A Bridge of Bad Luck

New York, 1895

The bridge over Newtown Creek at Hunter's Point was knocked out of place on New Year's day by the ship Eurydice. Traffic across the structure was suspended, and it was turned so that navigation would not be interrupted. On Monday the four-masted ship Lansing, in tow, swung against the bridge and smashed it some more. While assisting in clearing away the wreckage George Crane, of Long Island City, had his left hand badly crushed. On the Greenpoint side a large opening along side the iron railing of the bridge was unprotected. John Holmes a blacksmith, walked through the opening on Monday night and fell into the creek. He stuck in the mud and called feebly for help. Policeman Bowes dragged Holmes out of the creek.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 11, 1895, p. 1.

Our Day On Earth

1916

Augusta registered its first Chinese voter this. year, Chin Bong, who runs a laundry there. He was born in Seattle 28 years ago and is married, his wife being at present in China. Previous to coming to Augusta he lived for sometime in Boston and was a voter there.

A. Leon Esty, who was in the automobile with James W. Rafter in the smash-up at the Gardiner railroad crossing of Nov. 2, 1913, has brought suit in the United States District Court of Vermont in the sum of $10,000 against the Maine Central Railroad. It will be remembered that Mr. Rafter won in his suit for damages and was awarded $15,464.99. It was claimed at the time that the gates were not properly operated at the approach of the train.

A grand record for faithful performance of duties was rounded out last Wednesday by Edward G. Wyman of Bangor, when he retired from active service at the First National Bank of that city, after 52 years of continuous service, of which 38 was as cashier. He was given an assistant and granted a long vacation, on salary. Few men anywhere has a longer or more honorable career to his credit.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 1.

The "False Alarm Fiend" and His Deadly Joke

(Click graphic for bigger.)

Chicago, 1916

More Firemen Killed and Maimed Responding to Calls of Mischievous Adults and Children Than in Going to Real Fires — St. Louis Fire-fighters Find One in Eight Alarms Are Fictitious — How Jack O'Connor Was Killed

The practical joker is always with us, and while the world may sometimes cry, "The joker is dead — long live the joker," it has long been acknowledged that the human zero in chronic deviltry is the chap who sends in a false alarm just to see the boys or "hosses" run. These hopeless boneheads are constantly bobbing up in nearly every community in our land, with results that sometimes land them in deep trouble or cause them to part with more or less of their precious dollars as penalty for their indulgence in a foolish and sometimes tragic amusement. However, a good, stiff monetary fine, or a term behind jail bars, seldom fails to cure the city or village cut-up of all further desire to "monkey" with fire alarm box, telephone or any other means of sending the fire lads on a hazardous run when no reason for it exists further than the silly joker's ambition to startle the public.

A St. Louis paper has found it quite necessary to take up this subject, and with good reasons, as the "false alarm fiend" seems to have carried his deadly joke far beyond the limit of tolerance in that city, with the result that lives have been lost and much human and mechanical energy expended for naught.

At 11:15 o'clock on the night of Aug. 8 some person, perhaps bibulous and certainly with a perverted sense of humor, observed a fire alarm box at Natural Bridge road and Sophia avenue, says the Post-Dispatch. At once he conceived the outlines of what appeared to be a brilliant joke. He walked up to the box, broke the glass in its front and pressed on a lever. Then, perhaps, he chuckled and walked to a safe spot and waited to see the fun.

Most of the firemen of Engine Company No. 31 were in their bunks when the alarm came in. They sprang to their places. The horses flew to their positions and, when the automatic harness fell, pawed impatiently to be away.

John O'Connor, a fine, stalwart, courageous man. sprang to the driver's seat and reached for the reins. One of them dropped. As he tried to recover it, the horses lunged and he fell headfirst to the floor, where he lay all crumpled up. Somebody pulled him to one side, another driver took his place, the engine went on its way.

Then a doctor came and looked at Jack O'Connor. Jack was dead, with a broken neck.

It is interesting to wonder whether the man who pulled the hook enjoyed his joke. It is interesting also to speculate on the nature of the mental make-up of such a man — whether it permits him to feel that he is guilty of Jack O'Connor's death.

"Hooks" in Bad Wreck.

It was a similar "joke" that sent Hook and Ladder Company No. 15 to Euclid and Cote Brilliante avenues on the night of July 4. The truck collided with a street car at Euclid. Captain Farrell and Firemen A. Gradell and J. Haberstroh were thrown to the ground and so cruelly mangled that they are not yet able to return to duty.

