The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1897-01-17

damage was done by the monster run
away machine. 1t will be remem bered
that these machines consist of very large
rollers surmounted by a donkey engine
that furnishes the motive power. The
smaller roller is used to guide the affair.
For several days the street contractors
have been laying the concrete foundation
of the block mentioned. After them came
the men who placed the basaIt pavement
upon the concrete, and last of all was the
roller, the mission of which was to firmly
pack, by its great weight the basalt pave
ment. The block from Fulton to Meal
lister streets is very steep, probably an
per cent grade.
When the men with the roller appeared
for work yesterday morning a controversy
arose, several expressing the opinion that
the basalt was too slippery for the ma
chine to work well, particularly as adriz-
cling rain had made the new pavement
very slippery.
at last it was decided to go ahead with
the work, rain or no rain. Back and forth
the huge roller zigzaeged across the street
as it worked its way up the hill. George
Heinemann, who keeps a small grocery
store on the northeast corner of Fulton
street at the foot of the hill was beside
get loose" he exclaimed, sit would crush
my little store into kindling wood"
For fifteen minutes he hurried around
the neighborhood to get half dozen bales
of hay to place against his wall as a barri-
cade against the monster, but he failed to
secure even straw.
At last the huge engine reached the top
of the hill, and the tillerman threw the
tiller to port. and the roller answered
handsomely and started on its way down
the hill. An exclamation from the en-
gineer showed that there was something
wrong.
The ponderous machine had started
slowly enough, but at every second its
speed increased alarmingly. The engi-
neer and tillerman stood by their posts
like heroes. When near the east sidewalk
a turn was made and the roller started to
the west. Midway of the street it made
another sharp turn and headed east again.
Meanwhile the engineer was struggling
with the lever to reverse the motion, but
it would not reverse. The tiller, too, failed
TO answer, and with a rush the eight-ton
machine started on destruction bent. 1t
was headed for Heinemann' g little grocery
store.
The latter by good fortune was saved.
Midway of the block stood an iron street
lamppost, and close to it was an electric
light wire pole, Is inches square at the
base.
On few the huge monster. The
street lamp fell first and glass and
broken iron were scattered all over
the sidewalk A second later and the
roller struck the electric light pole. To
the surprise OF dozen or more spectators
the force of the blow broke the large tim
Der off close to the ground, and again
about twenty feet from the ground. The
shock threw the engineer and tillerman
high into the air, but they landed on the
ground uninjured. The big roller was
checked for moment, but only for a mo-
ment.
With almost human cussedness that
sometimes animates inanimate things the
locomotive turned and made for the cor
ner dIagonally opposite. There Z. Rhodes
has recently completed a fine new gro
cery-store with large glass windows and
large wooden column that supported the
oyerhanging stories above. For this new
creation OF man the wild roller rushed
with sullen rumble that meant mischief
The engineer started after the runaway
and with bound landed on the platform,
and the tillerman seized large block of
wood, which he threw in front Of the