Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-25
Directly Responsible for the Loss Of
Life and Limb on Crowded
Pittsburg. Streets.
WAGONS LEFT WITHOUT DRIVERS,
And the Horses Untied, Come in Contact
With Traction Cars With Serious
and Fatal Results.
SEVERAL BAD ACCIDENTS YESTERDA1
Superintendent wier Tells Of the Difficulty Of En-.
forcing the Ordinance.

A Citizens Traction car yesterday morn
ing crashed into wagon at Thirtieth street,
and in the wreck six persons we're seriously
injured. According to the best evidence at
hand the accident is purely attributable to
disregard of the law prohibiting the
standing of unhitched teams on city streets
without anybody in charge.
Probably no ordinance of the city has
less attention paid to it than this one. 1t is
easy to forget and difficult to en-
force. Even on the downtown streets
horses can be seen frequently'stauding with
out anybody to watch them. On the outer
streets of the city, in localities such as that
in which the accident occurred yesterday,
the disregard of the law is general and
teams by the dozen are left standing un-
hitched whike the drivers are in stores
attending to some business
Strict Provisions Of the Law.
The law is clear on the subject. 1t strictly
provides that teams at q standstill must
either be hitched or have some person in
charge The ordinance is probably not
generally known, but it is law never
theless
"It is difficult matter to enforce this
ordinance" said Police Superintendent
Weir last night. "a team can be left for a
moment while a driver runs into a store and
before an officer sees it he Is back in his seat
again. There is no question about the law.
1t means what it says"
The records of traction accidents, where
cars have collided with wagons, are largely
made up of cases where the vehicle had
nobody to watch it at the time. According
to law the blame is on the driver and not on
the motorman or gripman in such cases.
unless there are other circumstances i'm
plicating the latter. As a rule the public
generally considers the car people guilty of
carelessness and puts down another black
demerit mark for rapid transit.
Details of the Accident
Shortly after o'clock yesterday morning
car No. lis, of the Butler street branch of
the Citizens line, was coming toward the
CITY. In front of Marooney's saloon at
Thirtieth street and Penn avenue Phoenix
brewery wagon was standing. The driver
was inside the saloon and the horses were
not hitched-
As the car approached the horses became
restless and began backing the wagon. The
car was skimming along at the regular
speed, When within a few feet of the
car The horses gave jump back
ward and pushed the iron rail
of the vehicle right out over the
track Gripman G. w. jenkins applied the
brake and sand, but to no avail, and in an
instant the crash came. The front of the
car was crushed in and passengers on the
front seats were all more or less injured.
Benjamin Wise, notion dealer of Thirty
seventh and Butler streets, had his shoulder
blade broken and was inj jured internally.
Abner Edward. of Penn avenue, had his
skull fractured and was otherwise inj ured.
Edward Howe, of Penn avenue, was serious
ly injured about the head. James Benz, of
Butler street, was cut on the head with
glass Two men, whose names could not be
learned, were also badly injured by broken
glass.
Another Collision With a Wagon.
At Thirty-ninth and Butler streets car
No. 102 collided with Standard oil wagon
and completely demolished it. The driver,
Lucian Wilson, was slightly injured.
George Headly, of Lawrenceville, was
struck by a car at Twenty-eighth street,
whil. endeavoring to get out of the way of
a wagon, and badly injured internally. He
was taken to the West Penn Hospital.
At 5 o'clock Wednesday morning a
Duquesne car collided with q wagon which
was standing without driver. and the
horses attached to which started on the
track just as the car approached. The
morning was foggy, aud though the watch
man stopped the car as soon as possible
the entire front was broken in, and he had
a narrow escape from serious. if not fatal
injury. Instances of this sort are reported
from some section of the city nearly every
day.