Capt. John Detwiler lay on a bed of suffering for 67 days, early in 1914, with both arms and his nose broken and his back badly wrenched because another idiot turned in a false alarm from Klemm street and Flora boulevard. Fireman George Harbaugh was out of service for 53 days with a fractured skull and Fireman E. Sedivec was out 30 days with a wrenched back from the same accident, a collision between their truck and a street car.

On the night of Nov. 7, 1915, Edward A. Murphy, a citizen, was run over by a fire truck responding to a false alarm, and was sent to the city hospital with both legs broken.

On the night of Dec. 5, 1915, Lieut. William Haas of Engine Company No. 11 was thrown from his wagon when responding to a false alarm and was severely injured.

On the night of July 27 last, G. Wadsack, a fireman, was badly hurt when the truck on which he was riding, after a false alarm, struck a tree.

In every one of these affairs, honest, decent, law-abiding men, trying to do their perilous duty for the public, were hurt because of a quirk in the brain of some other person. It is part of a fireman's job to take risks, but he has risks enough, heaven knows, in his regular work without having these added to them.

When Firemen Get Sore.

"You see, it is this way," one of them said to the writer recently. "We know we are taking chances all the time. You never hear a holler from us, tho, when we get hurt at a fire or going to one. It's when some fool turns in a false alarm and an accident smashes up some of our fellows that we get sore. Whoever sent Jack O'Connor to his death, for instance, is a murderer, pure and simple, in our eyes. It'll go hard some of these days with one of those guys if the boys ever get him dead to rights."

Every man from the Chief on down to the newest hostler in the department believes that there is a strange and especial danger in going to false alarms. They declare that their records prove it. It is comparatively rare, they say, that there is a collision or an upset in going to an actual fire.

The number of false alarms turned in is simply amazing. The total from Jan. 1, 1913, to Aug. 1, 1916, was 1,934, an average of a little more than 45 a month. Last year one out of every eight alarms recorded was a false one. The smallest number in any month was 20 for August, 1914, and the largest was 72, for November, 1913. Thus far in the current year the smallest number was 35, for April, while January and February each had 41.

There is a popular impression that most of these alarms are turned in by children. This is not true, according to Chief Henderson. Most of them, the Chief says, are turned in by men and particularly by men who drive various kinds of delivery wagons late at night. One of these sees a box, the Chief declares, turns in an alarm, drives on a block or so and waits to see what happens. The streets usually are deserted at the time, they are not detected at their work and consequently escape all punishment. The law provides a maximum penalty of imprisonment in the penitentiary for this offense, yet it is rarely inflicted because it is hard to obtain evidence for an arrest, to say nothing of conviction.

Children Sometimes "Jokers.”

Children are caught more frequently. They are invariably turned over to the Juvenile Court and an official of the Fire Department takes a hand in the prosecution. Whenever it is found to be a case merely of prankishness, the matter is usually ended by a stiff reprimand and by a recommendation that a parent of the child administer a sound spanking. This recommendation is generally followed and the result, Chief Henderson says, in most cases is salutary.

"It is with adults that the real trouble comes," the Chief added. "If we could only get the public to realize the enormity of the offense and to look upon the man who turns in a false alarm as an individual dangerous to the public welfare, who ought at once to be surrendered to the authorities, we could soon break up the practice.

Most of the serious accidents to trucks going to fires come from collisions with street cars. City ordinances require that when the bells of the fire engines are heard, motormen must stop their cars and drivers of all vehicles must draw up to the nearest curb and stop. Most of the motormen do this, the Chief says. Some of them do not but try to beat the engines across a street intersection.

"The United Railways, as a corporation, invariably cooperate with us," the Chief explained. "Some of the individual motormen do not. They usually advance the plea that, shut up in their vestibules, they did not hear the bells. It is often hard to disprove this. When we can do so, the street car company always fires the man and he cannot get his job back again. As a general thing, we have little trouble with motorists. They nearly always give us right of way when they can."

Want Better Traffic Regulations.

Most firemen believe that the traffic regulations of St. Louis for such emergencies are antiquated and insufficient. Altho our ordinances require all cars and autos to stop when the fire engines are coming, they are not rigidly obeyed as they are in other cities — in New York for instance. There the law says that traffic shall stop and it does stop. However, there are three or four traffic policemen on all corners in congested districts to see that it does.

Kansas City and other towns also have an admirable arrangement to stop traffic in congested districts. There on downtown corners are electric gongs. As soon as engines are started these gongs begin ringing, much like the bells at block signals on certain railroads. This is a signal to clear the thorofare, and the fire engines have an open road for minutes before they actually appear.

