The San Francisco call., 1908-05-25

md in a momentary opportunity jabhed
his bare fist through a glass window.
Another hurled himself in temporary
madness at the roof.
A VERITABLE INFERNO
1t was more than pandemonium; 1T
was little inferno-a horrible. CHASTITY
Inferno of plunging arms and legs, OF
crushed babes and hysterical mothers.
One by one they were pulled out,
screaming at the pain of broken limbs
shrieking for lost ones. But even when
they had been rushed to the st. Francis
hospital, around the corner, the horror
OF the scene remained In the rivulets
OF blood flowing into the cutters, In
The debris and wreckage and in the
poor. dumb form of the dead man
awaiting the coroner.
The primal cause OF the wreck was
another wreck. which occurred at Fill
more and Sutter streets at 12:l5 p. M;
out the direct cause was the rank ig-
norance of either the motorman of one
OF the cars or OF the one VINO gave
him his orders. The accident in Fill
more street was trifiing affair. One
Fillmore street car. equipped with the
regulation United Railroads brakes, be-
gan 10 slide down the hill, the brakes
refusing TO work IL bumped into an
other Fillmore street car travelling be-
hind, but with the exception OF
woman, who fell on her face and was
slightly bruised, there were no in
luries, the passengers jumping OF in
time. The wreck was sufficient, how
ever. to tie up the travel of the sutter
street cars.
In order to get by the wreck on
another track Motorman B. Gisler, in
charge of q Sutter and Jackson street
car, went up Devisadero TO Sacramento
streets. What was his intention in so
doing could not be explained. To
make the fatuous folly of the under
taking complete he drove his car
straight up the steep hill in search of
There was no switchback in that
vicinity and he started TO come down
So steep is that hill that only special
cars are run on IL and a motorman
who knew the first principles of his
business would never have attempted
TO run q heavy Sutter street car down
CAR RACES WILDLY
Gisier attempted the feat, however.
Hardly had he gone half block when
he lost control of his car. 1t raced
down the hill at tremendous speed,
swaying and jerking and almost COM
pletely hidden in a whirl Of dust At
the same instant an outward bound
Chutes car. crowded to the limit with
Sunday holiday makers, began to
swerve around the corner of Devisa-
derO and Sacramento streets. 1t had
stopped at that spot but a minute be-
fore TO take on about a dozen passen-.
gers and as its motorman. +. II. KNIT
ner, became aware of the runaway
Sutter car bearing down on him he
made heroic endeaVor to clear the
corner but his trolley pole slipped
from the wire and he was helpless.
Gisler, in his enormous Sutter street
car, worked at the brakes. Through
the dust he could be seen wrenching
and pulling at them, but it was in vain
and the next instant II had struck the
Such was the force of the collision
that the Sutter street car. shot upward
like rearing horse For q half second
1t swayed from side to side and then
plunged downward with crash, plow-
ing its way through the cement roads.
The Chutes car went over completely
and when the dust had blown away
the full horror of the scene was re-
vealed.
Henry Baer, a man of "a years. lay
with his head under the overturned car,
dead Near him were men and women,
bleeding from cuts and stunned by the
shock. Luckily, there were no passen-
gers on the Suffer street car. but the
sufficient brunt for one wreck About
So persons were on it, and of these be-
tween 80 and 30 were jammed inside
the interior. For 10 or Is minutes they
fought like so many wild animals.
They made but little outcry, but the
sight of their clenched teeth, set faces
and wildly swinging arms told of their
desperation.
WEAK CRUSHED UNDER FOOT
The weak Were thrust under foot,
gasping for air. The strong smashed
right and left at the ir1prisoning walls
They walked over one another. One
woman lying fat on her back kicked
wildly. A man planted his heel in the
upturned face of another who had
fallen
Even in that terrible moment the
nobility Of motherhood rose supreme.
Mothers threw themselves across their
children TO protect them, fighting back
tumbled forms. To do this they sacri-
feed themselves. Three mothers were
taken out OF the car, their. backs and
shoulders bruised. They We're Mrs. Fisk
whose
Edna, came ont uninjured; Mrs. Pike
OF 1918 Sacramento street who, to save
her child, had her left shoulder
sprained and her forehead cut in two
or three places, and Mrs. William
Miley Of 965 Capp street. who received
injuries TO her back and shoulder. In
the last instance the Miley baby was in
the fathers arms and when the two fell
Mrs. Miley covered them with her body.
The baby came out without a scratch.
j. A. Fisk. one of the men in the car.
who was accompanied by his wife and
daughter, succeeded in getting enough
elbow room to smash window
Through this aperture he began pass
ing out women and children. In the
melee the motorman's trap doors had
been kicked open and some were passed
out through them One man held out
a little child. He was under scores of
feet, but he managed TO protect the
child
The little one had a cut on her
wrist, but her first question was for her
the upturned car, fighting for breath
ing room and who later was among
those taken TO the st. Francis hospital
Once the crowd engaged at rescue
fell back. This was when Alexander
Mcdonald stumbled into the open air.
the blood squirting from a cash in the
throat.
II took about 15 minutes to clear the
car. and in that time DR.. Charles Cross
had organized volunteer nurses bri-
gade from among the neighboring
women. The injured were laid out on
the nearby lawns of residences await
ing the ambulances, but before they
could arrive the ST Francis hospital
had its stretchers on the scene and
the injured were hurried there.
CLAIM AGENTS swooP DOWN
With the coming OF the nurses were
members of the legal department of the
United Railroads While the blood was
yet running into the CUTTERS while
mothers We're seeking their children and
the confusion reigned uppermost- they
were on the spot, ready to settle the
claims Of those injured.
One Of the most pathetic sights of
the wreck was when Walter Hartman
picked himself up from the spot where
he had been thrown when the cars
smashed into one another.
He had been standing on the rear end
OF the Chutes car. holding his baby in
his arms, and though the little thing
T.. IA