Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1895 — PUGNACIOUS PINGREE [ARTICLE]

PUGNACIOUS PINGREE

WILL FORCE THE STREET-CAR FIGHT AT DETROIT. ~. - V Oeath-Dealing; Electric Wires Squirm, Splutter, and Hiss with Blue Blazes in Chicago’s Streets -Santa Fe Road Cancels All Contracts. Six for a Quarter or No Fare. Mayor*Pingree, of Detroit, rode from his home to the City Hall Friday without paying any street car fare. coned it in a way that was not acceptable to the street car company. Although his Honor invited the conductor to put him off he rode unmolested to his office. This situation is for clieanerTitres-. —Recently the Citizens” Street Railway, failing to compromise certain disagrceinents with city, ttdopted the ]dan <»f getting even by.discontinuing the sale of six tickets for a quttrteFand insisting""o'h a straight 5-cent fare. The. Mayor holds that the precedent of thirty- years had practically mnffe= the six for a quarter arrangement a con-Trac-trinid-tnsists' that it is still hrTort'er He tested it by offering 25 cents for six tickets. He was refused, and thereupon declined to pay tiny fare. He advised other passengers to follow the same plan, and several of them did. In the evening, while homeward bound, the Mayor again refused to pay a 5-cent fare, whereupon the conductor stopped the car and ejected the Mayor. He took the matter pleasantly, and will begin suit against the coluI’tiny- * . - Panic of Passengers. A Chicago trolley car was stopped to repair a slight damage to the motor. Two dther cars folfoiAed, and the pressure of three trolley arms pushing upon the wire caused it to come in contact with the electric light wires overhead arid extending to the drug store of H. Schmidt. As the wires touched a blinding flash of electricity started a panic among the piissongi-rs in the three cars, everyone of wliicb was crowded. Women and childrcm were trampled under foofTnTlie endeavor ofithe to escape, and one girl met’with a shock ffom the trolley wires. Almost as soon as the wires came in* contact both trolley wires dfopped tOL-the ground. Like two deinons spitting fire, they jerked about the street amid the now thoroughly excited passengers, one of whom was thrown to the ground. Upon the arrival of the wrecking wagon a sneak thief stole the tools of the repair man, and another trip to the barns was necessary before the damage could be repaired. Turns a New Leaf. The new management of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway has wiped a big wet sponge over its slate and will start out with tin entirely new deal. In other words, it litis decided to cancel every contract of every description held .by or against the old company and begin ail over again as if none of them were in existence. This decision applies to traffic contracts, contracts for wtpplies, contracts with other corporations, railroad and otherwise, a nd, in fact, contracts of every kind, dovi*n to the.one for-the wicks for the brakemen’s-lanterns. How many of these conbraeta there are not even the genera 1 aecottntant of the road ctin tell without a long search of his books. They runFintoThe thousands and are such as a railroad corporation “naturally acquires in many years of business. - Red Cross to Help. The American Red Cross Society has decided to accept the duty of distributing tkt' relief funjs t\>f 350,000 Armenian sufferers and has issued an appeal for aid. Miss Barton, president, says such widespread want can be met only by relief funds running into the millions. It'is estimated that the cost of relief per capita wDl.be much heavier than in the case of the Johnstown and Sea Island sufferers, owing to inaccessibility. The Red Cross party, including Miss Barton, will, leave immediately after being assured of a sufficient sum to carry forward the work. The start must be made soon. It. takes five weeks to get to the distressed district and demand is urgent. -i * . Will Bq IJvely After H<>l i:1 ayß. R. G. Dun A- Co.’s Weekly Review of Trade says: “It has been a very quiet week, withoutktvhV-dititurbances. Prices of manufactured—products slowly recede from the high Wafer mark of speculation and no material increase in demand is now expected until after the holidays, but there is general confidence that greater acllvity Will then appear, and that works which have stopped a little earlier than usual will again be called into operation.”