Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 June 1890 — ELECTRICITY IN PUDDLES. [ARTICLE]

ELECTRICITY IN PUDDLES.

H°n*» S«t to Dadoing In the Streets es New York by a Leak In a Conduit. There was a series of performances in William street, New York, recently that partook of the nature of a circus. At the curb in front of No. 164 a truck had been backed up to unload. This made it neceasary that horses carrying on street trafflo should pass around the truck and approach tho curb on the opposite side of the street. The pavement is uneven and the hollows were puddles of water. The momait a horse put a hoof into one of these puddles he sprang into the air with a snort. When he alighted, if he was a particularly well-fed horse, he tried to run away. After a few exhibitions of this kind the word was passed along William street that an electric wire had broken under ground. Hundreds of employes In the stores poured out on the sidewalks and watched the passing conveyances. The vehicles were mostly trucks, and the orowd took especial delight when any old cart horse came poking along. When it reached the danger spot the crowd held their breath, and at sight of the nag opening its sleepy eyes in surprise and climbing into the air the crowd roared. One old cart horse by a curi. ouA mishap executed a tremendous double act. He got his hind hoofs in one puddle of water and fore hoofs in another, and did the customary act of going into the air lice a cat, while his legs dangled down, and when he alighted he struck in an/jther puddle with the same results. The plug got so much electricity in him that he ran half a block before he could be stopped. The news passed from one truckman to another as they met iu the lower part of the city, and afterward every truckman gave the electric puddles a wide berth. Superintendent H. J. Smith, of the Edison Electric Light company station on Pearl street, from which the underground wires that run tnrough William street proceed, said that the electrio current was low tension, and even if there was an escape of fluid In the street the effect would be very slight. It would only tickle the horses 1 nerves ,a little. The gathering of water ini puddles in the pavement would serve undoubtedly, he added, to distribute the electricity. Laborers were set to work on the conduit, and a break about two inches long was found on the weßt side of the street. Whether there is a corresponding break in the oonduit on the east side remains to be determined. The current was shut off, and the dancing of the horses ceased. Superintendent Smith said that the force of the current was about one hundred volts.