Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-26
SOME SAFETY GATES.
That is What Southsiders Want for
Their Street Crossings.
THE PENNSYLVANIA PETITIONED.
Some Doubts Expressed Owing to Borough
Privileges Coded Years Ago.
OLD AGITATION BREAKS OUT AFRESH

Petitions are being actively circulated on
the Southside and are being signed by many
of the manufacturers, business men and cit
izens, asking the various railroad companies
to erect safety gates or provide some other
protection to the public at the several street
crossings along the tracks. This matter has
been agitated more or less for several years,
but it never was taken up with the same
earnestness as at present.
Three fatal accidents in the past month
have caused the citizens to become indig-
nant at the companies, and there is uni
yersal demand for some steps to be taken to
guard against this constant onslaught on
human life.
But although the citizens are anxious,
and are doing all in their power to secure
the safety gates, it is possible that the latter
will not be procured without considerable
dificu lty. 1t seems that the Pittsburg,
Virginia and Charleston and the Panhandle
companies secured their rights of way be-
fore the Southside was consolidated with
the city, and in those days railroad COM
panies secured
BROAD AND LIBERAL
rights and privileges. The Lake Erie and
Pittsburg, McKeesport and Youghiogheny
roads procured their rights since the con-
solidation, but the present city ordinances
do not provide for protection at the cross
ings. The following is copy of the petit
ton being circulated among the South
siders:
To the Pennsylvania Rail road Company, operat-
ing the Pittsburg, Virginia and Charleston Divi-
sion: ~
The undersigned citizens and taxpayers Of
the Southside, Pittsburg. do respectfully repre-
sent: That for many years the various street
crossings along your tracks on the Southside
have been unprotected by safety gates or
signals; that as consequence OF this state OF
affairs, numerous accldents have occurred
which in many instances have resulted in the
loss Of human life; that these cases have be-
come SO common that scarcely week passes,
without some serious or fatal accident happen
ing at some one of your crossings; that it is the
universal cry Of the people of the Southside,
that for the safety and protection of our
citizens, it is necessary that immediate steps De
taken to avoid this jeopardy in which the lives
of the people are constantly placed. We there
fore petition you to provide such protection in
the shape OF safety gates or signals at the South
Twelfth, Eighteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty
shall seem to you most necessary to secure our
people from their present danger and peril
And your petitioners will ever pray.
A similar petition asks the Lake Erie
Company to furnish gates at the South
Twenty-second street crossing where the new
steam ferry crosses the river and where sew
eral accidents have recently occurred. Ex-
Councilman f. c. Beinhauer said last night
that the railroad companies could not
be compelled to put up safety gates. The
ordinances of the old boroughs which
granted the companies their right Of way
contains no penalty and are consequently
imperative. The old boroughs made mis-
takes for which the Southside must now and
forever suffer. The only way to get the
gates is to humor the companies and en-
deavor to coax them into providing the pro-
lection claimed.
A GENERAL ORDINANCE YEARS AGO.
Ex-Councilman Ruhland said he wanted
to prepare general ordinance three or four
years ago, compelling the companies to
erect the gates, but he was made to believe
that the city was bound to respect the priv
ileges granted by the boreughs before the
consolidation. He thinks differently now,
and there is some talk in his ward of gem
eral ordinance being prepared for Mr..
Braun to present. Councilman Braun said
he thought the companies could be COM
PEELED to put up gates.
There is some talk of a mass meeting of
citizens before the petition is presented to
consider the best plan to pursue.