Fire Horses Run Amok in Downtown Seattle
A tragic accident involving runaway fire horses and a streetcar leaves one young girl dead and several others injured.
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.
Anna Omley, a young girl, was fatally hurt and ten grown persons badly injured in a series of accidents attending the run of the fire department last night to a fire at Second Avenue and Cherry Street. Hose wagon No. 1, coming from headquarters, crashed into a Yesler Way car at Second Avenue, bringing death to the Omley girl, who was riding on the rear platform of the car. A frightened horse, released from hose wagon No. 2 by an accident at Second Avenue and Madison Street, knocked over two persons and dashed into a crowd between Cherry and James streets, injuring seven others. Anna Omley was taken to Providence Hospital, where she died at 1:30 this morning. The fire that caused the series of accidents resulted from an effort by contractors tearing down a row of buildings at Second and Cherry to destroy the debris. The fire got beyond control and threatened adjoining property.
“Shrieking people fled from the sidewalk into the street or hurled themselves into open doorways.”
Accidents involving emergency vehicles remain a tragic reality of urban life, though modern traffic safety protocols have replaced the unpredictable nature of horse-drawn fire apparatus. The intersection of Second and Cherry, once a site of debris-burning and chaos, is now home to dense high-rise development in the heart of downtown Seattle.
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