Chief Henderson has tried to get a similar arrangement authorized by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. It would cost about $30,000 if electricity is furnished free by public service corporations, and our city lawmakers have not seen fit to incur the expense.

"If we had such gong signals, tho," the chief declared, "I would rather put them at places outside the downtown district. Really we have very few accidents downtown. They usually happen out in the quiet neighborhoods, late at night.

"I'll tell you what our worst trouble is, tho, and it's going to cost St. Louis a big conflagration some day. It is the congestion of traffic on downtown streets, where autos are parked. Some of these days we are going to have a fire on a street where it will take us half an hour or maybe more to get these cars out of our way, and by the time we have got a place cleared to work in the fire will be out of our control. A loss of five minutes getting to a fire is likely at any time to mean two or three additional hours getting the fire under control."

Some Motormen Are Reckless.

Curiously enough, many of the drivers of fire wagons believe that most collisions are really unavoidable accidents. "The bust-up usually comes so quick you don't know what has happened or how," one of them said, "until somebody is pouring water in your face and bringing you to. We always try to get the horses under control when we approach a street car crossing and most of the motormen do the best they can. But sometimes you are going along at a good clip and a street car is going at a good clip and before either you or the motorman realizes the danger — zowie!

"We are always afraid of the motorman who tries to beat us to the crossing. Maybe he is a minute or two behind schedule or is trying to get to the end of the line a minute or two before so he can stop for a bit of lunch. There is usually a bunch of excited people on the corner. Some of them motion to us to come on and maybe some of them motion to the motorman that he can make it. The law says he oughtn't to try to make it, but he goes ahead anyhow — there always are a few fools like that — and then it happens!

"The public could do a lot of good and save a lot of danger in these cases if it could only be properly educated. If a few of these reckless motormen were reported to the street car company once in a while, it would stop such foolishness. Understand, we haven't any quarrel with the motor men in general. Most of them try to obey the law and help us out all they can. It's the occasional fellow that takes a chance who makes all the trouble.

Public Should Help, Say Firemen.

"Maybe I feel pretty strongly about this, but it's a serious matter for us fellows. You just put it into your paper that if the public will cooperate with us in this matter and, above all, help us put the false alarm fiend out of business, we'll be satisfied."

Policemen, as a rule, cooperate with firemen in every way possible. Chief Henderson says he has never made a request of one at a fire without getting immediate and satisfactory response. However, strict enforcement of the rules requiring street cars and autoists to stop at the approach of a fire engine has always been lax and there have been few arrests and prosecutions.

The new parking ordinance for automobiles is proving helpful in keeping some of the downtown streets clear, altho the fire fighters would like to see it extended until no autos were left in the streets without drivers in charge of them.

They Had Better Watch Out.

Ten times in the last five days false alarms of fire have been sent in from the alarm box at Fifty-eighth street and South Wabash avenue. Last night, says the Chicago Journal, when Engine Company No. 51 arrived at the corner, its members questioned a little girl standing at the curbing.

"'Stubby' McGovern and 'Billy' Barry did it," she said. "They do it most every day and then they run away and hide.

"Stubby" and "Billy" are 8 or 9 years old. A policeman will talk to them today.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 12.

Treasures of the Sea

1903

The sea around the shores of Greece is full of treasures. A little time ago the divers were bringing up the statues lost when the ship which was taking them to Rome was wrecked over 2000 years ago. Now the relics of the battle of Navarino, which was fought in 1827, are being fished up, and a number of old bronze cannon, swords, guns and pistols have been recovered from the Turkish and Egyptian ships. — Tit-Bits.


Household Sermons

The best sermons that ever were written to make men good husbands were written to recipes. — New York Press.

The Story of The Train Wreck at Great Falls, Montana, 1900

1900

THE STORY OF THE WRECK

Conductor Bingham Tells How His Train Was Ditched.

THE DEED OF A FANATIC

Switch Thrown Was the Only One Unguarded — Two Carloads of Perishable Freight Caused the Attempt.

The Great Northern passenger train wrecked at Great Falls at 10 o'clock Wednesday night arrived in Anaconda at 3:35 yesterday afternoon. Conductor Frank Bingham was in charge.

