CORONER PROBES RACE ACCIDENTS

Koons Starts Investigation of Speedway Deaths.

Coroner Claude Koons Saturday night put the wheels of the law in motion in an effort to ascertain the real cause of the two fatal accidents at the speedway track which resulted from in the deaths of Driver Joe Cooper and Mechanician Morris Keeler and to fix the responsibility therefor.

Information brought to the attention of the coroner that a loose plank on the northeast part of the track caused a blowout on Cooper's rear tire shortly before he crashed over the railing into the grandstand, led Koons to announce that all officials connected with the speedway race would be subpoenaed as witnesses at an inquest to be held in the near future.

"A thoro investigation of the accidents will be made," said Coroner Koons. "If anyone has been guilty of negligence, I intend to find out. As I was viewing the bodies, J.E. Meyer of Des Moines, who was the first to reach the spot where Cooper's car went off the track, told me that a plank was loose and that Cooper hit the plank, causing the blowout. I intend to investigate his story."

"The speedway people did not notify me of the accidents as they should have done. Chandler's manager called me at 9 o'clock after Keeler had died. The investigation will be thoro."

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