Runaway Interurban Car Terrifies Passengers
A defective switch at Puyallup Avenue triggers a near-disaster as a transit car breaks away from its train.
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.
Interurban train No. 5, which left the local depot at 7:10 last night, struck a defective switch on the Puyallup Avenue track while running at the rate of eight miles an hour. As a result, two passengers in two cars were badly shaken up, while a few were slightly injured. The second car in the train in some manner threw the switch open, and as the third car hit the spur, it broke from the remainder of the train and plunged down the switch track until it collided with a number of flat cars. There was great excitement among the passengers on the car as it broke from the train, and it was with difficulty that the cooler heads prevented a number of women and children from leaping from the car. As it was, no one was seriously hurt, although many were thrown from their seats by the shock when the car struck the string of flat cars. The train was in charge of Conductor Beachwood and Motorman Wislow, who immediately transferred the passengers from the runaway car and proceeded to Seattle.
“There was great excitement among the passengers on the car as it broke from the train, and it was with difficulty that the cooler heads prevented a number of women and children from leaping from the car.”
Early 20th-century transit, like the interurban line between Tacoma and Seattle, was prone to mechanical failures that caused genuine public anxiety. Today, as Tacoma debates the future of light rail and regional transit connectivity, this story serves as a reminder that the safety and reliability of our transit infrastructure have always been a central civic concern.
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