The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-19

preventing accidents on street railroads
will probably bear fruit In many cities.
Its experiments have been especially
exhaustive in seeking how to prevent
people from being run over and killed
by the street cars. AS a result OF
carefully conducted campaign Of pub
licity fully hundred tenders and wheel
guards Of different designs were sub
mitted tor examination and test. OF
these sixty-seven filled the specihca-
lions necessary to a practical operat-
Ing test. The experiments were con-
Quoted at Schenectady and PittsDurs
with an astonishing array OF dummies.
There were dummies to represent pa-'
bies, dummies to represent old people;
Dummies to represent thin men. dummies
to represent fat men; in fact, dummies
to represent every age and condition
of life. from the cradle to the grave.
When the tests were made IT was
condition that the tenders and wheel
guards should pick up the victims at
varying speeds and save them from
the wheels. with q minimum amount
Of injury in doing SO. One type OF
fender corresponded to the weli-known
cow-catcher OF q locomotive. 1t was
intended to strike the victim glanc-
ing blow ana throw him out OF line
Of the wheels. But tenders of this
type were discarded because It was
found that the fall that followed was
apt to result as fatally as being run
over by the car itself. Another type
OF fender had network In front OF
the car for the victim to fall into,
but at high speed he would fall against
the platform with SO much force that
II might often result fatally. Some
tenders had automatic trips to them.
so that they would touch the track
the minute a victim touched the re-
lease trip. One had little wheels that
ran along on the track to support 1t.
In the case. OF tenders II was practi-
caIly decided that the proper ones to
use were those which had a net TO
prevent the victim striking the plat
form "a we'll as to keep him from un-
der the wheels.
There were many designs of wheel
guards submitted. Some OF these were
automatic in their operation, having
q trip bar two or three feet in advance
of the wheel guard. When the victim
of an accident touched this bar 1t re-
leased the guard from its elevated po-
sition, allowing 1t to drop to the track,
where 1t would scoop thsN passenger
into 1t much as the farmer scoops
wheat of a barn floor. Other guards
were made to be operated by the mo-
torman, with q pressure of the foot.
In some cases both the guard and the
fender are used. and many street car
companies, preferring expense In equip.
ment to greater expense In damages
and litigation, have equipped their cars
with both, rendering the chances OF
getting under the wheels practically
negligible.
Perhaps In no single year In street
car history was there ever sucn prog
ress In the prevention of accidents as
last year. A more general use OF
tenders and wheel guards was partly
responsible for this. while the advent
of the pay-as-you-enter car has re-
dueed all classes of accidents mate
rally, and has wiped out nearly the
entire list OF accidents In boarding
cars and alighting from them. But
even at the best there is much to be
desired in the way OF Improvement,
since the annual accident toll of cleo
trio railways Is about 1000 killed and
perhaps forty times as many wounded.
The expense to the street railway
companies incident to accidents ts
enormous II Is. estimated that In New
York city alone the anntal expense OF
the companies on this account amounts
to nearly 100000. In one big COM
paany change was made in the legal
department, with the result that dam
age awards were crowded down from
$3.50, 900 to $750.000 a year. The pub
lie often concludes that the street rail-
ways are unnecessarily harsh In their
attitude against damages. but II It could
know the number of falkirs that lay
claims for damages 1t might not think
SO. 1t is simply a case of the inno-
cent suffering because of the sins Of
the guilty. The number II fake
claims and damage suiEs instituted is
Only recently there was a case where
an accident occurred, in which num-
Der of people were badly injured. Two
men IN q saloon heard OF the collision
a few minutes after It happened. and
telephoned to a morning paper that
they were in 1t and described their
alleged injuries. On the strength of
their story they retained one Of those
lawyers known as Ambulance chasers,"
and he secured damages to the extent
Of 500. He kept $50 for his Zee. They
wore afterward found to have faxed
the entire case and pleaded guilty Of
conspiracy.
In another instance q boy about is
years OF age was In a street car coll
lision Some weeks later hts parents
sued the company for $4,000 damages;
on the ground that their son had re-
ceived blow on the head which drove
him insane. Physicians tried every
known expedient to determine whether
he was insane or not They ran pins
into his flesh, even under his finger
nails. but he bore Il all without a
sign Of pain. He had that vacant stare
which would do credit TO q professional
fakir. The result was a verdict for
the full amount. Later II was discov-
cred that a woman who lived next
door was at the bottom of the whole
suit, and 1t was successfully claimed
before a jury that she had hypnotized
the boy. she got a sfxty-day sentence
for her part in the fraud.
The camera has come to the support
of the street railroads in ferrettfng
out those who would beat" them by
damage claims. The detective force
includes men who are good photogra-
piers. and they generally get photo
graphic evidence that freezes the fake
before II gets out of the budding stage
In recent case furniture mover
claimed to have received an injury that
ineapacitated him for life. A detec-
tive patiently Swallowed his man until
he found him moving some heavy fur
nitare, when the camera snapped at an
suspicious moment. Confronted with
this evidence OF his physical strength
taken after the accident, the furni-
ture mover dropped his suit,
In another case, a New Jersey farm
err claimed to have been incapacitated
One day two young men appeared who
wanted work for a few weeks. with OPP
portunities to take some fine rural
scenes around his farm. The idea
pleased the farmer and he posed for
them while pitching hay in his field
The next time he saw that picture was
when he was a defendant for perjury