The Perils of the Pike Street Curve
A streetcar passenger sues the cable company for $15,000, claiming the line's dangerous construction and the crew's carelessness left him permanently disabled.
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.
Alfred Welfare, a sea captain, brought suit against the Front Street Cable Railway Company yesterday to recover $15,000 for injuries received from being thrown from the defendant's car at the curve on Pike Street. The plaintiff alleges the car was unskillfully constructed, the track old-fashioned and unsafe, and the conductor and gripman careless. When the car turned the curve without warning, he was thrown violently to the ground, resulting in a permanent injury to his leg and a dulling of his mental faculties.
“The plaintiff sets forth that... the car was unskillfully constructed, the track old-fashioned and unsafe, and the conductor and gripman so careless and negligent that... he was thrown violently to the ground.”
This suit highlights the dangers of Seattle's early, rapidly deployed transit infrastructure. While the city's modern streetcar system is safer, the lawsuit reflects a perennial friction between the push for rapid transit expansion and the safety of the public using it.
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