The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-08-25
LIKE OURS.
Wichita Street Cars Are An
Gent and Decrepit.
Make Noises Like Threshing
Machines on No. 4 Wheat.
DISTURB THE PEACE
And Upset the Dignity of In
offensive Citizens.
MOtOrmen Garry Tools To Make
Repairs During Trips.
THE PEACE

railway company has been sued for
more than $4,000 in as explicit and hu-
merOus a paper as was ever filed in any
court. 1t would do credit to a compos-
lite Mark Twain and Rufus Choate
The petition is filed by T Sexton and
he sues the Keene, New Hampshire,
Five Cent Savings bank, the. Keene
Guarantee Savings bank the Cheshire
Provident institution, the Wichita Rail
way, Light and Power company, w. Q.
Church. Herbert B. Church, A T.
Batchelder and the Wichita Electric
Railway company. Mr.. Sexton fell in
himself which inspires the following
unique specification. He says that the
said defendants permitted said rails of
said street railway system and partlc-
ularly upon Douglas avenue IN said city
to alternately contract and expand,
rust, wear out separate and spread
out Of line, so that a car passing over
the same at either the minimum or
maximum rate of speed as provided in
their franchise, frequently jumps the
said rails and glides peacefully over the
asphalt pavement of said Douglas ave-
nue. in said city, which action of said
cars, is a standing menace to the citi-
zenS of said city, and particularly to
strangers who are not familiar with the
peculiar antics of said defendants cars,
and same is dangerous to comfort life
and limb, as is well known to defend
ants. That said rails are antiquated,
and nave become so worn, spread and
separated, and were so negligently
maintained that said aforesaid cars
jump, rebound, jerk and jolt, producing
peculiar sea-sick feeling, so that pas
SengerS compelled to use them keep
their seats with difficulty, compelling
many to stand to avoid serious injury
to their anatomy, so that prudent ply
sicians have advised their friends and
patients to cease riding upon or in said
so-called passenger cOnveyances.
Plaintiff further states that the said
cars of said defendants are decrepit
and ancient and fall to pieces without
the slightest apparent proVOcatiOn, and
1t has been customary and necessary
for the defendants mOtOrneers to carry
with them Sundry jack screws, and
other multifariOus and divers tools and
implements WhereWith to temporarily
repair said sO-called cars to enable said
aforesaid mOtorneers to run the same to
their various and SuEdry destinations.
That the wheels attached to said cars
are variously abbreviated in that the
same are Hanged and fiat in spots,
causing noise resembling a threshing
machine working on No. 4 wheat,
against the peace and dignity of the
inhabitants of Wichita, whereby and
wherefore said cars can not be stopped
until the fiat portion strikes the said
aforesaid decrepit rail, ground or pave
ment as the case may be, thereby max
ing it difficult for said car again to pro-
coed upon its journey without the as
the unfortunate passengers. That said
cars were so negligently kept that same
have become racked and warped, caus-
ing some to be convexed, both hori-
ZOntal and vertical the spherical sur
face thereof showing apertures through
which a person on one side of the car
can see a thirteen inch she'll on the OPP
pOsite side of the street, compelling the
liberal use tarpaulin and umbrellas to
keep out the elements from said afore-
said cOnveyances sometime hereinbe-
fore designated as cars.
Said floors of said cars are perforated
and uneven, and paint has never been
used upon same for time whereof the
memory of man runneth not to the con-
trary."
Plaintiff further states that the run
ming gear, appurtenances and other ap-
planes of said cars are not the latest
appliances used by companies and
street car systems using electricity as
a motive power, and were and are
against all custom, usage and safe
guards and said tracks, rails and said
cars are not kept in proper repair nor
in condition as prescribed in their fran
chise, as the defendants we'll know.
That on the 14th day of July, 1893. the
said plaintiff was passenger on one of
the aforesaid cars of said defendant. hav-
ing paid his fare of five cents, the amount
due from his as such passenger: that said
car. had seats running lengthwise therein,
PENDANTS were negligently maintained as
That said defendants careIessly and
negligentIy placed under the seat of said
car and negligently permitted the same to
remain in said car, a certain tool box to
which was attached therein negIgently
and carelessly placed an iron instrument
or bar. which said piece of iron bar pro-
truded from under said seat into the aisle
of said car: that while said car was run
ming on Douglas avenue in the said city,
the plaintiff having placed his fare in
the fare box of said car, and said plain
tiff started to walk to one end of the car
to take his seat. the said car gave jolt,
the plaintiffs foot caught in said iron in
negligence upon his part, throwing said
plaintiff violently upon his back, on the
opposite side of the said car, severely
bruising, wrenching and injuring said
plaintiff in his back, spine and legs.
cRAzEn BY The SHOCK