The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-19


ably bear fruit ia many cities. It's eN-
periments have been especially exhaustive
in seeking how TO prevent people IfOlu
being run over and killed By the street
cars As result Of a carefully con-
Quoted campaign Of publicity fully hun
dred tenders and wheel guards OF dli-
ferent designs were submitted Tor exam
nation and test OF these slXty-sefeu
filled the Specifications necessary TO a
practical operating test. The experiments
were conducted at Schenectady and fltls-
burg with an astonishing array OF GUN.
mics. There were dummies TO represent
ba 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 II was
condition that the Tenders and Wheei
guards should pick up the victim at vary
ing speeds and save them from the W,les a.
with minimum amount of injury IN 90
ing so One type of fender cOrrespohded
to the well known cowcatcher or 10
connective 1t was intended to strike tne
victim glancing blow and throw ,i Inn
out of line of the wheels But Iehoeis
of this type were discarded because u
was found that the fall that IolioNed was
apt to result as fatally as being run over
bv the car itself. Another type OF fehoef
had a network in front OF the car LOT
the victim to fall into, but al hlgh speeu
he would fall against the patron WIN
so much force that It might OIIth iF-
suit fdfatlN- some itIutAo iA1d
trims to them, so that they would touch
the track the minute victim toucIlGu
the release trip. One had little Wheels
that ran along on the track 10 suppOLI
it. In the case of tenders IL vas - -
ticaUv decided that the proper ones 10
use were those which had net 10 Pr
vent the victim from striking the plal-
form as we'll as 70 keep him from uhu1f
There were many designs Of wheel
guards submitted. Some of these Wele
automatic in their operation. havlhs a
trip bar two or three feet in adIdtuiCe
Of the wheel guard. Nhen lhe ~
of an accident touched this bar y re-
leased the guard from its elevated p0-
sition allowing il to drop TO the tiech5
where il would SCOOP the passenger ne ne
it much as the farmer scoops Wheal "a
/ a harm floor. Other guards were llauS
I tn be operated by the motormah, VIII
/ a nressrre Of the foot. In some cases
/ both the guard and the fender are ue so-
and many street car companies, plcLS
/ ring expense in equipment to greater ~ -
/ nensa in damages and litigation, I'd Z
| eouinDed their cars with DOtn, IthuS ne
| the chances of getting under the "l00i
practically negligible. 80. oar
PERHAPS in no single year in street car ar
history was there ever such progress IN
! the prevention Of accidents as last geal
| A more general use of Tenders ana Wnte
! Guards was partly responsible TOT ti!ls,
| while the advent of the pay-as-yOu-eitei
/ CO.. mas reduced all classes OF accldents
] IL Ia.
materially. and has wiped out nearly w
/ entire list of accidents in boarding Car :
and alighting from them. But even az
/ the best there is mueh 10 % ~ n
! the way of Improvement, since lne, az az
I mail accident toll Of electric raiWdg :
/ is about 1900 killed and perhaps lOl -
/ times as many wounded 60 -
/ The expense to the street Isl'w t1 IL es-
! cident TO accidents is enormous, IL Is -
timated that in New YORK Clly aio li,,
| the annual expense of the companies 10y 0I
I this account amounts TO nearly et,Vvy,vgsL
/ In one big company a chanes va i,
| in the legal department, win tie i S,-.,'
/ that damage awards were crowded cow
F, frnm 8. go 900 to $4,000 a year. me pun
/ IIc often concludes that the street Idll-
| Wavs are unnecessarily naisH ~ 49, 49,
attitude against damages, but II II couIu
l-nouv the number of takers that lay
claims for damages it might not tillIh
so IL is simply a case OF tIe mn, ,sI.. :.
suffering because of the sins OF the sulL,y
The number of fake claims anu odIlds'
suits instituted is astonishing -
/ ONLY recently there was q case Nuelt
an accident occurred. in which mum
I her of people were badly inluFeu- ~,
men in saloon heard of the coiisloI
a few minutes after il happened, anC
1 teIephoned to morning paper that tIies
uers i'm il and described their alleged
| INJURIES On the strength of their stor4
thev retained one of those lawyers KNOW
as ambulance chasers. and ne seq ecuI - -
damages to the extent Of 800 he Kept 20
for his Zee. They were afterwards foun'
to have faxed che entire case ana pleaue'
guilty Of conspiracy. -
Of age was IN a street car collision. SOM
/ weeks later his parents SUED the Gun
many for s. 600 damages. on the gtouh'
that their son had received uloH o, "
the head which drove MIN insane. my
sicians tried every known eXpedieht Y
determine whether he was insane or NOT
THEY ran pins into his flesh, even unoe
his finger nails. but he pore ~ an VII u
ont sign of pain He had that Nacdh
stare which would do credit to pro
fesgional fakir. The result was verde
for the fun amount Later IL was uis
covered that ? woman VINO IlFeQ nee me-.
door was at the bottom OF the WnOle sun
and IL was successfully claimed befor
the Jury that she had hypnotized me boy
She got a sixty-day sentence Tor her pa!
in the fraud. a. .-..,,,,.
Of the street railroads in ferreung on
/ those who would beat them by oau
I age claims. The detective force lhcluue
men who are good photographers, a'u
J they generally get Photographic evidenc
Z that freezes the fake before IL gets GU
of the budding stage. In recent cas-
/ a furniture mover Claimed 10 nave ~
I ceiVed an injury that ncapacltdttu hll
for life 4 detective patiently shadOWe
his man until he found him moving som
heavy furniture when the camera snappe
at an suspicious moment COhIrohte
/ with this evidence or MS pnEstCdi Stitu6N
. taken after the accident, the furnltur
mover dropped his suit.
In another case a New Jersey tarme
claimed to have been incapaCitated 70
life bv an electric car accident. on
idav two Young men appeared who want
, ed work for a few weeks, with oppol
funfties to take some final rural scene
around his farm. The idea pleased w
farmer and he posed for them wnil
pitching hay in his field. The next tim
z he saw that picture was when he wa
a defendant for perjury in a proSecl
tfon Instituted by the railway company
Perhaps the most remarkable atteml
at beating a street car company thrOuS
its claims department was that OF ma
in baltimore. He gathered about nh
= a gang Of men, and then secured a pos
| ton as mOtOrman. His main Ousine'
in life was to have collisions. Each tin
he had a smash-up two or three OF u
confederates were ostensibly inJure
suits for damages followed, ana the
Z were usually won. Finally the evidence
= 1 Of purposeful collision became so stroI
. BY accumulation that the motorman : IN
! Z history was investigated. He had pee
/ doing the same thing in other cities o.
fore he landed in Baltimore.
n Although accidents are gradually grow
= ing fewer. street and interurban electr
car traffic is growing at surprlsf
o rate There has been an increase OF
r per cent in the number of miles Of tra'
in a single five years. The number
. Messengers carried annually now, accor'
ing to census figures just issued Sow