The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-05-19
FAST STREET CARS.
That Is, Fast One Way, But Very
Slow in Another.


Another thing our people are heard to
comment upon frequently is the manage.
ment of the street railway, and while
4 much Of the grumbling comes from PEG.
I pie who would growl ii they had the earth
land would not recognize the fact that
therein they owned n good thing-it must
be confessed that some of the complaints
are not altogether unfounde1. In u town
the size of Roanoke .. street railway with
all the modern improvements is very often
q very hazardous undertaking, especially
where the distances are short and there
are no outlying points of interest to in
cite travel, and it is probably true that
in our city were it not for the Vinton and
Salem lines, especially the latter, we
1 would not get as good service as we do.
The tiihe between cars in the city is one
of the things complained of and is often
really most inconvenient, but it must be
\ taken into consideration that our streets
+ arc only wide enough to accommodate
\ single tracks, which of course necessitates
smaller schedule of cars in any one di.
{ rection. The single track may account
for the fast rate of speed that our cars
are run ut certain points, and though on
the whole disposed to stand up for the
Street Railway Com pany we cannot but
question it's right to run cars so fast.
While there are probably fewer accidents
other cities, there are many narrow es-
capes Good luck is ali that has saved the
company in many instances. There is
law fixing rates at which cars shall be
run in the city limits and it should be
enforced. Public safety demands it,
The Campbell avenue cars coming in and
the Jefferson street cars between Ninth
avenue and the Terry building also com.
ing in are the ones that seem to disregard
the law the most.
AS rule the employees of the street
railway are courteous and seem to he
more than willing to do all in their power
for the comfort of passengers, yet in
many instances they appear totally obliv-
ious of the danger that people are placed
in by frightened horses, and even occa-
sionally seem to enjoy seeing teams be.
Gene unmunageable. An instance of this
was Witnessed by many people on JeGer.
son street in front of Fairfax 81 os. ard
ware store yesterday afternoon. A man
was doing his best to hold his horse
which was hitched to a light buggy and
which became more and more frightened
as the car starting from the station came
near. The horse finally broke loose and
wheeled around on the sidewalk. He was
stopped before he could do any damage,
but the motorman never seemed to realize
that by slowing down his car for II min
ute he might prevent serious injury to
some one. We see instances of this kind
every day. 1t must be admitted that
there is probably no law calling upon
motormen to look out for such things or
to interest themselves in anything not
directly connected with their cars, yet
corporations as we'll as individuals who
have to depend for sustenance upon the
patronage of the public, must let their
interest in what concerns especially the
safety of that public, little beyond the
ends of their official noses. OF course if
these noses are turned up, bumped or
otherwise distorted from the ways in
which right-minded noses should travel,
their owners cannot but expect to find
themselves in trouble if they undertake
ito follow them too closely.
Some Of us are being treated of late to
the regulation old time COW bell serenade.
How we enjoy it cannot be adequately ex.
pressed in words. 1t is so pleasant to lei
awake at night aud listen to it's music or
to throw open the easement in the eaIly
morning and drink in it's melody along
with the song of the English sparrow and
the glad spring air. How we like to sit
out in the afternoon under the shade of
the trees and allow ourselves to be lulled
to rest by it's sweet monotony and how
we pray for IA gun and an early opportu-
nifty outside the city limits to test it's DO.
tency. How we would like to fasten that