Controversy & Problems
A. Placing
the rails
Aug 21, 1889 – The Motor Line---Keep to the Middle of the
Road---A Lively Squabble
It was reported that the
company building the line on 25th St. want to place it on the south side of
the street near the row of trees, make a sharp turn at the sidewalk near the
office of Ingrahm and Steele. [on corner of 25th & Central]
Follow
the old streetcar line down the center of Central Ave. to the south part of
town.
Article ended by saying the company appears to believe they can put the
route wherever they wish without council approval and that several council
members do not approve of the described plan so there might be quite a
squabble.
Aug 22, 1889 – Mr. Frank Explains
Frank
responded by saying this is misinformation. They know they need council
approval and a route has not been determined yet.
His
experience in running the street cars in the last month and a half has shown
that at the rate of 5˘ per fare, except during the GAR reunion, there was no
profit.
He did not believe that for the first few years the electric streetcar would
be a paying investment
B. Phone lines vs.
Car lines
May 20, 1890 – City Council meeting
Two representatives of the telephone company explained the difficulty of
using the street to run its wires and where the phone and electric motor
wires would conflict.
The council’s ordinance
committee agreed to meet with the two the next day to work out the
conflicting interests.
(All this wiring was on poles,
no underground lines in those days.)
C. Opera House
Construction
July 26, 1890 – Citizens are Kicking
A board fence had
been erected on the north and east sides of the opera house constructed
site. Outside this there was a narrow sidewalk.
The
complaints were twofold.
1)
because the sidewalk was so narrow, pedestrians frequently collided.
2) The space between the walk and the street car track was so narrow that
barely 3 feet was left between the street car and the horse of a passing
wagon. The drivers had to jump down and hold the horses to calm them.
D. Crossing the UP
Tracks
Aug 8, 1890 – Local Notes
The motor track where it
crosses the main line of the U. P. will have to be covered
Brake-rods of the passing
trains hit on it.
A “shoe” and a good sized casting have already broken off in going over.
E. Children
May 6, 1895 – An Ordinance
Section II. It
shall be unlawful for children or boys under eighteen years of age to get on
or off a moving train car or street car in the city of Kearney.
Dangers
A.
Killed by the Motor – May 21, 1891
1st collusion since the
electric cars started running.
A delivery man going north on
Central ave.
The motor came up from behind.
When they were about even the
horse suddenly startled and lunged, going in front of the street car.
The drayman tried to back up but the wagon shaft caught in the brake
dragging the horse under the wheels.
One
foreleg was crushed and the other one badly cut. “a shot in the head put an
end to its misery.”
B. Almost Fatally Injured – Aug 9, 1892
Farmer living about 14 fourteen miles south of Kearney, was driving toward
home
Near the court house on Central his horses, frightened by the electric cars,
ran away frantically.
Farmer was thrown out of his
wagon, got tangled in the lines, was dragged, & mangled.
His head and face were bruised, several teeth knocked out and one ear almost
torn off
He was also injured internally.
The doctor pronounced his
injuries very serious but not necessarily fatal.
C. A Narrow Escape
– Jan 6, 1893
A gentleman was riding in a
buggy when the horse became frightened at the street car.
He jumped out to hold the animal and slipped, falling across the rails.
The streetcar stopped, but the wheels struck him
“aside
from giving him a good scare no harm was done.”
The
gentleman did not care to repeat the performance right away.
D. A Fatal Fall –
Aug 5, 1893
A
horse trader was astride a pony which he was watering at the drinking
fountain in front of the Beckett House
(1 ˝ blocks south of railroad on Central)
An
electric car that was passing frightened the horse.
It started to run, slipped on a rail of the street car track threw the
rider, and fell on him.
He was
carried to the Wyoming hotel, attended by Dr. Duckworth, but was past
medical aid, and died.
Little
was known of the man other than he was a horse trader and had been living
for a short time in a tent near the lake.
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