When Wires Crossed: Seattle's Great Electrical Tangle of 1895

The blue lightning dispensed by the Union Illuminating Company got mixed up with that of the fire alarm service last night about 11 o'clock, and before the trouble was through one cable of the Sunset Telephone Company found its way into the tangle. The result of the difficulty was that about fifty of the telephone subscribers were cut off suddenly, and in some instances the telephones were burned out. Fire service circuit No. 1, carrying about twenty-five boxes, was cut off, and the lightning arresters in several instances were burned out. The fire alarm boxes that were known to be affected were located at Second and Cherry, Pioneer Place and Columbia and Front streets. The fire alarm gong and telephone in the Post-Intelligencer office were burned out, and it is possible that one or more of the fire alarm boxes suffered the same fate. Circuit D, of the Union Illuminating Company, was shut off after the trouble commenced. The first that was known of the trouble was when Officer Birdsall saw a flash of light over the arc light at Yesler Avenue and South Second Street. Later the fire gong commenced to sound, and a few minutes later there was a general buzzing in the main telephone office. Manager Armstrong was at the telephone late last night and said that, while fifty telephones were cut off, only a few were burned out. The damage could not be accurately estimated. Neither of the telegraph companies suffered from the mix-up. Superintendent of Fire Alarm Pinkney was out looking over the lines as soon as the trouble started.