The Press., 1897-09-16
(Hartford Courant.) THIRD-RAIL ADVENTURES.

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 The "third rail" electric system has been in daily use now between New Bri- tain 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 Newington turnout, but no one was hurt. For the rest the passengers have had no further discomforts than to see occasionally an accident such as happens in the stupidity of man to every sort of train. Shut in a close car the passenger doesn't see; in the open he takes in all that happens and his wonder Is that, while SO many people tempt Providence, so few get the damages 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 a car was killed and also one COW. That Is about the record 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 reaching from the power house at Berlin to the station at New Britain, and again from New Brit ain to Hartford, Is charged with electricity enough to keep all the cars in motion and many more than do go. It Is ''alive" all its length, and the extent of danger that lies in 1t has not been known and certain ly has not been underestimated. So far, however, 1t hasn't killed anybody. The car which Is like any other car, has al- ready killed several people; the rail alive all the time through its thirteen miles of length, and unlike any other, hasn't. It did kill 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 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 evil dences of the power of the rail, not all of them printed at the time, which tend to warn people away, yet which do not indi- cate that the current isInecessarily fatal to man. A tramp jumped from @ freight train ner Sigourney street in this city and sprswled over upon the New England tracks. When he etruck the electric rail, 1t 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 tramping rod. He drew 1t toward him as he stood by the wheel-rail and forgot to lift 1t. When 1t struck the live rail the electric current ran right through him. He gave leap or else was thrown down the embankment. He climbed up later, we'll scared but not hurt. He dropped the tamping bar at the moment of the shock and 1t fell acroes both rails. In about minute 1t was burned in two!
 The Queerest and most remarkable evi- dence of the power of the current was this: The section men are not afraid of the live rail. It Is safe unless they also touch the other rail. One man whose leg
 was touching the third rail reached over
 to pick up bolt. He never picked 1t up
 It picked itself up, and jumped right into
 his hand. When his hand was pretty
 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 com
 plete the circuit, there's a squeal and 6
 jump and dead dog. Any creature car cross safely unless the other rail Is also hit. Hence @ snake can crawl over tho
 charged rail if 1t does not happen to bt long enough to touch the track also | There have been two snakes found deaG
 already. One, quite large, undertook tc
 wriggle over while 8 car was waiting or
 the side track at Newington, and the pas sengers witnessed the execution. |
 squirmed along easily over the first track
 and then mounted the next with its tai
 still on the first. Suddenly the snake
 arched up into the air-in graceful shape
 and then 1t fell down dead.
 The electricity sticks by the rail in { persistent fashion in spite of temptation
 to wander. Water Is notoriously an eas.
 conductor. During one of the heavy Jul.
 rains there was water eighteen inche'
 deep on the track in one spot for a con
 siderable distance, but the power stil
 staid in the rail and the car made It's tril
 without inconvenience. There is almos
 no limit to the speed the third rail cal
 develop. Seventy miles an hour is rat
 reached without any difficulty.