image: 424.0.
- [S49] Long Island Advance (Long Island Advance, 20 Medford Ave, Patchogue, NY), 20 Mar 1931, p. 1.
Inquest on Death of Leverett Brown Is Carried Over
Bumstead, Driver, Declines to Testify
Westhampton Woman Says There Was No Third Car—Dispute Over Place on Highway
An adjournment until March 27 at 3:30 o'clock was taken in the inquest into the death of Leverett Brown, 24-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Brown of Brookhaven, who died Saturday morning as the result of an automobile accident at Southaven a week ago Saturday. The adjournment was taken after Winfield Bumstead of Brookhaven, driver of the car in which Brown was riding, refused to testify on advice of Attorney George H. Carleton, his counsel. The fact that one of the troopers who investigated at the scene of the accident is on vacation also led to the postponement of a decision by Coroner Grover A. Silliman.
According to the testimony brought out Wednesday afternoon at the town hall by Attorney Joseph Arata for the district attorney's office, the car driven by Bumstead left its course on the highway and sideswiped another driven by George Cypher, a private chauffeur of Westhampton and Astoria. One fact brought out was that a third hit-and-run car did not figure in the case at all, as was firs reported, the accident being limited to the cars driven by Bumstead and Cypher.
Miss Catherine Parlato, the other occupant of the Cypher car, which is owned by Mrs. Catherine Raynor Reeve, sister of Miss Parlato, said that she and Cypher were returning to Westhampton after attending the theatre in Patchogue and that in front of the Walton place they saw the other car approaching and that it kept coming towards their side of the road. Then, instead of straightening its course, it sideswiped their car, damaging the running board and fender, she testified.
Miss Parlato said Cypher halted her sister's car in about 20 feet but the other machine, also a coupe, continued on for about 175 feet and ended up in a ditch on the wrong side of the road near a pole. She said Cypher was driving slowly since her sister had loaned the car on condition it be driven slowly as the oil pump was not operating.
Cypher, when put on the stand, substantiated Miss Parlato's testimony and declared that the other car struck him in a glancing manner. Mrs. Reeve took the stand and said that she had loaned the car to her sister and Cypher and that the oil pump was out of commission and the battery rather low.
Francis Englehardt, one of the three men in Bumstead's car, said he, Bumstead and Brown had been riding around for about an hour previous to the accident between Brookhaven and Moriches. He said none of them had been drinking. Attorney L. Eugene Decker, counsel for Cypher, asked if he rememberd any whiskey bottles being thrown from the car immediately after the accident and Englehardt said he did not. He claimed that he was not looking at the road or paying any attention to the other cars at the time of the accident, and did not recall the accident, having only heard a noise, and later recalled regaining consciousness beside the road.
The Bumsteads lived very near to the Browns.
- [S49] Long Island Advance (Long Island Advance, 20 Medford Ave, Patchogue, NY), 31 Mar 1931, p. 1.
Bumstead Cleared of Brown's Death in Auto Accident
Sillimanl Ends Hearing on Southaven Tragedy
Victim's Father Takes Stand to Aid Driver of Car—Bumstead Changes Attitude and Testifies.
A verdict of accidental death, without criminal negligence, was handed down late Friday afternoon by Coroner Grover A. Silliman of Sayville at the conclusion of the inquest into the death by automobile accident of Leverett Brown of Brookhaven, thus clearing the driver of the car, Winfield Bumstead. Brown died in Bay Avenue hospital two weeks ago Friday night as a result of injuries sustained in a wreck at Southaven in front of the Howard Walton property just after midnight on March 8.
This verdict was reached by the coroner after Bumstead reversed his stand of the previous week and announced that he wished to add his testimony to the inquest. The week before he had declined to testify when called, this on the advice of Attorney George Carleton, his counsel. At the inquest Friday Alfred Brown, the father of the dead young man, also took the stand to aid Bumstead in proving the weather was bad at the time of the crash.
Trooper Samuel Cordell was the first to testify. He told of arriving at the scene of the accident some time afterward. He said the Durant coupe driven by George Cypher of Westhampton, bound east, was standing on the south side of the road with the left fenders and running board damaged. The Bumstead car was off the concrete with the exception of the right rear wheel, completely wrecked and with evidence pointing to the fact it had turned over and righted itself.
He testified to finding a bottle just over the fence from the Bumstead car with a few drops of liquor in it but Bumstead denied all knowledge of it. The officer also said there were certain traces of alcohol on Bumstead's breath and about his person but that he appeared by no means intoxicated. The trooper said he asked about the accident and that Bumstead said the cars had collided and he lost control.
On taking the stand Bumstead said he and Brown and Francis Englehardt were out riding. He said they left Brookhaven at 11 and the accident happened at 12:30, it taking them an hour and a half to drive about 18 miles. He told the coroner he was certain he was on his own side of the road, said his car was in prefect condition and declared that the other car, eastbound, veered across the road and struck his right front wheel, The force of this crash, he said, spun the steering wheel around, out of his hand, with the result the car swerved straight across the road and upset. He was unable to recall little of the other details after the crash as he was thrown out.
Last week Cypher had testified Bumstead came directly across the road at his car, struck his front fender and then tore the running board and rear fender and continued on for some distance before the car upset. This testimony was all contradicted by Bumstead who said his car did not travel on at all but rather shot directly across across the road. Alfred Brown, the father of the dead man, testified it was raining at the time of the accident but this referred to conditions in Patchogue then.
At the conclusion of Brown's testimony Coroner Silliman handed down his verdict after a brief conference with Atty. Joseph Arata of the district attorney's office, who had carried on the questioning. Bumstead had not been held at any time since the fatal crash.
- [S49] Long Island Advance (Long Island Advance, 20 Medford Ave, Patchogue, NY), 7 Jun 1935, p. 12.
Memorial day was observed by the [Brookhaven] fire department with a service at the grave of Leverett D. Brown, a member who died four years ago. Twenty firemen rode on the trucks to the Yaphank cemetery where the Rev. Newell D. Lindner made an address and read a letter from the chief of the New York State Volunteer Fireman's association. Flowers were placed on the grave by Chief George A. Waldron and by Mr. and Mrs. Alfred A. Brown, parents of Leverett Brown. Several other relatives and friends and friends attended the service and the process was escorted to and from the cemetery by motorcycle policeman, Arthur Waldron. The fire department also presented a wreath of flowers to Mrs. William Seeley of South Country road in memory of her late husband, who was a member of the department, but is not buried here.
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Abt 1907 - 1931 (24 years)
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