The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-07-06
CAR In THE GUTTER.
Novel Accident Completely Blocks
the Street Railway System.

With the brief rumble Of an ap-
preaching tornado and the startling
| crash, as though of building, an In
| terurban car jumped the rails at Fifth
| street and First avenue south yester-
day afternoon, tore blocks of pavement
| from their position and struck the curb
| stone with a laundering crash. The
shock was terrific one. The car was
| moving at a rapid rate and the motor
man was unable to bring 1t to quick
stop. Fortunately, but eight passen-
gers were aboard, and the probable
consequences would have been differ
ent. AS it was. the excitement was
| great, but the presence of mind of the
conductor in fastening to pacify the
passengers rendered 1t Of a short du-
ration. Beyond a severe shock and
fright, no person was injured.
The accident was an unusual one, but
due to a surprisingly simple cause. The
car, No. SAC, in charge of Motorman
Cook and Conductor Raymond, round
ed the corner Of Sixth street onto First
avenue at an average rate of speed.
Directly upon the latter and quite clear
of the switch, the double truck under
the rear end of the car sprung from it's
position. Just what such action was
due to Is not known, but was attributed
to the swing of the body of the car in
rounding the curve, throwing the
wheels slightly from their proper posi-
ton. The street between the tracks Is
laid with stone paving. The fanges
of the left wheels slipped over two
inches and dropped into the narrow
opening between the rails and the paw
ing. The right wheels Of the truck ran
along the top of the rails.
The position thus attained was not
sufficiently pronounced to direct 1t to
the attention Of the men in charge.
hxnsA ~ 110
current was turned on, and the huge
car proceeded towards Washington
avenue at a good rate of speed. Two
reputable men standing on the New
England corner at Fifth street and
First avenue stated the car was going
upwards of sixteen miles an hour. At
the Fifth street crossing a piece Of
brick lay on the rail. The first truck,
which was in proper position, passed
1t without trouble. but the rear wheels
were given an additional spring and
the hangeS cleared the rails.
For about ten feet they ran along
close to the outer side of the rail. Then
they began to separate from 1t, and at
a slowly diverging angle started for
the sidewalk. The rapid movement Of
the car resulted in the distance being
quickly increased before the attention
of the driver was drawn to 1t. He
quickly endeavored to bring the car to
stop, but not before the rear end had
swung and struck the curb stone. The
result showed clearly the force Of the
conveyance. The body Of the car slid
from the rear truck onto the sidewalk.
The king bolt connecting the truck to
the body snapped like straw and the
springs were torn from their place. The
side protectors along the car from the
body down were snapped and broken.
The sudden stop would have over
turned the car but for the fact of It's
sliding to the smooth pavement and
the remaining of the front end of the
body of the car on the fore truck. 1t
| swayed threateningly as it was, how
ever, causing CONSERVATION among the
passengers. The position of the con-
veyance, lying almost at right angles
! to the rails, completely blockaded the
tracks in both directions. No cars
could pass either way, and for time
1t was feared that the connection
necessary to accommodate those wish
ing to attend the ball game in ST. Paul
would be cut off. Other routes were
utilized, however and all the lines were
running uninterruptedly in short
| time.
The work of getting the car back to
the track consumed three hours. Short
| ly before o'clock it was again got on
| the rails and taken to the repair shop.
The blocks of paving torn from their
position by the wheels were replaced
and the scene of the accident was as
though nothing had occurred.