OVERHEAD FUSE
SET CAR AFIRE.
PANIC AMONG PASSENGERS FOL-
LOWED EXPLOSION.
CORINNE TALIAFERRO HURT.
SEVERAL OTHERS WERE IN-
JURED, BUT ONLY SLIGHTLY.
Trolley Car in Flames Ran Wild
Through Wyandotte Street Un-
til Pedestrian Turned
Off the Current.
When the "overhead" blew out on a Grand Central depot bound car at Twelfth and Wyandotte streets at 9 o'clock last night, half a dozen passengers were momentarily shrouded in flames. Miss Corinne Taliaferro, 1747 Pennsylvania avenue, became hysterical and jumped from the car w hen released by a passenger who had removed her from immediate danger from fire Her back and shoulder were wrenched, and she was so hysterical when taken to emergency hospital that an examination of her injuries could not be attempted.
A. L. Perry, 513 Locust street, who made a brave attempt to save the women passengers who tried to jump from the car, was treated at the emergency hospital, and Edward H. Bly, 5617 East Ninth street, who set the brakes on the car after it had been deserted by the crew, was burned severely. An unidentified woman passenger whose ankle was inured sent for a carriage and was taken home.
E. G. Combs, motorman of the car, No. 713, says he was thrown from the front vestibule by the explosion. The car had just crossed the Twelfth street tracks when the overhead blew out and the motorman left his brakes. Immediately the front of the car was enveloped in flames and the passengers fled to the rear vestibule. The first of the passengers, eager to leave the burning car, which was then under ordinary speed, pushed the conductor into the street and the car was left running wild.
It was then that Perry and Bly, the latter with an ambition to be a motorman, and with his application for a job placed with the Metropolitan Street Railway Company earlier in the day, attempted to rescue the passengers While Bly aided the two women to the rear of the car, Perry braced himself on the steps and refused to allow them to jump from the car.
Mrs. Taliaferro, who had been touched by the flames, stooped low and leaped straight into the street under Perry's outstretched arm. The rest of the passengers crowded upon the young man with such force that he was pushed to the pavement and his right ankle was twisted and his left shoulder bruised. The car, running wild and burning, had passed Eleventh street.
Bly, who could no longer aid the passengers, turned his attention to the brakes. The front vestibule was full of smoke and fire but he stepped in and fumbled for the levers. He brought the car to a stop near Ninth street, just as the insurance patrol company swung into Wyandotte from its Eleventh street station. The flames were soon extinguished The car was pushed to a switch in the North End.
The conductor and motorman, bruised, went to their barn and Bly sought a physician, while Perry went to the emergency hospital. Miss Taliaferro for two hours was too hysterical to receive treatment and was given opiates to quiet her nerves and brace her for examination . In the meantime Jack Bell, a traveling man acquaintance, had reached the emergency hospital and later D. H. D. McQuade was summoned. At midnight Miss Taliaferro was removed to the Wesley hospital, Eleventh and Harrison streets.
D. H. D. McQuade stated last night that the injuries may prove more serious than at first indicated by the examination. He thinks the girl has been injured internally and that several bones have been broken. A further examination will be made today. An opiate was given her last night in order that she might get rest and recover from the nervous shock sustained at the time of the accident.