Shortly after the arrival of the train Mr. Bingham was seen by a Standard reporter. In speaking of the affair he said:

"It was a miraculous escape and the wonder of it all is that it was not attended by some loss of life. I had all along looked for trouble, but hardly thought that strike sympathizers would resort to such a dastardly trick. Before we left Havre we were threatened with trouble. There were two carloads of perishable freight to be taken through by us, a car of mineral water for Goodkind Bros., Helena, and a carload of beer for John Caplice of Butte. Before we coupled these cars onto our train we were warned. In fact, one of the strikers went up to one of my brakemen, George Alexander, and told him that if he dared to couple those two cars of freight onto the train he would be brained with a link. When I heard this I assumed the responsibility of this work myself. One of the strikers came to me and said: 'Bingham, you would not take the bread and butter out of our mouths, would you?'

"I answered that it had cost me 12 years of hard, steady work to get my present job, and that if perishable freight was attached to my train and I was ordered to take it out, I most certainly would do so. As the brakeman was afraid that some one of the strikers would carry the threat to brain him into effect, I went forward, coupled the cars onto the engine and coupled up the air myself. No one attempted to interfere and we pulled out of Havre without further incident. Our run to Great Falls was made without any trouble, and we got into that place five hours late. It was feared there that there might be some trouble, and deputy sheriffs had been stationed at every switch to prevent any attempt that might be made to ditch our train.

"We were just about clear of the yards when a man rushed out and, after the engine, the two cars of freight and the baggage car had passed over, threw the only switch that was not guarded. I was standing in the front part of the smoker, and when the switch was thrown the car I was in and the day coach went crashing into heavy ore cars standing on the track next to the main line. The sides of the two passenger cars were crushed in and several of the passengers were thrown on the floor, but luckily no one was injured. One of the brakemen saw the man who threw the switch, but I was inside. Had I been on the platform and seen the fellow when he made the attempt to murder us I should certainly have taken a shot at him.

"I see by the papers that the strikers state that they were attending a meeting when the switch was thrown. This may be true, but by a singular coincidence a number of people were seen to climb up on cars, and all were watching us as we pulled out, and appeared to know that something was going to happen just when it did. As soon as the wreck occurred three engines and a crew of wreckers were set at work and the spot cleared as soon as possible. We were five hours late when the train was ditched and about 12 hours more was consumed in clearing the wreck, but we finally pulled out and I delivered the two carloads of freight. that occasioned the trouble, to their destination."

"What will be the effect of the strike and what merit is there in the strikers' side?"

"It will he over in a short time. I have a personal acquaintance with a number of the men who went out and some of them are good fellows, but they went at this matter in the wrong way. There is no strike and none was ordered. The men simply refused to work under the new schedule, and they quit. That is all there is to it. They are no longer in the employ of the company and if they do not return to work other men will be brought in to take their places."

Locally the strike has been of no effect. Passenger trains are running as usual and freight is being received for points along the line as though nothing had happened. A great deal of freight is being congested at Woodville, the northern terminus of the Butte yard limit, but it is expected that by to-day sufficient men will have been received to man the trains abandoned by strikers, and that trains will be moved as before. All along the line scores of deputy sheriffs have been sworn in to protect company property, and for the first few days trains will he run under the protection of armed men.

—The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, Montana, May 4, 1900, page 4.

Note: In the fourth paragraph from the bottom the original article says, "I delivered the two carloads of freight. that occasioned the trouble, to their designation." Designation, not destination. I don't know if that word works, but I changed it anyway.

She Was in Earnest

1899

"When she will, she will, you can depend on't," is a line which many men have quoted of many women. The saying is often unjust, and the woman is often justified, but now and then the cap fits perfectly.

Not long ago a fast express was bowling over the sands of Arizona. Just how it happened was frequently explained and never understood, but as the train sped along the side of a parched river, it suddenly left the rails, rolled down the bank and landed in three feet of muddy water at the bottom of the river-bed.

Within the cars there was some natural confusion. Men, women and lunch-boxes were thrown into a heap, and not an umbrella nor parcel was left in the racks.

One by one the occupants of the rear car extricated themselves from the mass, and sought for means of escape, while stanching various wounds caused by broken glass. Every exit was jammed tight. Just then, in the midst of the doubt and confusion, rose a woman's voice in emphatic demand.

"Let me out! Let me out! If you don't let me out, I'll break a window." — Youth's Companion.

Car Embarks on Driverless Jaunt

Nebraska, 1934

A runaway created a few thrilling moments for folks on main street Tuesday, but it wasn't the familiar spectacle of olden days when frightened horses often embarked on a mad jaunt minus a driver; the runaway in this case was a "horseless carriage" belong to Rudolph Gustafson.

