The sun., 1897-06-04
FLOODED BYTROLLEY WIRE
CURIOUS ACCIDENT IN MRS HOW
EF,S HOUSE IN WILLIAMSBURG

The Wire Broko in Front or tho House. and tho
Plumber who Came TO Repair the Insidc
Damage Thinks That Its Current Heated tho
Gas ripe and That Melted the water Pipes.
Fire and wator are tho allies Of tho deadly
trolley wire in Williamsburg. A broken trolley
wire on the Nassau road established SO deadly
connection yesterday with the house of Mrs.
Mary Howoy that It very nearly set
1t on fro, and probably would have
done SO hut for the fact that 1t
produced q flood and almost drowned out the
tenants, instead. All this was done without the
immediate and forceful contact which is char
acteristic of most trolley accidents. At no time
was the wire which caused all tho trouble within
ten yards Of the house.
When the accident happened Mrs. Howcy was
away md the house was In charge of Mrs.
Emma Gregory, who rents tho second floor.
About 3 o'clock crowd gathered in the road
way in front Of tho house. Cries of warning,
mingled with references to broken wire. came
to Mrs. Gregory ears. She went to the window
and saw crowd watching from respectful dis
tance wire. broken and hanging from the troll
ley circuit 1t writhcd and squirined about tho
trolley tracks like a wounded snake.
bystander suggested tho advisability of
winding it around an djacent post, $50 that It
couldn't do any HARM" and the motorman OF a
Canarsio car offered to do 1t. Despite the re-
monstrances OF the crowd he made the attempt.
No sooner had he touched the wire than he cast
himself to the earth with considerable abandon
and attempted to balance himself on his ear
| which is very difficult feat. and was attended
| In this case with meagro success
| After tho motorman had been rubbed back to
| his normal condition an enterprising citizen ap-
peared with pair of iron nippers. which in the
innocence OF his mind he thought would be o
sufficient protection in handling the wire. but
| the crowd prevented him from making burnt
sacrifice Of himself and the wire continued to
| writhe.
All this interested Mrs Gregory, who started
| downstairs to watch proceedings from n nearer
point OF view. AS she stepped upon the stairs,
water splashed upon her. Looking up she saw
the ceiling dripping with water.
| mercy on us The floors flooded" ex-
claimed Mrs, Gregory. Mrs. Corey must havo
| let the water overflow. Whatever will Mrs.
| Howey sayi'
| Up to Mrs. Corey's apartments on the third
| floor she sped. There she found the occupant in
a state Of high excitement. But Mrs. Corey
| didn't know anything about any water. Fire was
| what was bothering her. She had been smelling
smoke. Running down to the hallway outside
Of Mrs. Grcgory's room she pointed to place
| In the foor which was smoulderinG and asked
Mrs. Gregory II the curtains the first floor
hadn't caught fire. Investigation showed that
there was no fire there. but a great superfiuity
| of water
| Mrs. Gregory sent for plumber, who tore up
the floor, shut Off the water, and found that In
! some way tho gas pipe. which rested on the lead
water pipes, had become heated. melting the
water pipes. The heat had set the wood
work smouldering. but before It fairly
caught fire the water. broke loose and obviated
that danger. The broken trolley wire, the
plumber thought, was responsible for the acct
dent. The only explanation he could make was
| that the wire had formed connection through
| the ground with the outside gas pipc which
| leads into the house. He could not explain why
the current had not been diffused by the ground
Meantime the electricity had been turned of
| An electrician from the company came to the
place. and after looking at the melted pipes
said that the broken wire might have formed q
connection with the iron gas pipe leading to
Mrs. Howey's house. thus causing the damage.
When Mrs. Howey got home in tho evening
she found that the parlor and back bedroom had
boon flooded, and that the ceiling was in danger
OF falling. The basement was full of water. The
plumber said last night that from what he has
already scen Of the lead pipes there were proba
bly, other places where the hot iron pipe had
| melted them