Jessie Tewes, Three, and the Electric Car
A toddler is killed crossing Jefferson Avenue in Tacoma as her mother watches from the family fruit stand.
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.
Tacoma, Jan. 21.—Special.—Jessie Tewes, aged 3, was killed today while trying to cross Jefferson avenue in front of an electric car. Her head was crushed, and her eyes and part of her brains squeezed out of her head. Her playmate narrowly escaped. Mrs. Tewes, from the door of her little shack, where her husband has a fruit stand, witnessed the accident.
“Mrs. Tewes, from the door of her little shack, where her husband has a fruit stand, witnessed the accident.”
Electric streetcars were transforming Tacoma's streets in the 1890s, but safety rules lagged behind the new speed and power. The same questions about who owns the road and who is protected persist in today's traffic planning.
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