The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-09-01
THIRD RAIL IS SAFE

No One Has Been Killed By It Yet
 Its Danger Exaggerated-Dog and Snakes Have Been It's Victims
 Queer Freaks of the "Mysterious Cur rent"
 The third rail" electric system has been in daily use now between New Britain and Hartford ever since the middle of May, During all this time not one of the tens of thousands of passengers carried by this route has been killed or seriously injured. There was one slight collision at the Newing- ton turnout, but no one was hurt. For the rest the passengers have had no further discomforts than to see occa- sionally an accident such as happens in the stupidity of man to every sort of train. Shut in a close car, the pas senger doesn't see; in the open he takes in all that happens and his won- der is that, while so many people tempt Providence, so few get the dam ages they are entitled to. Two men have been struck and killed by third rail cars, which do not turn out any more than steam cars do for people on the track; one pair of horses driven right in front of car was killed and also one COW. That is about the rec ord of the cars themselves.
 But the great danger of this system was supposed to be in the third rail Itself. That great strip of iron reach ing from the power house at Berlin to the station at New Britain. and again from New Britain to Hartford, is charged with electricity enough to keep all the cars in motion, and many more than do go. It is alive" all it's length and the extent of the danger that lies in it has not been known and certainly has not been underestimate So far, however, it hasn't killed any body. The car, which is like any other car, has already killed several people; the rail, alive all the time through it's thirteen miles of length, and unlike any other, hasn't. It did kill a horse whose master drove him between the tracks. The animal fell across both rails and was burned to death The most serious accident caused by the rail to any person was when a young girl at Newington, as already reported, fell while crossing the track and lay at once upon the traction rail and the live rail- She was scared and burnt but her companions pulled her away and now she is as lively and we'll as any of her friends. There have been a good many other evidences of the power of the rail- not all of them printed at the time, which tend to warn people away, yet which do not indicate that the cur rent is necessarily fatal to man. A tramp jumped from a freight train Sir011rnayt in nj md sprawled over upon the New England | tracks. When he struck the electric rail- it threw him right up in the air. He gathered himself together and told the gate tender that he was not going to try that again. One of the section hands reached across the live rail for an iron tamping rod He drew it to- ward him as he stood by the wheel rail and forgot to lift it. When it struck the live rail the electric current ran right through him. He gave leap or else was thrown down the en- bankment. He climbed up later we'll scared but not hurt. He dropped the tamping bar at the moment of shock and 1t fell across both rails. In about minute it was burned in two.
 The queerest and most remarkable evidence of the power of the current was this: The section men are not afraid of the live rail It is safe un- less they also touch the other rail, so they work beside it without fear One man whose leg was touching the third rail reached over to pick a bolt. He never picked it up. It picked itself up, and jumped right into his hand. This Is a fact When his hand was near the bolt, that bit of metal left the ground and went to meet the hand!
 While no man has been hurt, several large dogs have walked to death by trying to step on the third rail and also on one of the others. When their bodies complete the circuit, there's squeal and jump and dead dog Any creature can cross safely unless the other rail is also hit. Hence snake can crawl over the charged rail if it does not happen to be long enough to touch the track also. There have been two snakes found dead already, One, quite large, undertook to wriggle over while a car was waiting on the side track at Newington, and the pas sengers witnessed the execution. It sduirmed along easily over the first track and then mounted the next with its tail still on the first. Suddenly the snake arched up into the air in graceful shape and then it fell down dead
 The electricity sticks by the rail in a persistent fashion in spite of tempta- tions to wander Water is notoriously an easy conductor. During one of the heavy July rains there was water eighteen inches deep on the track in one spot for a considerable distance. but the power still stad in the rail and the car made it's trip without incon- venience. There is almost no limit to the speed the third rail can develop, Seventy miles an hour is a rate reached without any difficulty.-Hartford Cour- ant.
 ATTACHED SIX1Y ICRES
 Greenwich Suit for Breach of Contract
 Greenwich, Conn, Aug 31-Sheriff