The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1901-11-30
BAD SQUEEZE
A Sample Trip on the Como
Harriet Street Car
Line.
Passengers Were Standing
Till the Car Passed 10th
Street.

A trip on crowded Como Harriet car
from the business district of Minneapolis
to the southwestern section of the city
would be an experience long to be remsm-
bered were it not such a common occurs
renee for the many patrons of the line.
A representative Of The Journal
who ordinarily mixes in the rough and
| tumble of Sixth avenue N car at sup
per time, varied the monotony last even
ing by taking passage on one of the big
cars which run half way across St. Paul
and completely traverse Minneapolis from
east to west. The capacity Of these cars
is well taxed at any hour of the day, but
around o'clock there is certainly
something doing" 1t very often hap
pens that these cars are well filled in st.
Paul by through passengers, many of
whom hold down their seats until they
get well into the eighth ward of Mime
apolis. The result is that the people who
begin to get aboard the cars in Southeast
Minneapolis have long, wearisome stand
| In prospect and it is almost a certainty
that the unfortunates who are showed up
in front when the car reaches the business
until they have reached or nearly reached
their destination
AS rule the people who are forced to
stand pay little heed to the conductors
constant injunction to ''crowd I'D the
aisle The result is that they insist on
punching on the rear platform and as near
the door as possible inside.
Sample Car Observed.
| This was the case with Como-Interur-
ban car, No. 776, leaving transfer at Hen
nepin and Washington avenues, which
the Journal man boarded shortly before
! o'clock last evening. The register
showed that the conductor had rung I'D l2S
fares. There were about 100 people on
the car at that time. The seating ca
pacity Of these cars is 50, so that there
were nearly as many people standing as
sitting when the car got fairly started out
Hennepin avenue
! AS those standing insisted on crowding
toward the rear to avoid being carried
beyond their streets, the car seemed much
more congested than it really was In
consequence. they were packed in so tight
! QldIIOrn
had to back off to let people out When
the car started. women threw their arms
| around men standing next to them to keep
from falling. the passengers were thrown
| violently against their neighbors and
! forced to sidestep rapidly to keep their
| feet.
| At Groveland avenue an elderly gentle~
man gravely inquired of a friend with
whom he kept up desultory conversation
between jerks, If he were hanging on by
| his eyebrows.
Yes, and I've scratched all the skin
off my teeth holding onto the roof" was
| the reply.
Shoppers Buck the Line.
A sudden stop at the next corner pres
| clpitated a frail. scared looking young
woman through the crowd in the door and
onto the rear platform, much as a player
might go through the line in a football
game. After making a touchdown at the
! gates her parcels, which narrowly missed
being lost in the shuttle, were pitched
over to her catch as-c -catch-can."
| At Twenty-fourth street portly gentle-
man, who looked as though he could afford
a carriage, remarked:
we'll have to get different alderman
! before we can get better service from the
street railway company"
The crowd had thinned out so by the
| time CnaL every one DOunO lot the LAko
| stret district was able to find a seat.
The experience of the passengers on car
776 was but an ordinary incident in the
| lives of Como-Harriet patrons
| And there are other lines.
Conditions Not Temporary.
On the evening OF Nov. 20, the weather
being pleasant Como-Harriet car No. TIA.
west bound, arriving at the transfer point
at Washington avenue, at 5:18, brought
twelve passengers who were compelled to
stand and by the time Seventh street was
reached the number had increased to
thirty one, despite the general exodus at
Washington.
On the same evening the Como-Harriet
! car, No. 764, west-bound, reaching Wash
| ington avenue at 5:44, carried thirty-siE
| passengers who were unable to secure
seats after 1t left Sixth street.
On other cars the number was about the
| same ranging from thirty up; and after
6 o'clock there were Invariably as many
people clinging to straps, as were seated.
| GLASS BLOCK CLOSES EARL