A Cable Car Derailment on Madison Street
A dangerously packed cable car hurtles off its tracks while heading toward the West Street turntable, leaving passengers scrambling for 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.
An open car on the Madison street cable line was so heavily loaded going down from Front street to the West street turntable yesterday afternoon the brakes could not hold it and it ran clear off the track, jerking out the grip, throwing the forward end of the car off the tracks and scattering dozens of humanity—men, women and children—in all directions. It was a most remarkable thing that nobody was seriously hurt, but K. W. Pollock, editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, had his head bumped against a stanchion of the car so that he was almost knocked down. He bled profusely, and had to go away and have his wounds dressed. The accident occurred just at the time that the crowd was going out to the football game, and when the car stopped at Second street, coming down, the people piled on until they were hanging four or five rows deep on the sides. There must have been 100 persons on board.
“The brakes could not hold it and it ran clear off the track, jerking out the grip, throwing the forward end of the car off the tracks and scattering dozens of humanity.”
The Madison Street cable line was a central artery for Seattle's expansion in the 1890s, much like our modern transit corridors. This story highlights the eternal struggle of Seattle's public transit to keep pace with a rapidly growing and often surging population.
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