The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-08
ELECTRICITY RUNS RIOT.
People Terrified at Mighty Current ln
 New York street. 2.

People Terrified mt Mighty Cufrent Nm
 New York Street. New York herald.
 For the first time since the intro- auction of high-power currents for running heavy trains the public had a demonstration yesterday afternoon on the New York Central viaduct. at 126th street and Park avenue, of what des- truction is possible when this powerful current of electricity is short circuit ed. Those who dared approach within half a. block of the fire saw streams of molten iron and copper pouring down into the street like so much water, and saw the heavy iron pipes. wires and steel rails melted into a white hot fluid as if they were made of wax. -< h-r-s ,s - For half an hour the destroying cur rent had it's own way, melting the streets and bespatter,ng the pavement with coating of metal. Bremen dared not turn on a stream, fearing that the water would act as a conductor and cause them to be electrocuted There was nothing to be done in the way of controlling the powerful ele- ment until the current could be turned off at the power house, and that re- quired nearly thirty minutes.
 Meanwhile deafening reports coming in an almost continuous rattle like the sons from many Blocks distant and police reserves were called from two precincts to keep back the crowds. No official report has been made as to the exact cause of the fire, except the general statement that, in some manner, a short circuit was formed on the feed cable that~runs along the iron structure and that the whole cur rent was released. It Is supposed to have been due to defective insulation.
 All that Is known about the matter is the description given by those who happened to be in the street or stand ing on 125th and 127th. First came a loud report like that Of @ cannon. Simultaneously flames darted upward downward, and leaped with lightning swiftness along the cable In either direction.
 Then came the roar of explosions Women screamed and men tumble6 over one another to get out of the way. | On the station platform some darted down the stairways and others lodged
 behind piles of trunks and trucks as If confronted by battery in action. There is no woodwork on the via | duct except the ties that are imbedded | in stone ballast, but five seconds after the first report the entire structure for | a DlOck hppedTtu to De DIdzlnB ana a | huge cloud of smoke rolled down into
 the street. Then a stream of some-
 thing began to trickle to the pavement. At first no one could make out what it
 was. A group of boys ran toward 1t, but quickly darted back with their
 hands and faces pitted from the spatter
 of molten iron.
 Second by second the stream grkw larger until the street was fairly flood
 ed with liquid iron and copper. | Incessant roar of the explosions, to- gether with the dense smoke and wild | shouts, caused the greatest excitement.
 For a time the scene was one of panic.
 Horses with heavy loads became un-
 manageable, women ran out of the
 shops crying hysterically
 When the fircmen arrived they were | helpless. They dragged hose to the station platform and stood in groups | in the street. but so long as the mighty current was leaping and darting uncon-
 trolled they dared not pour stream into 1t.
 When the current was at last turned off the explosions ceased instantly and | the flames disappeared. For a few
 minutes the red hot iron glowed, the melted meltal quivered in pools and | then the smoke lifted and the firemen went to work.
 For three blocks. wherever the rails were not melted. they were twisted into all sorts of shapes Here and there the current had partly melted the steel beams of the viaduct, and the four-inoh iron tubes that had car ried some of the wires were almost entirely consumed. In the street the asphalt pavement was melted in places where the streams of liquid metal had fallen upon it.