Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-02-18
GOT BAD SCARE
Trolley Car Went Down En-
 bankment Near Cheshire.

The passengers on the Cheshire trolley car which left the center yes terday afternoon shortly after 1 o'clock were given the scare of their lives, when the car left the tracks near the Northampton bridge which is a short distance from Cheshire. As 1t was the front end of the car went partly down the enlbankment at tho point mentioned, and although tho thirty passengers on board were given a severe jarring no one, with the cx- ception Of kernie Burns of HartfOrds was injured to any extent. He wns on his way home to Hartford and was standing on the front platform of the car. When the car left the rails nc was thrown with much force against the side of the car. He was brought to this city, where his injuries were dressed by Dr Crane.
 The rear end of the car remained on the tracks so that 1t was impos- sible for any cars to pass, and the passengers who were on their way to New Haven were held up until about 6:3O No cars came to Waterbury from the time of the accident until almost ' o'clock. Then the passengers had to change cars where the ill fated ar left the rails, being compelled to walk about 100 feet. The car was in charge of Motorman Thomas Cotter and Con- ductor Harry Taylor and neither could explain how the accident o. cured. Cotter said that he was not travelling at very fast clip and Is the cars along this stretch of track have very little trouble, especially on the trip to Cheshire, he was much surprised when his car left the rail. It was steering for the embankment, but he quickly reversed the lever and by plugging the car brought it to a halt. A peculiar thing in connection with the accident was that the pole clung to the wire, otherwise the car could not have been plugged as there would have been no power and a serious accident would have resulted. The passengers who were on their way to New Haven were detained further along the route by a couple of minor accidents and when the arrived in the Elm city, it was about 9 o'clock. Superintendent Wales collected a gang when he heard of the accident and for several hours the laborers tugged away to get the car back on the rails. It was lowed to this city about , o'clock this morning.
 Although cars have been running | on the Cheshire division for more than year and at times the descent Of several of the hills was made at q hair-raislng clip, this is the first time
 that car has left the rails In such
 a manner as to place in jeopardy the
 lives of the passengers.
 | Some of the cars are in a
 wretched condition and although the
 accident of yesterday may not have
 been any fault of the car itself hut
 accidents of the kind are likely 10 oc-
 cur on account of the poor rolling
 stock.
 The brakes on some of the cars are
 simply awful and some of the m0tor-
 men coming down North Willow
 street are on pins and needles until
 they reach the bottom. It was only
 Saturday night that the writer heard
 one of the motormen say that they | are at times almost afraid to make
 that downward trip because of the
 condition of the brakes. He stated | that one night last week he was mak-
 ing the trip to Waterville and while
 going down the hill after leaving the
 boulevard the car got beyond his con
 trol and he was unable to bring it
 under control until the bottom of the
 hill was reached.