Who will deny after the reading of Mrs. Koosen's diary that the autocar has given one more conclusive proof of the indomitable character of our race, and of the highest form of human unity, that of husband and wife, being a strength that overcomes all obstacles? Mrs. Koosen will live in history as the first lady of our land to steer an autocar and to have the moral courage to confess that her maiden effort ended in a smash; and Mr. Koosen can pose as the first English martyr of the autocar propaganda, though his suffering consisted only in the extraction from him of one shilling. I do think that if Mr. and Mrs. Koosen's first car can be traced, even though it be to a scrap heap, it should be preserved, and find a place in the museum which must be established for power-traction curiosities.
We had also a pioneer in Scotland, the Hon. T. R. B. Elliot, whose reminiscences of his early days of motor-car driving are as follows:—
My experience of motor-cars dates from 1895, for on December 27th of that year I received my first car—a four-seated Paris-built 312h.-p. Panhard phaeton.
Though I continued to use my car frequently months before the Bill passed, the Roxburghshire police undertook not to prosecute me unless a complaint was received from any of the public. Naturally I drove very carefully, and stopped for almost every horse I met, and was lucky enough to escape any complaint.
However, towards the end of February 1896, I thought I should like to break new ground, so, in order to get a clear road, I started one night at 10.30 p.m. for Berwick-on-Tweed—a distance of 30 miles.
Arriving at Berwick at 3 a.m. I proceeded to picnic under the shadow of the Town Hall, and was there soon surrounded by the entire police force on duty—13 men in all. The sergeant took my name, but did not think that any action against me would be taken. However this was not the case, as I was eventually fined the large sum of 6d., with 19s. 6d. costs, for 'using a horseless carriage without having a man on foot preceding it.'
