Several engineers who understood all about cable cars were then called. They said that if the company would put a short cable on the stretch of road around the curve, there need be no more danger. They said that a gripman could stop his car or slow up on a short cable, but that with the long cable, such as the company is now using, it is impossible for the gripman to have any control of his car while rounding the curve.
The president of the company declared that a short cable would not work. The case is to go to trial. While the worst that can be done to the company is to be fined $500, people are looking forward to the trial, because they expect that the witnesses who give evidence will show some way of getting the car round the curve without shaking everybody who is in it, and killing or wounding all who cannot jump out of its way.
Did you ever see a house move?
If you have not, you have missed a very funny sight.
Imagine driving along a country road, and meeting a three-story house making a journey along the highway to new quarters.
There is a good deal of this to be seen just now at Katonah, New York.
A year or so ago the Croton water, which is in use in New York City, was found to be impure.
A commission was appointed to go and examine the Croton Water-Shed. This meant that they were to examine the little streams, and brooks, and rivers, and lakes, which supplied the water to our aqueduct, and see what the trouble was.
They found that along the banks of these streams and lakes, in villages and out in the country, a great many dwelling-houses and shanties had been built, the occupants of which were in the habit of throwing all sorts of rubbish into the water, making it unfit for drinking.