A farmer fed up with boys shooting rabbits from a big Cadillac in front of his property in Grants Pass, Ore., fired at the car and hit Don Belding in the thigh. Belding was one of nine teenagers in the Cadillac that October evening in 1912.
The farmer, J.J. Baldwin, acknowledged shooting at the car and said if he’d had more than one cartridge in his rifle, he would have fired more shots. Baldwin told police that automobiles passing along Pacific Highway in front of his Grants Pass home had pestered his family beyond his self-control.
He said the sound of the boys’ gunshots had thrown his wife into a nervous fit just as they sat down for dinner, so he grabbed his gun, only intending to mark the car so he could identify it later. He said he hadn’t meant to harm anyone.
The Rogue River Courier newspaper said Josephine County had a law against shooting firearms on public highways, but it was “pretty generally violated,” and shooting rabbits scurrying in front of car headlights was a popular pastime.
Source: "High School Boy Shot by Farmer." Rogue River Courier 4 Oct. 1912 [Grants Pass OR] : 1. Historic Oregon Newspapers. Web. 16 Sept. 2016.
