Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-18

the home of her sister. Mrs Connolly. 1928
18th street. She has cut over her eye and
fractured. Thefe are lalso many bruises
about her body Thi4 morning her face
was so badly swollen that her eyes were
entirely closed.
In her delirium she-spoke of the acct
dent and seemed to imagine that she mad
been decapitated,, She,js constantly telling
those at her bedside @ofshe accident: and 1t
is thought that her condition is critical
The other victims of The accident are do
ing well, SO fabsas thu police learned this
morning, and none of them seem to De DAN
gerously hurt
This afternoon the detectives visited the
homes of manYtof those who We're pas,
sengers on the ear yesterday and arranged
to have them at the inquest tomorrow morn
ing.
A CitiEsn's Complaint.
A resident of lexington. in conversation
with Star repbrter t6day. said:
about three Years ago a car of the City
and Suburban line. rushing down a grade
and round curve, was overturned and
hurled from Its trucks at the corner of I'd
and r streets northeast. Instructions were
given to motormen to stop at the COM
mencement of the grade at I'd and Ran
dolph or before making any sharp turn
For while these instructions were Obeyed
but as time passed on they were lost sight
Of
For months and years the cars of this
line have been regularly overcrowded and
packed during the busy hours of morning
and afternoon. Cars already full stop at
the corners to take on people waiting to go
to their places of business They continue
to take on until human beings are hanging
on like flies at both ends of the car both
inside and outside the platform. Warnings
have repeatedly been given in the news
papers of the danger of this, even with the
most careful handling of the car. But when
there is the added condition of careless
or ignorant motorman the danger Is, Of
course, extreme.
I'm spite of warnings of danger and con-
slant complaints of unsatisfactory Service,
in the way of loaded cars, reckless motor
men and an insufficient supply of cars, this
company has gone right along on it's way
Of disregarding the public appeal
In the meantime people must get to Office
and business somehow, and no other way is
open to them but to risk their lives on cars
made to hold fifty, but crammed with
double that number.
1.-The horror of Monday morning at 4th
and streets northeast is simply a natural
sequence Of a state of things which has
long existed.
Not alone on the grounds of discomfort.
of unsanitariness. of indecency, but of peril
of life and limb, the time has come when
the travelling public in these outlying dis
tricts should demand better service.
1.-The carrying of passengers on long SUBJ
urban lines should be regulated by law
and a system of inspection instituted to see
that the law Is carried out
Statement of Witness.
Chas. H. Coe, a passenger on the over
turned car said today
1.-The accident should have great influence
in securing congressional relief from over
crowded cars on this line, well as on the
Brightwood railway. For the past two years
most of the morning cars and evening cars
the former line, to my knowledge, have
been crowded to their utmost capacity. The
front and rear platforms are also so con-
sested with passengers that it is usually
somewhat difficult to get off the cars. Not
only is the interior oflthe cars and the plat
forms at either end packed with humanity,
hut outside of the rear end of the closed
cars may be daily counted from four to ten
persons holding on the window frames and
standing often with one foot only on mar
row ledge. Even in this crowded state the
cars almost invariably stop to make room
for one more. the conductors never SEEM
ing to know when they have load. The
front platforms are often crowded to such
an extent that the motormen are interfered
with in the free discharge of their duties
Il am a daily patron of the City and SUI
burban railway and was a passenger on
the car that overturned yesterday morning
The car vas crowded as usual, about half
the passengers standing up. 1t is reason
able to conclude that mot more than half
as many casualties would have occurred
had the car contained reasonable load
The man who lost his life was standing on
the front platform; had he been inside he
would undoubtedly have escaped with few
bruises and sprainS. So : w.
81 was standing Ia the aisle, holding on
to seat, about four feet In the rear OF
Mr.. Sprague, who was ON front platform.
Without moments warning the front of
the car was momentarfly elevated, fol-
lowed by deafening nofses-a banging,
humping, grating. gathering and crashing
with the shrieking of women, as though
pandemenium had broken loose
MY first thought was that we were all
doomed to destruction. The next instant
L was dashed to horizontal position on
the right side of the car, among broken
glass, window frames and pieces of car
seats l was pinned down as in a wise, and
believed that l should be smothered, al
though a joyous thrill darted through me
that had escaped serious injury.
LAS soon as my head was uncovered 1
repeatedly shouted to those above me to
Keep cool and we would all get out After
what seemed a long time l was enabled to
thrust up an arm, and some one raised me
to an upright position. A lady was lying
at my feet, and L raised her up and sup
ported her until she was pulled up through
the window above us. Her face was COW
cred with blood from numerous wounds.
Then 1 turned and saw Sprague lying PIN
ned beneath the car with one arm out
stretched within 1t. Climbing through a
window L realized that my side was spratn-
ed, and later found bruises and clotted
blood on my head. l took the first car for
Langdon, and had my comparatively slight
injuries attended to-
s'The primary cause of the accident was
the fog which prevented the motorman
from seeing the curve in time to show
up. Although the vapor was thick enough
to cut with a knife, the car was on time
when 1t arrived at the North Langdon sta
ton and up to the moment of the accident.
1t should have been running at half the
usual speed. Proof that it was going at a
fast rate for such morning Is furnished
in the fact of its being on time and of It's
overturning. The car was not on a down
grade, as some say, but on level.
'It is to be hoped that Congress will
compel the company to run cars more fire.
quently, say every ten minutes between the
hours of $50 and $50 am. and 4:3O and
$50 pm; also to keep the platforms en-
tirely clear of passengers.
"Such a system would benefit the COM
pany financially as much as it would the
public in comfort and convenience, for the
reason that every fare could then be COL
lected. AS 1t is now. many fares are
missed because 1t is utterly impossible for
the hard-worked conductors to collect them
ALL"