Fifteen articles in this collection document significant events in Carl Fisher’s life. His “palimony” suit with Gertrude Hassler is an interesting example. Another important point is the Zanesville, Ohio county fair horse track accident in September 1903 that involved his teammate Earl Kiser and resulted in the death of several spectators. Also, there is Carl’s wonderful first hand account of his balloon ride when he competed in the Speedway’s first competition – the national balloon championships of June 1909.
This is a copy of an original letter dated May 1, 1939 and written by Harry D. Hartley of 4051 Washington Boulevard, Indianapolis. This gentleman was researching the location of three antique stop watches imported from Switzerland by Carl Fisher, Frank Wheeler and a Milton O. Reeves. The letter is a curiosity in that I question its factual accuracy. Among its claims is that Fisher, Wheeler and Reeves staged an auto race on an Indiana horse track in 1894 as a benefit to a Mrs. Webb, the caregiver for a group of orphaned children.
Perhap's Carl Fisher's most dramatic and brilliant promotional stunt, this article covers his balloon flight over Indianapolis - replacing the passenger basket with a Stoddard-Dayton automobile from his dealership. The flight occurred October 30, 1908 at about the time Fisher was reviewing tracts of land just West of Indianapolis for the purpose of building the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He also ran the largest - and first - automobile dealership in Indianapolis and this promotional stunt worked to attract more customers to his showroom floor.
This article reports the results of a 1904 race meet at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in which Carl Fisher competed with his new Mohawk racer. Mohawk was an early motor manufacturing company in Indianapolis. Fisher won a best of three heats match race against his friend and sometimes partner, Earl Kiser. Kiser also drove a Mohawk, and there is a pretty fair image of that machine associated with the article.
The feature article of this file is a short piece describing the two Mohawk Cycle Company racers that were ordered by Carl Fisher and Earl Kiser in 1903. Also appearing on the page is the description of track racing event. Note that Earl Fisher, Carl's brother, won one of the races using a Winton Motor Carriage Company car. The articles were published June 27, 1903.
My orginal comments about these articles appears below in italics. Research by Dr. Elsa Nystrom has forced me to reconsider my views on the September 9, 1903 Zanesville accident involving Carl Fisher. When I researched the incident four years ago, I found evidence (in the form of articles attached here) that despite what was reported in the biographies about Carl Fisher, it was Earl Kiser at the wheel of the Mohawk racer that plunged into a group of spectators.
This article provides insight to Carl Fisher's personality and private life. When Fisher married Jane Watts in 1909 it apparently came as a surprise to long time girlfriend Gertrude Hassler, a beautiful opera singer. Long before "palimony" became a part of our lexicon, Ms. Hassler obtained the legal counsel to file a $500,00 suit against Fisher in 1912. Hassler reasoned that she had sacrificed her career to be a life partner for Fisher and deserved financial consideration for her service. Understandably, this was one of the most juicy scandals of the year for Indianapolis.
The Fisher Palimony trial dragged on for months. This article details some of the finer points of testimony, focusing particularly on the comments of Jane Watts Fisher, who disputed rival Gertrude Hassler's claim that Carl Fisher spent the Tuesday evening prior to his marriage ceremony with her. Also, there are good insights to the Fisher's "honeymoon," where Carl took Jane on a train trip to Los Angeles so he could testify in another court case, this one brought against his Prest-O-Lite Company due to another of its damaging and notorious factory explosions.
This is another article that provides insights to the personal side of Carl Fisher. Written by Betty Blythe, the first woman to tour the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (in 1909 she rode with driver "Wild" Bob Burman at racing speed and lived to write about it) this story describes Carl and Jane Fisher's estate - called "Blossom Heath" - on Cold Spring Roads in Indianapolis.
This article is an artifact of limited value. It is a story about the Premier Motor Car Company racer Carl Fisher commissioned for the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup. The car was built during 1905 to Fisher's specifications. Fisher was determined to prove that American car companies could compete with Europe's best. This was most certainly a stretch as the products of France (Panhard, Clement-Bayard, Darracq, Hotchkiss, De Dietrich and others), Germany (Mercedes) and Italy's Fiat were clearly years ahead of American technology.
Just 26 months before Carl Fisher's death in July 1939, he drafted a letter to an open letter to Indianapolis News sports editor Ray Thompson which was published May 29, 1937. This is a good read for insights to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway founder and first president as he reflected on his life.
