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STREET CAR CRASH
FATAL TO FIREMAN
____
LIETU. TROWBRIDGE, ENGINE 7
PROBABLY MORTALLY
INJURED BY BEING RUN DOWN
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CAR RUNNING 35 MILES AN HOUR, IN THE CITY, CRUSHES AND MAIMS MEMBERS OF FIRE DEPARTMENT.

THE INJURED.

    D. W. Trowbridge, lieutenant Engine Co. 7; left leg broken, internal injuries; may die.
    Harry Hicks, direr, Engine Co. 7; left arm and three ribs broken.
    C. H. Gridley, hoseman, lacerations.
    Two passengers, names not given; cut by glass.

    Running at a high rate of speed Main st. car No. 381, Los Angeles Ry. Co., crashed into engine company No. 7's combination hose wagon, at 10:45 Saturday morning, injuring five people.  Thee of these were firemen, on their way to answer an alarm at Forty-fourth st. and Figueroa.  One may die.

    Lieut. D. W. Trowbridge, Engine Co. No. 7 is at his home, 2104 Maple av., suffering from a broken left leg and internal injuries, which may prove fatal.

    Driver Harry Hicks is at the Californian hospital with a broken left arm, three broken ribs, ugly cuts and bruises.

    Hoseman C. H. Gridley was able to go back to the engine house, corner Twenty-fourth st. and Maple av.  He has a long cut on his scalp.  Two passengers on the car were hurt by flying glass, but were not seriously injured.

    When the alarm from Forty-fourth and Figueroa sts. came in engine 7 answered.  The combination hose wagon, in its accustomed place followed the engine.  The clang of gongs startled pedestrians on Twenty-fourth and Main sts.  Two of these, seeing the wagon coming from the east, looked south and saw the Main st. car approaching at high speed.

    Frantically these citizens waved to the motorman, C. A. Bazoni, to stop.  He did not heed.  At the rate of 35 miles an hour, the car sped into Twenty-fourth st.  It struck the hose wagon fairly in the middle, and rolled it over to one side.

    Splintered glass fell in a shower over horror-stricken passengers.  The wagon horses were thrown on their sides.  Two of the three men who rode in it lay beneath the heavy vehicle.  The body of the wagon was dragged over their limbs.

        Miraculously, Hoseman Gridley, who was hurled to one side, escaped without broken bones.  He arose, bleeding, from the roadway, and helped his companions form their dangerous positions.

    Hicks was taken to the California hospital by the police ambulance, which made a swift run to the scene of the accident.  Trowbridge, who is in bad shape, was taken to his home.  The injured passengers quickly left the neighborhood and did not give their names.  Conductor G. W. Clark was in charge of the car.

    The wagon was completely wrecked.  This is the second accident within a month from the same cause that has come to Engine Co. 7.


FIRE WAGON
  RUNS INTO
   STREET CAR
____
Three Members of Engine Co.
7 Hurt, Two Suffering
Broken Bones--Apparatus Is
Wrecked
____
THE INJURED

    Lieutenant J. W. Trowbridge, Engine Co. 7;  left leg broken above the knee, let arm broken, internal injuries.
    Edward Hicks, hose wagon driver, Engine Co. 7;  left arm broken, cut about head, crushed;  may be injured internally.
    C. H. Gridley, hoseman, Engine Co. 7;  cut about face and head.

____

    In a collision between the hose wagon of Engine Co. No. 7 and car No. 381 of the Moneta avenue line, at 11 o'clock this morning, at the corner of Main and Twenty-fourth streets, three men on the hose wagon were seriously injured.

    The car was going south on Main street at high speed, and through signaled to stop, it did not slow up as is approached Twenty-fourth street.  The hose wagon was going west on Twenty-fourth street, responding to a fire alarm turned in from Forty-fourth and Figueroa streets, and was passing in front of the car when struck.  The three men were crushed between the front of  the car and the hose wagon.

    The car was in charge of Motorman C. A. Bazoni of 454 Crocker street, and Conductor C. E. Clark, of 815 hemlock street.

    Edward Hicks was taken to the California hospital for treatment.  Lieutenant Trowbridge was taken to his hone, 2104 Maple avenue.  Hoseman Gridley returned to the engine house.

    The fire apparatus was wrecked and the car slightly damaged.

    F. P. Hewitt, engineer of Company 7, who saw the accident from his engine, said:  "The car was flagged by A. Cohen of 121 West Thirtieth street, who saw the department coming, but the motorman refused to answer the signal.

    "After the crash the motorman jumped from his car and attempted to run away, thinking he had killed the men on the cart.  I ran after him, caught him, choked him and brought him back, so that we could get his name.  He threatens me with arrest for assault.

    "It was impossible for Diver Hicks to avoid the accident, as he saw the men in the street in front flag the car to give him the right of way, and from the speed at which the car was going when she struck I do not think the brakes could have been applied at all."



