The Dangers of Electric Wires.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 933, 17 January 1890, Page 9

The Dangers of Electric Wires.

New York Correspondent op the ‘ Daily Hews.’

A remarkable accident from contact with an electric lightiug wire occurred early on Mindny morning. A telephone wire worn by rust, broke and fell from the high'pole on which it was stretched on t Fourth Avenue, and in falling dragged with it an electric lighting wire, which then lay in a loop across the Avenue. Thomas Whelan, driving a delivery waggon of the Herald, came down the Avenue, and his horse stepped upon the fallen wire. The animal stopped short, then sprang with all its four feet into the air, and fell motionless. The concussion threw Whelan over the horses head into the street. As he arose, bewildered by the fall, but not huH, he steadied himself against the side of the prostrate beast. A tremenlous phock then threw him off his feet clean into the gutter. Whelan saw sparks flying in all directions as he fell ; but, believing they were the creatures of his fancy and the effect of his fall, and failing entirely to comprehend the situation, he picked himself up once more, and went up to the horse to see what was the matter. He felt for its head in the darkness, and got hold of the hridle. The shock this time flung him still farther away. Whelan then at last understood the significance of the flashes of light, and did not try to get up again, but lay still and shouted for help. Two men who were near heard his cries and ran to see what wa3 the matter. In the darkness of the Avenue—for no electric lights were burning—they saw the tramway track and the horse emiting flashes of blue flame, and sparks were flying here and there all t-bout in unexpected places. The horse did not stir, and was apparently stone dead. A smell of burning fi sh was perceptible half a square away. No wire was in sight, but the knowledge that t.he danger, though unseen, was very near, made the men extremely careful. They crossed the Avenue, giving the hor-e and waggon a wide berth, and helped up Whelan, who was dazed and weakened. A crowd was gathering and the Averiub waking up. Windows were opened, and heads were thrust out everywhere, while anxious inquiries were made as to the nature •of the trouble. The police were summoned, and a sergeant with two men appealed. As so in as he saw the situation of affairs, with the horse still burning on the track, the sergeant signalled all the policemen within call, and set a guard at each turning to keep pasgengers out of danger. Before enough had responded to carry out the precaution, however, a party of inen came down the Avenue. The sergeant cried to them to stop, and when they paid no attention started across the Avenue to keep them off. It was still too dark to see where the danger threatened ; and so the sergeant went along, feeling his way .wich his b&ton, to ward off the wire should he encounter it, making a ddtour around the waggon at what he thought to be a safe distance. However, he struck the wire with his head. It caught him across the forehead, knocking off his cap and sending him on to the pavement as if he had been shot. He lay there insensible, but a policeman who had seen him fall saw also the flash which the wire emitted as it seared the sergeant’s forehead. He dropped his b&toD, and seizingthe sergeant’s foot tried to pull him away with all his might. The shock which he himself received sent him sprawling, but he resolutely caught hold once more, and drew the prostrate sergeant out of death’s path. His whole body tingled and shivered with the electric current ashemade the effort ; bun he succeeded and the sergeant recovered slowly. He was dazed and almost helpless, but insisted upon staying to give orders that the danger might be averted. It was out of the question for him to remain, however. His head was covered with blood. There was tbe plain imprint of the wire across the forehead, and blood had flowed from a deep gash over the eye, probably received is the fall.

He was taken to the station-house, but his cap, which no one dared to' pick up, lay on the track to show where danger might be met, and the dead horse was still burning slowly in the roadway. Finally it occurred to someone to run to the Electric Light Company’s workshops, which are near by, and summon aid. Men in rubber boots came and found the deadly wire. The end was beneath the prostrate horse. The wire was at once cut and pulled down from the pole; hut still blazed and splnttered in the gutter for half an hour. It is not 'strange that nobody here contends any longer that electricity is not sufficiently deadly to be used in the execution of criminals.