LIVE WIRE CREATES A FURORE.
Endangers Lives as It Swings in
Street at Eighth and McGee.
Fast running under a circuit breaker caused a break in the trolley wire at Eighth and McGee streets last night. This was followed by a brilliant electrical display as the fallen wire touched the trucks, and a heavy roar which almost deafened those who were passing in the street at that time.
A policeman who was walking on Grand avenue near Ninth street hurried in the direction of the flashes, thinking that a bomb had been thrown at the post office building. Persons as far away as Eighth and Campbell streets saw the electrical display and heard the reports which the wire made as it swung back and forth over the tracks. Persons walking on Eighth street near the break at the time flagged the cars, and also passersby who started to walk across the street.
The wire was broken by the trolley pole of an eastbound Independence avenue car, which passed under the circuit breaker so rapidly that it jerked the wire from its hangings. The car passed on with undiminished speed, the crew not seeming to realize that a death-trap had been left behind unguarded. A Metropolitan division superintendent was summoned and soon captured the live wire, allowing the blockaded cars to drift under the gap and continue on their way.
