Stagecoach Chaos on Mill Street
A frightened team of horses sparks a wild ride through downtown Seattle, leaving a lone passenger clinging on for dear life.
Mr. Bow, driver for the Lake Washington stage, had a lively runaway yesterday afternoon. The team was near the foot of Front street, with one passenger in the stage beside the driver, when they took fright from some cause and started off at a bound up Mill street. The driver was holding the reins loosely and was completely off his guard for such an emergency. He gathered them up, however, and put on the brakes with commendable dexterity and would have succeeded in curbing the team, but for a quick turn they made near Wildman's, which caused the stage to careen suddenly and throw him out. The horses kept on up over the hill and across the bridge at the brewery, finally fetching up at full speed on the lane at the foot of Yesler's hill. The lone passenger yet remained in the stage and was uninjured, but terribly frightened. The sum total of the damage done was the breaking of the tire of the fore wheel.
“The driver was holding the reins loosely, and completely off his guard for such an emergency.”
This chaotic scene played out along the streets that once defined early Seattle's commercial core. Today, 'Front Street' is better known as 1st Avenue, and the once-treacherous climb up Yesler's Hill remains a defining, if now paved, characteristic of the city's topography.
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