Gustafson stopped his car, a Model "A" Ford, in the alley at the side of his house on Second street, behind Jacobs' studio, and apparently forgot to set the brakes properly. He stepped into the house and when he returned, the car had started its ride to freedom. Gustafson attempted to run after the car and stop it but he stumbled and fell, and the auto continued a winding path westward and downhill, toward the bright light section.

At the bottom of the hill the car jumped the curbing by the Jacobs studio and kept rolling across main street until its journey was terminated abruptly by a collision with a cement block in front of Nelson Bros. garage. Had it not turned a bit too much to the right, the author would have gone straight through the door into the garage.

It missed, however, and now it reposes in the garage through necessity. The crash into the cement block bent the front axle and the front end of the frame, and also broke the flywheel and clutch housing.

—Oakland Independent and Republican, Oakland, Nebraska, June 29, 1934, p. 4.

Circus Elephant Heeds "Jump" Command Before Train Wreck

1905

TILLIE'S LITTLE TRICK WINS

Brookville, Ind., Aug. 17. — Circus tricks saved the life of Tillie, a trick elephant, in a freight wreck here yesterday. The Robinson circus train was standing on the Big Four tracks waiting for orders when a fast freight, running about thirty-five miles an hour, ran into it. Tillie was in one of the forward cars, and when her keeper saw the train bearing down on them he shouted:

"Jump, Tillie; jump."

The elephant, used to the command in the circus ring, jumped as she was bidden and cleared the car, receiving a slight sprain from the impact with the ground, some distance away. The trainer also jumped. The car in which they had been was wrecked. The circus employees nearly all were asleep at the time, and were thrown from their bunks to the floors of the cars, and some of them sustained serious injuries, but it is not thought that any are fatally hurt.

—The Fort Wayne Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Aug. 17, 1905, p. 3.

Night Watchman Wants Vacation, Kills Himself

Waukesha, Wisconsin, 1915

AN EVERLASTING VACATION

Watchman at Walworth Almshouse Jumps From Water Tower at Night

On last Sunday evening, says The Elkhorn Independent, August Belk, employed at the county farm as night watch jumped to his death from a window in the fourth story of the water tower. He has been an employee of the county, working at the county farm for the past five years. For several years he has been in poor health and lately has been speaking of taking a vacation.


PATIENT LEAPS TO HIS DEATH

Wm. Blessing of Milwaukee a Suicide at Oconomowoc Resort

William A. Blessing of Milwaukee was drowned in a pond on the Tweeden farm near Okauchee last Wednesday afternoon, says the Oconomowoc Enterprise.

Mr. Blessing went to a sanitarium here a few weeks ago as a mental patient. On Wednesday while out for a walk, accompanied by a nurse, Miss Margaret Bauer, he broke away, through a fence and into this pond. Miss Bauer was almost as quick as her patient and ran into the water after him, and her calls for assistance brought Melvin Tweeden to her aid, but Mr. Blessing had drowned before they could get him out.

He was 48 years of age and leaves a wife. The remains were taken to Milwaukee on Thursday.


AUTO WRECKS HORSE RIG

Pitches Wagon From Road and Driver Refuses to Lend Aid

Charles Flemming, while returning to his home from Menomonee Falls last Tuesday evening, narrowly escaped serious injury. His horse became frightened at an oncoming auto and threw the rig and the four occupants into the ditch. No one was seriously injured though the buggy was wrecked. The auto stopped but it is said, refused to convey the people in the wreck to their home. The accident happened near the home of W. P. Connell on the county line and aid was given by members of that family.


JITNEY SMASH AT MENOMONEE

Glaring Headlight Causes Bus Driver To Leave Road and Wreck Car

Menomonee Falls News—Last Sunday night, with seven passengers in his jitney, Milton A. Perrin, had a serious accident, resulting in the total wreck of his car.

According to the best accounts the accident which happened near Muensberg's, Fond du Lac road, was due to the glare of an oncoming automobile and a dog crossing the road. The car with its load hit the dog and was ditched.

The first reports that the machine struck a telephone pole were untrue. The pipe connections to the gasoline tank were broken, and it is thought the tail light set the gasoline on fire and soon the machine was a mass of flames. The tank contained about eight gallons of gas.

None of the passengers in the car sustained serious injuries, though some received slight scratches and a bad scare. Dr. Rohr of North Milwaukee was promptly summoned and the passengers were taken to Muensberg's saloon. All of the occupants were later taken to Milwaukee by R. A. German, who also operates a jitney between Menomonee Falls and Milwaukee.

-The Waukesha Freeman, Waukesha, Wisconsin, August 19, 1915, page 6.