Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-08
ANDERSON ALL RIGHT.
Colonel Stone Says the Pleasant Valley
Wires Were Not Charged-He Defends
the Sfrear Line.

Colonel Stone Says the Pleasant Valley
Wires Were Not Charged-He Defends
the Street Line.
The two dead wires mentioned in yesterday
mornings DISPATCH were removed early in
the forenoon, and unusual activity on the part
of linemen was noticeable all over the CITY, It
will not be long before the poles will not be
loaded any further with dead wires. As to the
underground question, Chief Bigelow con-
tinues emphatic in his declaration that they
must go under, and favors main subways. with
lateral connections on the side streets. He
says he has adopted plan which he will
formulate in his report, but has not yet COM
pleted the details.
Kirk @. Bgham is a firm believer in the
underground system in his ward, the Thirty
second, at least as the subways could be bored
from the side of the hill without digging up the
streets, or the old coal veins utilized.
E. G. Anderson, the Pleasant Valley lineman
who was injured on Monday night while string
ing guard wires along Smithheld street to keep
dead or broken wires from falling upon the
trolling lines. is recovering rapidly, and will
resume work to-day or tomorrow. His
nervous system is still somewhat shaky, but he
has the advantage of experience, which few
men who grasp electric light wires live to re-
late.
Hon. W. A. Stone, attorney for the Pleasant
Valley Company, said yesterday that it was an
man caught. and wished the correction made.
He continued: ut is hardly square deal on
our road, now that we have complied with the
public demands for rapid transit the cry is
raised about the danger of overhead wires.
and when an employe grasps the electric wire
we get the blame for the mischief There was
no current in our wires yesterday at any time.
so it would be impossible for them to have
done any damage"
Here Colonel Stone explained that the power
wire current would not kill, and offered to test
1t on the reporter, who, however declined, even
though offered the inducement of having all
his funeral expenses paid He resumed:
"The road was paying very well with horse
power, giving dividends of q, % and "a per
cent. But the large extent Of territory we Gov
cred and the constant and numerous demands
for rapid transit, forced us to hold consulta-
tiOn, at which the cable apd other systems were
considered. Every point was fully urged. The
cable system was rejected on account of the
steep grades, the numerous curves and, above
all, the bridges. This system was explained to
u.s. and we deem 1t the best in existence. One
peculiar fact in connection with 1t is that, out
of l70 electric railways running daily in the
United States, not one man mas been killed by
electricity while the cable cars kill almost a
man daily all over the country. We can stop
onr cars IN a much shorter space than the trac-
tion cars, as shown by the experiments of our
electrician Yesterday in Allegheny when he
brought one of the trolley cars full speed up to
one Of our old horse cars, stopping within ten
inches of it.
1T is hardly fair when we have invested
500 900 $500 900 in response to the demands of
the public to have the same public render that
property worthless, and the same papers which
insisted on having rapid transit now insist on
taking down our wires before they are even
tried. think we can get to running by Mon
wires are completed to save us from those dead
wires which you so rightly condemn in THE
DISPATCH. We have now 2S cars, Is of which
are fully equipped and ready to start at any