The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-02-17
THAT CAR RUNAWAY
1t Is the Sunday Topic in Every
Quarter.
HOW AND WHY 1T HAPPENED
Manager Wharton Believes He Can
Yet Handle Ore TraIns-"I Told
You So" Comes From the
Original kickers.

The>thrilling runaway of the two ore
cars on the Montana street electric line
on Saturday evening was a general top
ic of conversation yesterday. and all
sorts of reasons were assigned for the
accident, while predictions as to the flu
ture operation of the new line were of
an almost equally varied nature. The
residents on Montana street who OPP
posed the granting of a franchise for
the ore-hauling line were saying, Il
told you so" at every opportunity, and
appeared to derive a good deal OF salts
faction from the confirmation of the
predictions of danger which they made
while the fight for the franchise was in
progress.
The general expression of people who
have no interest in the affair further
than the general welfare and safety of
the community was that the accident
demonstrated that the new line is a
failure so far as freight traffic is con-
cerned, at least until some greatly i'm
proved method of handling them can
be found. They argue that IL a car only
half full of waste cannot be controlled
by four sets of brakes Ii would be out
of the question to attempt to handle a
loaded car with the brakes with which
II is supplied. To their minds II has
been abundantly proved that the brakes
are entirely inadequate to the service
that is required of them. They were
shown not to be strong enough to even
check the speed of the running cars on
a dry rail, and on a wet rail Ii is be-
lieved that they would be even worse
than useless.
Mayor Thompson stated yesterday 10
a Standard reporter that he will Off
cially notify the council of the accident
on Wednesday evening and have COM
mittee appointed TO thoroughly investi-
gate il. II hate to see the accident,
said the mayor, 'for there will now be
a good many people who will blame the
council for granting the street railroad
company franchise for Montana
street, although that is not of so much
Importance as the direct results of the
accident / have not yet made any in
vestigation of the accident, but IL seems
| to me that there was carelessness or
mismanagement somewhere. l firmly
believe, however that the new line can
be operated with prfect safety for both
passenger and freight traffic, but shall
I insist that ore cars must not be run
down the hill when there is any posi-
! BILE danger of a collision with passenger
/ cars. The street railway company
must arrange the running of cars so
that a collision will be entirely out of
/ the question.
II have seen cars OF cordwood run
/ down an electric line i'm Tacoma, where
/ the grade is a great deal sleeper than IL
/ is on Montana street. They run two
| cars together with at least five tons of
wood on each car. and they come down
1 the hill very slowly. and with perfect
] safety. / have no doubt that the brakes
which are in use on those cars would
/ be strong enough to hold the ore cars
! on the Montana street line. The people
are entitled to a full investigation of
| last evenings accident, and they will
/ get IL when the council meets on We'd
nesday evening. Were II not for the
fact that the council meets so soon,
would order an investigation myself. ="
General Manager Wharton was great
ly affected by the accident and the mar
| row escape of Superintendent Wathey
and Motorman Nelson and he was more
! than half sick all day. When seen al
his home last evening by a Standard
| reporter. he was disinclined TO talk
| much about the accident until he had
made a more thorough investigation i'm
/ to its causes. He spoke in terms of the
highest praise of the GOODNESS and nerve
| displayed by the superintendent and
! Motorman Nelson, and expressed tho
| most sincere regret for the injuries
they received.
II have my theory, of course, as e
the cause of the accident" said Mr.
Wharton, "but don't care to state jus
what IL is until | am sure that / an
right | don't believe, however, tina
IL was so much due to the failure of thu
brakes to work as is generally suppos
ed. No, / am not at all of the belle
that we will be unable to handle orr
trains on Montana street. Some chang
es will be made in the cars. however
and we will equip them with brake
that will be stronger and which VIII
work differently from those that wer'
in use yesterday. 1 a msatisfied tina
when this has been done the cars cal
be handled with perfect safety"
| Motorman Nelson's leg was amDutat
ed yesterday about five inches below
the knee. IL was taken off first jus
above the ankle. but il was found tina
the bone was cracked further up. whicl
necessitated a second operation. Tn
operation was performed by DIR. Muir
ray, assisted by Drs. Freund. Gum ant
Campbell. The patient rallied nicel'
from the operation and was restini
easily last night. He has strong con
stitution and the doctors say that hi
chances for recovery are excellent.