The Runaway Cable Car of Madison Street
A silent, uncrewed cable car plunges down the steep grade toward Lake Washington, resulting in a fatal collision and a sobering coroner's inquest into transit safety.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A car on the Madison Street cable line ran away about 6 o'clock yesterday morning, plunging with fearful velocity down the hill towards Lake Washington, ran into the rear of another car on the long trestle at the foot of the hill and instantly killed William H. Scheil, conductor, and slightly injured R. A. Rathbun, the gripman. Car No. 6 had just started down the road towards the lake on its first trip, and No. 7 was brought out of the power-house immediately afterwards. James Carroll, the gripman of No. 7, ran the car off the turntable on the eastbound track, ready for its preliminary trip to the lake before starting downtown, and Carroll went into the power-house for the lamps, leaving no one in charge. After about five minutes' absence, he returned and, to his astonishment, found the car had gone. The runaway had no lights to give warning of its coming in the dark hour before dawn. When it reached the foot of the hill and started on the long trestle over the gulch, it had attained the speed of a railroad express and dashed with terrible force into the rear of No. 6. Scheil, standing at his post on the rear platform, was struck in the back and driven through the door; he died of a dislocated neck. The jury returned a verdict stating that the collision was caused by the negligence of the company in not taking proper precautions in watching their cars and setting the brakes while waiting upon the tracks preparatory to starting.
“The collision was caused by the negligence of the said company in not taking proper precautions in watching their cars and setting the brakes.”
This 1892 tragedy highlights the chaotic and often dangerous nature of Seattle's early rapid transit expansion. Just as modern commuters grapple with contemporary transit reliability and safety concerns, 19th-century Seattleites were forced to reckon with the lethal consequences of corporate corner-cutting on the city's rapidly developing infrastructure.
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