Seattle's New Fire Engine Wrecked on a False Alarm
Answering a call from the Tremont block, the Watrous engine hit the streetcar tracks between South Second and South Third, snapped an axle and toppled—leaving driver Charles Murray and engineer F. M. Collins lucky to be alive.
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.
The new Watrous engine, while being driven to answer a false alarm of fire at 6:45 o'clock last evening, met with an accident which seriously disabled it. The driver, Charles Murray, and the assistant engineer, F. M. Collins, narrowly escaped death.
The engine was driven down Main street to answer the call which came in from an auxiliary to box 15 in the Tremont block. Between South Second and South Third streets the wheels came in contact with the street car tracks, which were slightly higher than the planking. The result was that the axle of the left hind wheel snapped off and the engine dropped down and was thrown over on the side.
Driver Murray was strapped in his seat and this was all that kept him from being thrown violently to the ground and probably killed. Assistant Engineer Collins scooted over the ground on his wishbone for six or seven feet but escaped serious injury. The tongue of the engine was also broken and altogether it was pretty badly disabled.
“Driver Murray was strapped in his seat and this was all that kept him from being thrown violently to the ground and probably killed.”
Seattle's fire engines in 1894 were pulled by horses and ran on wooden planking and streetcar rails; a false alarm could wreck a machine and nearly kill its crew. The story captures the physical fragility of the city's early emergency services—and the everyday hazards of streets shared by trains, trolleys and fire rigs.
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