Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-01
Commissioners Will Wait Until the
Court Acts.
TEE TROLLEY ON new YORK AVENUE
What Property Holders Say Of the
Company's Calm.
NO COMPLETE SERVICE

| ington railroad cars en- the Rev York ave-
nue. branch today. This afternoon the Com
missioners held / long board session, at
which the attorney for the District was
present, and discussed the temporary re-
straning order, issued Saturday, in detail.
| Although the order specifically mentioned
that the Commission ers were not to re-
move the overhead trolley, there was moth
Ing to the effect that they could not stop
the running Of the GERS at the boundary OF
the city. These questions were all consid-
cred by the Commissioners, and Attorney
Thomas expressed the belief that the order
of the court acted as restraining order in
| all respects, and that the Commissioners
have no right to interfere with the road
until after the injunction has been dis
posed of. He expressed himself as thor
oughly satisfied with the outcome, which,
he said. would certainly be decided In favor
of the District With these presentations
of facts the Commissioners decided TO
withhold any further action until after the
court had passed upon the Injunction on
| the Sth ultimo.
An lexington MINIS Protest.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
| The bill in equity filed by the lexington
| and Soldiers Home Railway Company, in
| furtherance of its scheme to permanently
| maintain the trolley on that portion of its
congressional favor or otherwise, If pos
sibie. the privilege of extending that I'M
| slightly and obn oxious system of street car
propulsion over it's other branches, is full
| of erroneous and deceptive statements, If
rot deliberate falsehoods. to a few of which
| permit me, through your columns, to brief
| ly call attention.
1t is alleged hat the removal of the troll
| ley from New York avenue will cripple "a
| complete system of street railway of great
advantage and convenience to the citizens
| of the District" A more incomplete, dis
Advantageous, inconvenient and disjointed
| sy stem of street railway than the whole
| outht OF this company does not exist in
| any city of the United States, and more
arc CANT and ridiculous assumption of
| completeness and convenience in any one
| of its varied and continuously changing
parts cannot be imagined. Its North Capt.
| toll street branch is operated from street
| to New York avenue only, a distance of a
| half dozen squares, and that with but one
| car. and from New York avenue over the
remainder of this portion of its line a street
| car has never be IN run. Its Belt Line con-
necton has bean curtailed at both ends,
| forming now an arc Instead Of q belt and
| making its name a misnomer. Its 9TH and
u street connections are SO badly out of
| Joint that many OF tfCse so unfortunate
| as to be compel ed to use it's lines walk
| from that point to the place Of their desti-
nation to save time.
II is further LEGGED as reason for the
peIpetuation Of the trolley, that many
| persons have purchased lots and erected
dwellings tn .reon in the suburbs of the
| city reached ny this line and are depend
| ent upon It for transit to and from their
homes Before the degeneration of this
| road began, which has been going from bad
| to worse uader its present naserent.
| the writer purchased a home in lexington
| reached by this lire, but then, and for some
| time thereafter. the road was reasonably
| Well operated. Storage battery cars were
| run on G street, and it took but fifteen
n rp 81 n ctr
| Eckirgton. with but one transfer, or a
| through trip. without change, if storage
| battery car was boarded in lexington on
| the way in from the power house.
| Now, 1t takes from forty to sixty min
| utes, according to connections, to cover the
| same distance, with two transfers. dis
| tance that can easily be walked in thirty
| five minutes. Instead, therefore, of being a
| benefit, as claimed. to this suburb this
road has been during the past two years
| a most serious impeachment to the develop
ment of Eckington. | know of several in
| stances Of parties seeking location for a
| home who would have settled in. Ecking-
| ton, but went elsewhere on the lines of
| other roads, because of the miserable SER
| vice rendered by this company, and there
are houses in lexington today that have
| been without tenants for several months,
| which never would fail to be occupied If
| the service on this road was anything like
| 1t should be- 1t never will improve until
| the trolley is wiped out of existence within
the city limits or permitted to be extended
| over all the lines of this company, which
Is the underlying point of contention in
| this whole matter. Some may be incon-
| venienced for short while by the removal
of the wires, but an improved system over
| the entire line will result the sooner.
The people in Brookland. the other sub
| urb alluded to, can speak for themselves
| on this matter. Suffice it to say, however,
| that g short time ago when they appealed
| to the road to run the cars closer between
| 3 and 0 in tho morning to accommodate
|
ingiy Informed by its management that
| they should turn out sooner and take some
! of the earlier cars, in which they would
| find plenty of room, and this is the road
| that Is now on its knees in court pleading
/ for an extension of its miserable existence.
| II is further alleged that section Z of the
| act of February Is, 1898, provided that an
| additional year should be given for the re-
| moval of the wires, but that 1t failed in the
| Senate for want of time" Ii there is any
thing in this point it is hoped that the at
| torney for the District will lay bare to the
court the trick by which the section re-
| ferred to was sneaked through the House
| as a rider on another bill having no con-
| nection whatever with the lexington road,
| and that the bill would not have passed
| the Senate with section Z in it had 1t come
| before that body for consideration. Some
| interesting data can be obtained at the
| Capitol on this subject.
| 1t is further contended that If the wires
| and poles are removed that portion of the
road from Florida avenue to It'll street can
| not be operated, the electric cars are
| too heavy to be drawn by horses. This is
| another subterfuge. What is to prevent
| the extension of the 9TH street horse car
| line to Florida avenue instead of transfer
| ring it's passengers at the present terminus
| of that line. There is nothing in the law to
| prevent the Use of horses instead of the
| trolley, and a horse car would make bet
| ter time from Florida avenue through TO
10Th and G streets without change than
| The present electric-horse system with its
| two transfers
1t is further claimed that because the
| act requiring the removal Of the wires and
poles imposes no penalty for non-compli-
| ance with its provisions the Commissioners
| are powerless to enforce the law and the
| company is justified in disregarding its
mandate. Attention is invited to sections
| ISIS Of the United States Revised Statutes
| and DOT ard 229 of the Revised Statutes of
the District. which empower and require
the chief of engineers in charge of public
! buildings and grounds to cause obstruc-
| lions of every kind to be removed from the
| streets and avenues of Washington, pre-
| scribe method of procedure, make it the
| duty of the United States attorney for the
/ District to institute the proceedings, and
| impose penalty of $40 a day for such
unlawful obstruction.
| The length of this communication pre-
| vents the pointing out of many other elar-
| ing Misrepresentation of fact in this le-
| galy termed bill in equity, but virtually a