The dust of Texas had barely settled upon the road in the town of Katy when a horror unfolded that would make the boldest constable shudder. A man of forty-four years, steering a peculiar electric carriage of the 'Tesla' breed, has been cast into the clutches of the law, charged with manslaughter. It is a grim business, indeed, as reported by the news-gatherers of Reuters.

Consider the tragedy: a poor soul, a lady of seventy-six years, lay dead in the ruins of her own hearth. In the month of June, this steel beast—a Model 3—smashed through the walls of a dwelling with the force of a runaway locomotive. The driver, trembling before the authorities, claimed the machine was governed by a 'Full Self-Driving' sorcery, meant to navigate the ways without human hand. He confessed, with a shaking voice, that he had been trifling with the music upon a glowing screen and had fallen into a sudden stupor, losing consciousness while the carriage roared on.

But the inspectors, acting with the precision of a Scotland Yard detective, found the truth far more sinister. The machine had accelerated to a terrifying speed—some seventy-three miles per hour—twice the limit allowed by the law of the land. For a full minute before the crash, not a single pedal of the brake was touched. The man was sober, his blood free of gin or opium, yet he had surrendered his soul to the machine.

Now, the lords of the Tesla company, led by the eccentric Mr. Elon Musk, deny all guilt. They claim that such carriages move with a tortoise's pace through residential alleys. Their chief of software swears upon his honor that the driver himself cast aside the automatic guidance by stomping his foot upon the accelerator with all his might.

The magistrate has set a heavy price for the man's freedom—a bail of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars—and has shackled him with an electronic band upon his ankle. He is forbidden from touching the reins of any carriage henceforth. Meanwhile, the grieving kin of the departed lady have filed a suit against the company, accusing them of a most wretched negligence and for concealing the flaws of their mechanical phantom.

It is not the first time such a calamity has struck the Americas. Only recently, another of these autopilot carriages tore through a house, striking a woman down. Though the medics rushed her by helicopter to the infirmary, the Great Beyond claimed her before the surgeons could act.