There is a serious feature in the overhead trolley system which ought not to be overlooked, as the following will show. In the centre of Sunderland four principal streets cross, and here, about eight o’clock one Saturday night in August, 1902, when the thoroughfares were congested with people, the trolley-arm of a tram-car became entangled, and no fewer than three live electric wires snapped. A woman received a severe shock through one of them striking an iron handrail on the tram which she was boarding; but the promptitude of a motor inspector in turning off the current averted further personal injury.
The Fulham Public Baths tragedy at the beginning of this year exemplified the fact that it does not require a high alternative current to kill. Under certain conditions 200 volts are sufficient. Criminals are electrocuted at a voltage of 2,000, the current passes in at the skull. The murderous elephant, Topsy, in New York paid the penalty of her misdeeds by having a current of 6,600 volts passed through her, and died in ten seconds; but a minute before, she had swallowed 460 grains of cyanide of potassium!
My own personal experience somewhat resembles that of the woman at Sunderland. It was at Ramsgate on a rainy day, and, the car being full inside, I had to travel outside, seats, metal-work, and everything being naturally very wet, and in taking hold of the iron framing of a seat I experienced so strong a shock that I called up the conductor. He ridiculed the idea, but while he was arguing the matter out, contending that it was an impossibility, he inadvertently grasped the wet trolley-pole, which gave him such an electric sensation that he yelled and fell flat on the roof. The car had to be stopped, and until the rain ceased no passengers were allowed outside.
MOTOR-CAR ACCIDENTS
By those who dislike them, every imaginable evil is laid at the doors, or, rather, the wheels of motor-cars, whether propelled by petrol or electricity, and recorded accidents are quoted, chapter and verse being given to show that they are the enemies of pedestrian, driving, and cycling mankind. Here are some examples.
On a steep hill in the neighbourhood of Grimsthorpe, near Bourne, on May 25th, 1902, a motor-car got out of control and overturned. The driver, employed by Lord Willoughby de Eresby, M.P., for whom the vehicle had been built at Birmingham, was instantaneously killed, his skull being fractured. He had brought the car to Grimsthorpe Castle only the previous evening, and was out with a party of friends, mostly Lord Ancaster’s employés, when the accident happened. One man was badly injured, and two others of the party received slight injuries, but a child, who was flung over a hedge, escaped unhurt.
The following day a motor-car was being driven down a steep hill just outside Stroud, when the brake failed to act, and the car ran violently into a stone wall, carrying part of it away. One of the occupants, a local cloth manufacturer, was seriously injured, and a gentleman who accompanied him escaped with some ugly bruises.
An accident occurred near Rearsby, Leicestershire, on August 9th, 1902, whereby the master of the Quorn Hunt, Captain Burns Hartopp, and Mr. A. Burnaby were injured. The party were motoring from Little Dalby Hall to Quorn, when, near Rearsby, the car ran into a cow, with the result that the occupants were pitched out and the car was wrecked. Captain Burns Hartopp was picked up in a semi-conscious condition, Mr. Burnaby was more seriously injured, while Mr. Dashwood escaped with a shaking.
A curious escape was witnessed the same day at Monmouth. General Sir Evelyn Wood, who was accompanied by Colonel Grierson, acting Q.M.G., and Captain Wood, A.D.C., had been inspecting the Monmouth Royal Engineers (Militia) under the command of Lord Raglan. Afterwards the General and staff proceeded in a motor-car to Abergavenny. While the machine was being reversed towards the entrance of the Angel Hotel a brake refused to work, and the car mounted the pavement and ran into the wall of a shop, just missing a plate-glass window. Captain Wood, who had alighted, narrowly escaped being caught between the motor and the wall.
The following month a motor-car accident occurred at Barnet, when the Hon. C. S. Rolls was returning home in a motor-car from Barnet Fair. Mr. Rolls saw a trap containing three or four persons approaching him, and he steered his car into the hedge, but a collision could not be avoided. One of the occupants of the trap—a youth—was thrown to the ground, and the horse was cut on the leg. Mr. Rolls escaped with a slight shaking.