The Los Angeles Record, August 18, 1906

The Los Angeles Express, August 18, 1906


========================
FIREMEN HURT BY STREET CAR
____
Electric Coach Running at
High Speed
Wrecks Hose Wagon Although
Citizens Gave Crew Warning

____
BROKEN ARMS AND LEGS
CRIPPLE FIGHTERS

____

Lieut. Trowbridge May Be Permanently Crippled---Fear
That Driver Hicks Sustained Serious Internal Injuries---Motorman Offers No Excuse
____

Although flagged by two citizens who saw an accident impending, Motorman C. A. Bazoni drove Main street car No. 381 full into the hose car of Engine company 7, shortly before 10 o'clock this morning at Main and Twenty-fourth streets, wrecking the apparatus and seriously injuring Lieutenant Trowbridge and Diver Hicks, both of whom were on the seat of the combination.  Captain Trowbridge sustained a broken leg, severe cuts and bruises and possible internal injuries. His hurts are such that he will be confined to his bed for weeks and possibly crippled for life, surgeons say.  Diver Hicks has a broken left arm, several fractured ribs, severe bruises all over his body and possible internal injuries.

    Engine company 7, located at Twenty-fourth street and Maple avenue, was responding to an alarm from Forty-fourth and Figueroa streets.  As Diver Hicks approached Main street, going west on Twenty-fourth at high speed, he sounded his bell repeatedly and two citizens, seeing him and hearing his bell, ran into the street and signaled to the motorman of a northbound car in such a way, they claim that it would have alarmed any ordinarily cautious man.

Paid No Attention

    Motorman Bazoni admits that he paid no attention to the two men.  Going as he was at a high rate of speed, the collision that resulted when the combination wagon emerged out of Twenty-fourth street on to Main, was disastrous.  The car struck the hose wagon about midway on the left hand side, shot it out from under the three men clinging to seat and tailboard, knocked one of the horses down and continued down the street for fifty feet before brought to a stop.

    The front of the car was demolished and several passengers cut by glass.  Lieutenant Trowbridge was partly beneath the wrecked wagon and the diver, Hicks, entangled in the reins, was thrown the full length of the leathers and lay there stunned.  Hoseman Gridley, who was on the tailboard of the wagon, escaped with a severe scalp laceration.

Care for Injured

    Witnesses of the accident picked up the injured men and took them to a nearby feed store, where they lay on sacks of grain and piles of hay awaiting the arrival of the ambulance.  Driver Hicks was taken to the receiving hospital by the police patrol wagon while Lieutenant Trowbridge was helped to his home at 2104 Maple avenue in an express wagon, commandeered by Policemen Graham and Held.  Other policemen, under Captain Bradish of the University substation and Sergeant Lehnhausen took charge of the situation at the wreck, securing the names of witnesses and firemen in order to make a full report on the accident to the department heads.  Assistant Fire Chief O'Donnell was one of the first on the scene and he bitterly denounced the motorman.

    No arrest were made and Motorman Bazoni and his conductor, G. W. Clarke were allowed to take their battered car to the barn. Railroad authorities refused to make any statement in regard to the affair until after an investigation has been made.  The car crew, claims that the attempts made by the citizens to stop the car were mistaken, and that the engine company should have approached the intersection of the streets with greater care.

____
 


FIREMEN HURT      
      IN COLLISION
______

ELECTRIC CAR STRIKES
HOSE WAGON
______

Three Men Hurled to Street With
Force of Impact--Gross Negil-
gence of Railway Men
Charged
______

    Three firemen were injured, two seriously, as the result of a collision of a hose wagon of engine company No. 7 and car No. 381 of the Los Angeles Railway company at Twenty-fourth and Main streets at 10 o'clock yesterday morning.

    According to witnesses the car crew were to blame for the accident, having utterly disregarded the signals of several bystanders to stop as the fire apparatus rushed by responding to a fire alarm.

    Lieut. D. W. Trowbridge, living at 2104 Maple avenue, sustained a fractured left leg and internal injuries.

    Diver Harry Hicks was internally injured and sustained cuts and bruises.

    He was taken to the California hospital and was reported to be resting easily last night.

    Hoseman C. H. Gridley suffered bruises and cuts on the head.  He was treated at the receiving hospital and later was able to return to the engine house.

    Engine company 7 was responding to an alarm at Forty-fourth and Figueroa streets.  As Diver Hicks neared Main street, on Twenty-fourth street, car No. 381 came along at a rapid rate of speed, witnesses say, and, despite the warning signals of pedestrians, crashed into the hose wagon, hurling the occupants to the pavement and seriously injuring the horses and wrecking the wagon.

Chief Lips Will Investigate

    Driver Hicks and Lieutenant Trowbridge were the most seriously injured, while Hoseman Girdley escaped with trifling injuries, owing to his leap from the wagon at the time of the collision.

    The motorman of the car was C. A. Bazoni and the conductor was G. W. Clark.

    The members of the fire department assert positively that the car crew disregarded the signals to stop and deliberately crashed into the apparatus.

    An investigation will be made by Chief Lips and the blame for the accident fixed if possible.

    Members of the same company were injured in a similar accident at Twenty-fourth and Maple avenue several weeks ago when a Maple avenue car crashed into the hose wagon of engine company 7, wrecking the wagon and injuring three firemen.

    It is asserted that the car crew of the Los Angeles railway company disregarded the city ordinance requiring them to stop their cars on the approach of fire apparatus and have by their tactics frequently retarded the firemen from responding to an alarm.

    A communication will be sent to the city council Monday informing the councilmen of the difficulty of certain companies in answering fire alarms, owing to the stand taken by the employees of the street car companies.

    As it is now, it is alleged, the firemen take extraordinary risks in responding to an alarm, owing to the failure of the car crews to stop their coaches on the approach of the apparatus.
 

The Los Angeles Herald, August 19, 1906


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