AUTO RACERS BID GOODBY TO PAIR KILLED ON TRACK

Steel-Nerved Speeders Silent and Thoughtful As They Gaze at Dead Rivals.

MANY FLORAL OFFERINGS

Checkered Flags Made of Flowers Will be Lowered in Grave With Them.

TRIBUTE PAID TO COOPER

"Joe Saw Death Coming and Did Not Flinch," Says Sebring Manager.

Two gray caskets stood in the chapel of Dunn's undertaking rooms on Locust street last night. They held the bodies of Joe Cooper and Morris Keeler.

Race drivers and mechanicians usually so carefree and contempt of death, stepped softly into the room and looked into the white faces of the men who a day before had been their intense rivals in a terrific automobile race.

The keen-nerved men whose habit is to laugh at death were there to pay a last honor to their comrades who had been beaten by it. "Smiling Ralph" Mulford and Eddie O'Donnell, youthful Pete Henderson and all the others of the drivers who had run in that fatal race Saturday stood about the doors of the chapel, sober faced and thoughtful.

Mrs O'Donnell Here.

A few women, among them Mrs. O'Donnell, and other friends of the dead drivers entered and looked at the still bodies. Outside on the street hundreds gathered and gazed into the windows or paused in curiosity as they passed.

Presently the caskets were placed in the automobile ambulance - a fitting vehicle for their last journey and taken to the trains which are bearing them away, Cooper to Sebring, O., and Keeler's to LeRoy, Minn., for burial.

When their bodies are put into their graves huge checkered flags made of flowers will be lowered with them. The checkered flag means: "You have finished your race."

O.F. Haibe, pit manager for Joe Cooper and a "pal" of the dead driver, stood in the room adjoining the chapel last night before the bodies were sent away and told with quiet intensity of the dramatic end of Cooper's life.

Died With Eyes Open.

"Joe died with his eyes open," said Haibe. "When I reached his body after that smash that killed him he was lying there, apparently looking ahead, and his face was as naturak as it had been in life."

"Poor Joe died game. He saw what was coming and he faced death without flinching. Those calm, steady eyes told me that."

There were no services last night for the driver and the mechanician; only the homage of their comrades and friends. The funerals will be held at their homes today. But the simple tributes of those who had known them and battled against them on the track and the quiet grief they showed were more affecting than formal rites could have been.

Caskets Banked With Flowers.

The bodies lay in gray plush caskets exactly alike. Each was banked with flowers. F.A. Duesenberg, owner of the car which won the race, provided a spray of lillies and roses for each casket. The drivers, mechanicians and A.A.A. and Speedway officials gave wreaths of galax, roses and lillies of the valley and sprays of roses.

Keeler's young wife and his aged father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. F.B. Keeler of Dubuque, were present. They left with his body. None of Cooper's relatives were here. He left a wife in Sebring. Haibe accompanied the body of his friend to the Ohio town where big hearted, earnest Joe had been a hero for his talent for designing cars and his victories on the track.

Many Autos in Procession.

Cooper's body was taken to the railway station first. It was placed in the motor-hearse and the little company of drivers and friends followed it in automobiles. Locust street was almost blocked. Two score automobiles, containing the Speedway and A.A.A. officials and others who wished to honor the game racers, joined the cortege and went on to the Rock Island station. A little after 9 o'clock the eastbound train drew in and the casket was placed on it. Eddie O'Donnell and Pete and Joe Henderson, Art Henderson, O.F. Haibe and Fred Claiborne lifted the body into the coach.

A small group gathered near the door and stood with heads uncovered as the train rolled away.

The body of Morris Keeler was placed on a Great Western train with honors equally simple and sincere. Besides the members of Keeler's family, Mr. and Mrs. P.G. Green of Moline, Ill., accompanied the body to LeRoy, Minn. Green intended to take over an interest with Keeler in the car in which Keeler met death. Keeler was driving as mechanician with Chandler for the experience.

No inquests will be made into the deaths of Joe Cooper and Morris Keeler.

To Hold No Inquest.

Coroner Claude Koons, after spending hours Sunday going over the race track foot by foot and talking with those who had witnessed the accidents, announced last night he believed the mishap that caused Cooper's death was due to negligence on the part of the men in the car alone.

Koons found no criticism to make of the construction or condition of the track except one suggested by a talk he had with Eddie O'Donnell, another of the racers, yesterday evening.

Descent Too Abrupt.

This was that the descent from the 40 percent slope of the track at the ends of the straightaway is too abrupt. He could not see how this could be remedied on a one-mile track, however.

"The statements that there was a bump on the track that caused Cooper's blowout were erroneous," said Koons. "I could not find any flaw in the surface. I think that the only improvement that could be made would be to strengthen the safety rail at the outer edge of the track and make the posts supporting it heavier. If this could be made to withstand the shock of a runaway machine hitting it the driver might have some chance of living."

Sebring Manager's Statement.

Coroner Koon's decision is strengthened by a statement signed by O.F. Haibe, pit manager for the Sebring crew, to which Cooper belonged. This statement was witnessed by LeRoy C. Dunn and Geis Botsford, Speedway officials, and is in the coroner's possession. It follows:

"I spent part of several days on the Des Moines Speedway prior to the race of Aug. 7 in which Joe Cooper was killed. I went over the track and knew it. I did not see any loose planks in the track and no planks or boards or timbers that projected above the surface so as to in anyway interfere with driving over the track. I know that prior to the race workmen went over the track with tools and cut down all rough places in the track."

"The accident was due to the blowing of a right rear tire. The tire started to fray three miles before the blowout occurred. I had noticed it for three laps before the accident occurred and intended to flag Cooper to come to the pits for a change. It was the duty of the mechanic to watch the tires. When the tire blew and the wheel went to the track and it skidded the machine and the wheels locked because in slewing the axle sprung and jammed the wheel."

"I know that the wheel locked for I was watching it closely because I knew the tire was defective. I had the signal board in my hand and raised to warn him to come in when the accident happened. My signal was to come in for a change of the tire that blew. In my judgement there is no responsibility to attach to the track or the track management."

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