Arizona republican., 1913-07-17
ATTEMPT MADE
 ID WRECK GAR
Device Is Placed Between Rails Which Lifts Big Car From Track Nearly Turn ing It Into Little Mari cOpa Canal

An attempt to wreck one of the big cars of the Glendale line, that all but succeeded, was made Tuesday night at Heard's Landing, half mile north of the city limits Had the attempt sue ceeded the big car would have been plunged over the trestle spanning the Little Maricopa canal, with probable injury, if not death to the five passen- ward trucks of the car were lifted from the rails and ploughed along the ties of the trestle dangerously close to the edge A quick reversal on the part of the motorman saved the car from going into the ditch.
 It happened about S:3O o'clock, just about the time the thunder storm was coming up. The last ear of the Indian School line had passed safely over the trestle about twenty minutes previous ly. The Glendale car, operated by the two men in the employ of the company at the time the strike was called and who refused to go out with the others, was moving inbound at q rate of speed not much in excess of five miles an hour. Usually the car makes from twelve to fifteen miles an hour at that point, but because of the darkness and the occasional binding flashes of lightning, the motorman had slowed down.
 Just as the trestle over the canal was being approached the motorman ob- served a foreign object attached to the rail. He quickly reversed, but not quickly enough to bring his car to q standstil before the small obstruction was encountered. The forward trucks were lifted from the rails and the car moved some distance along the ties be- fore being stopped.
 Examination revealed that q piece of oak, two inches by four inches, had been bevcled to fit between the outer rail and the guard rail This had been tightly wedeed into place. The end of the wood nearest the car had been sloped off providing a lift" for the flange of the car wheel. A similar de- vice, probably of hickory, had been fastened to the outer rail on the op- posite side of the track, so that the wheels on both sides were certain to be lifted at the same time Oak and hickory had been used so that the
  tie impression on the obstruction. So tightly was the oak wedge driven be tween the rails it required about fifteen minutes work with I pick to extract ii.
 Five minutes after the attempt had been made to wreck the car the power went off. It was found that somebody cut the return ground wire downtown and removed the lag screws, thereby effectually disconnecting the juice" This made the work of replacing the car on the rails the more difficult as it was necessary to utilize the current from the substation, which is only aux Hilary to the high power sent over the wire from the down town station.
 It was nearly one o'clock before the car had finally been returned to the track and run to the barn.
 The company stated yesterday that unusual care had been exercised in con structing the device. Even to the de- tail of painting the blocks black so that it would be practically invisible along side the rail. the work of a master hand was discernible. A careful investiga- tion is being made and if the culprit is landed he is bound to be arrested un- der q serious charge.