Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-18
CITIZENS FILE COMPLAINT
Benning Road Said to Be in Almost 1mpass-
able Condition.
Columbia Railway Company Charged
With Being Responsibilities
mand Made for Relief.

The people Of Benning and that vicinity,
the local butchers who make use of the
facilities provided by the Washington abat-
toir and Union stock yards at Benning, and
the truck farmers, dairymen and others.
complaining of the condition of Ben
ming road. This road is alleged to be in
anything but good shape, 1t being charged
that its bad condition is wholly chargeable
to the Columbia Railway Company. The
matter has been brought to the attention
of the District Commissioners by petition
filed by Messrs. Thos. T. keane, Andrew
Loefler and n Auth representing the To-
cal butchers, in which they request the
Commissioners to take such steps will
insure the immediate improvement of Ben
ming road, which. they state, is now, and
has been for a long time, practically inn
passabe
Forced to seek an isolated locality in
which to do our butchering, and having
spent nearly S15o.0oo in building a suitable
plant" the butchers say, I'VE believe it to
be not only "a great hardship, but also a
great shame that we should be practically
isola ted from the city for about six months
of the year during which time it is posi-
lively dangerous to send loaded team over
the Benning road.
From October 1898, until April 1899. we
suffered great loss. and unless immediate
action is taken we will experience a sim
liar loss the coming winter During that
time the causeway from the bridge to Mil
ler's Hill was one vast sea of mud. filed
with dangerous ruts. From Miller's Hill
to the city the roadway was closed and
blocked by a heavy fence. and we were
compelled to cross over the marsh and
through the commons of the city.
Numerous horses We're injured and had
to be killed, every animal that went over
the road suffered from unnecessary strain,
and numerous vehicles We're either broken
to pieces or badly damaged.
N n Il1h no time INIT for no
petion of the street railway has long since
expired. and inasmuch as there appears to
us to have been no valid reason why the
completion of the street railway grade and
the completion of the grade of the roadway
should not have been coincdent, we very
respectfully invite your earnest attention to
this matter in the hope that the said Ben
ming road will be completed at once and
opened for travel.
The COmpnny's Right.
The Columbia Railway Company. by an
act of Congress approved June IL, 1895.
was authorized to extend its lines along
Benning road from it's power house to a
point near Watts creek, provided the said
Improvement should be completed within
one year from the approval of the act The
railway company, it is claimed, never began
work on the extension until bad weather
set in last fall. 1t is also charged that
W hen the company did begin they tore up
the roadway and pre-empted the causeway,
rendering travel at all times hazardous.
but in bad weather positively dangerous.
Although the time for the completion Of
the Improvement has long since expired the
extension is said to still. be in an unfinished
condition.
The Benning Citizens Association has
taken up the matter and Mr.. ]. NJ. Wood
president of the organization, in speaking
OF the condition to d reporter of The STAR
today said:
For months and months at a time the
road has been one great sea of mud that
appeared to the casual observer to be alb
solutely bottomless. but horses in cross
ing it We're able to touch bottom in places,
although both men and beasts jeoparulzed
their lives and their drivers commended
their spirits to their Maker before entering
it. When the road was not in a quasi
liquid state it was so filled with ruts and
rocks as to make even the stoutest vehicle
cry for wagon doctor after trip over it
In either direction. So many accidents have
happened on ii that instead of being known
as the Benning road it has been called
the 'Blacksmith's Delight
Extra Teams Required.
Every butcher doing business at the abat-
toir has had to hire extra teams to do
his hauling. thus putting him to an
and onerous expense. and truck
farmers and dairymen have suffered great
,oss by reason of the expense of extra
horses they We're compelled to use to do
lItlr ndhlnS.
Hundreds and hundreds of illustrations
might be given, but a faint idea of the
fearful condition of things may be gather
ed from the fact that Mr.. John T. Reilly,
the dalTyman. became so exasperated this
spring at the outlook for getting to ard
from the city over such a worse than use
less piece of highway that he packed up
his dairy appliances and drove his herd of
fifty-odd cattle over to the city and To-
Gated at his brothers place, near 18th and
d streets northeast
Some one must be criminalIy negligent
when such a state of affairs is allowed to
exist within mile and a half of the cap
1tal OF the United States and in a territory
that has been facetiously spoken of as the
best governed city in the world. With the
possible exception of BrghtWood avenue
there Is more travel over Benning road,
when IL Is in condition to be travelled
without the Immediate need of an undertake
er or the dead animal wagon. than there is
over any other highway leading out OF
Washington. The voices Of thousands of
patient and long-suferng people cry out
Tor its restoration as passable highway"
No Fluctuations in Quality
IN IL