Wild Runaway Wagon Tears Through Fairhaven
A team of horses, startled by a passing train, smashed through Fairhaven’s crowded streets before ending up on the waterfront.
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.
About 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, a pair of horses attached to a lumber truck became frightened by a passing train near the Ninth street crossing and dashed madly down Harris street. As the street was crowded at the time, it is a marvel that no one was hurt, though there were several narrow escapes. Near the corner of Fifth, the truck was demolished by colliding with a telephone pole. The wagon kept on to the ocean wharf, where it was finally stopped by piles of lumber.
“As the street was crowded at the time, it is a marvel that no one was hurt.”
The terror of a team of runaway horses in a crowded, industrial Fairhaven serves as a vivid reminder of the physical dangers inherent in the city's early, unrefined street layouts. It also highlights how the rapid, unregulated growth of rail and wharf infrastructure created immediate hazards for residents in the street.
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