Streetcar Chaos on Madison
An electric car crashes into a cable car at Second and Madison, causing a machinery backup that carried the crippled vehicle blocks away.
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.
A collision between a North Seattle electric car and a Madison Street cable car occurred last evening at 7:30 o'clock at the corner of Second and Madison streets. By the merest accident, no one was injured, although both cars were smashed. The front trucks of the cable car were knocked off the track, and it being impossible to loosen the grip from the cable, the car was carried to Eleventh Street before the engineer at the power house received word to stop the machinery. Motorman Bartlett of the electric car had a very narrow escape from death; the front vestibule was smashed in, and he was pinned in a corner on the platform. Traffic on the electric line was immediately restrained, but the cable line was shut down for several hours to jack up the disabled car.
“The iron grip-handle was thrown over with such force against the oak guard that it was imbedded in the wood.”
Seattle’s geography of steep hills—specifically the Madison Street line—has always dictated its transit technology. This story captures the precarious nature of early 1890s transit, where competing rail systems often converged at dangerous intersections, much like the modern struggle to integrate different modes of transport.
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