June 22, 1879 – The Chicago Daily Tribune chronicles the “dangers to life and limb incident to the highway” [Chicago Daily Tribune, June 22, 1879] noting that in the previous seven weeks, there have been 59 runaways, 44 persons injured and five killed on city streets. The statistics are so unbelievable that only a full listing will make clear what life must have been like in Chicago during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Imagine …
May 1: Julius Stoehr, a medical student, was knocked down while endeavoring to stop a runaway horse and buggy on the corner of State and Washington streets, and his left arm broken below the shoulder.
May 3: John Lyman was thrown from a team driven by Henry Rawson, near the corner of Canalport avenue and Halsted street, and badly injured about the head.
May 6: Henry Fosberg, 8 years of age, was run over by a hack driven by some person unknown. One wheel passed over his chest, injuring him severely.
May 6: Two powerful horses attached to a loaded ice-wagon belonging to the North Side Ice Company ran away on Sedgwick street, and turning on Chicago avenue smashed a lamp-post and letter-box, and finally collided with a farm wagon.
May 7: Horse and buggy owned and driven by William Mason collided with Randolph street car No. 306. The car horses broke loose, and one ran into a lumber wagon and was severely injured.
May 10: John McCarty, 3 years old, while playing on the street, was run down on the corner of Halsted and Monroe streets by a wagon driven by Charles Bush.
May 11: An American Express wagon smashed a letter-box on the corner of Clark and South Water streets.
May 11: James Conley, 7 years old, instantly killed on Bunker street by a truck owned by Armour and Co.
May 12: Team belonging to Philip Lang ran away on Halsted street, and smashed a lamp-post.
May 12: Horse attached to a buggy owned by W. H. Wells and Bros., ran away from there and collided with C. Schultz’s grocery wagon, badly injuring his horse.
May 12: Team attached to hack No. 112 ran off from in front of the Tremont, smashed the carriage, and ran into a Randolph street car, killing one of the horses. Total damage, $500.
May 12: Horse attached to a light wagon, driven by Adam Conrad, of Mokena, Ill., ran away at South Water street. The wagon was smashed against one of the posts of the Clark street bridge, and Conrad, a man of nearly 60, sustained such injuries that he died on the following day.
May 13: An unknown man was run down near the corner of Union and Hubbard streets by a horse and buggy driven by Julius Anderson, of No. 311 West Division street. The man fell on the street-car truck, and was trampled on by the horses attached to a passing car. He died in a few minutes.
May 13: A team and hack owned by Hoffman and Amberg ran over Bessie Wilson, 3 years old, on the corner of Green and Madison streets, Injuries slight.
May 13: Mrs. Niell, of 5 Hubbard street, was run over on Canal street by a buggy driven by Louis Powell. Her injuries were not serious.
May 13: Mrs. Gallman, of 99 Miller street, while signaling a street-car at the corner of Taylor street and Blue Island avenue, was run down by a horse and buggy driven by J. F. Potter, and sustained some severe bruises.
May 13: J. E. Jones’ horse and buggy ran off from in front of 133 West Madison street, but the rig was not greatly damaged.
May 18: Hobart Herkenberger, 9 years of age, was kicked in the face by a horse owned by Philo Corkell, and four teeth knocked out.
May 18: Mr. Tunstall, residing at the Palmer House, was thrown from his buggy at Thirteenth street and Wabash avenue and terribly cut about the head.
May 19: George Weber, 5 years old, living at No. 160 Green street, was run over by T. B. Read’s ice wagon while trying to cross the intersection of Green and Indiana streets. His hand was badly cut and his left leg broken in two places.
May 19: Joseph Lubski and John Hupka, residing in Emma street, were thrown from a buggy, and Lubski sustained a fracture of two ribs and some severe bruises on the head.
May 21: E. Prenitce and George Threipland were thrown from a buggy near the Twelfth-street viaduct. Neither of them was severely injured.
May 21: George Middleman, while riding in a Milwaukee-avenue street-car, had a rib broken by the shaft of a coal-cart running through the side of the car.
May 22: Horse attached to Herman Leon’s butcher-wagon ran away on South Water street and wrecked two wagons, besides injuring a horse.
May 24: Albert E. Covre’s team ran off on West Madison street, and collided at Paulina street with car No. 332, damaging it considerably and injuring one of the car-horses.
May 24: Margaret Griffin, aged 60, was knocked down by a buggy owned and driven by C. E. Wiswall while attempting to cross the street at the intersection of Clark and Washington streets, and was severely injured.
May 24: Joseph Leduc, 4 years old, No. 101 Bunker street, was run down on the corner of Desplaines and Bunker streets, by a brick-wagon driven by John Matson.
May 24: Charles Zimlo and another smashed their buggy and damaged a Lincoln avenue street-car near Fullerton avenue. The buggy was smashed and the driver and one passenger on the car were thrown off.
May 27: George Beaubien, aged 12, was run down on the corner of School and Desplaines street by a horse and buggy driven by some person unknown.
May 28: John Hogan, 48 Thirteenth place, was run over by a horse and buggy driven by Henry Hechman.
May 28: Team attached to a wagon ran off on South Union street, and, at the corner of Lake street, ran into a horse and wagon driven by Louis Pankey.
May 28: Team attached to wagon ran off from in front of No. 18 Halsted street, and, at Randolph street, collided with a horse and wagon driven by James Sweeney; Sweeney was badly bruised.
May 28: Horse attached to Jacob Pinney’s buggy ran off on Chicago avenue, and near Franklin street, smashed up D. E. Mitchell’s buggy. P. B. Foley, who was riding in the first-named vehicle, was badly bruised about the left hip.
May 29: Edward Gay’s team ran off with his buggy on Ashland avenue, and Gay was thrown out and severely bruised.
May 31: Willie Cornell, 8 years old, was run over on the corner of Morgan and Randolph streets by J. B. Able’s milk-wagon. His right leg was broken below the knee, left leg and arm sprained, and the body badly bruised. In this case the fault appeared to be with the child, who was playing ball.
May 31: Charles McWilliams, 18 years old, had his right leg badly jammed between the wheel and wagon-box of one of Keeley’s beer-wagons on Archer avenue.
May 31: A horse attached to a buggy owned by L. Frank ran away on Curtis street and collided with an Indiana streetcar. Miss Ellen McGuire, a passenger on the car, was severely injured by broken glass. The horse broke its legs and was shot by an officer.
May 31: One of Kaseberg and Co’s lumber-wagon teams ran off on Hobbie street. John Abney, aged 27, tried to stop the runaways, but slipped, and both wheels of the wagon passed over him, causing instant death.
June 2: A horse and buggy, driven by a drunken man and with two other passengers, while proceeding at a furious rate over the Milwaukee avenue viaduct, struck Mrs. Jane Farley, aged 60, causing such injuries as to necessitate her removal to the hospital.
June 3: C. H. Boynton, lighthouse-keeper, was run down on Canal street by a horse and wagon owned by George Auer, of No. 180 West Twelfth street.
June 3: T. Patzack and Co’s team ran off with a heavy wagon on Monroe street, and at State street ran into and smashed a buggy. No one hurt.
June 3: Mrs. Marpole, of No. 39 Plum street, was run over by one of Brand’s beer-wagons driven at a furious rate by Adam Hembes. One of her ribs was broken, and she received other injuries.
June 4: James Redden, 9 years old, was run over on West Lake street, by a horse and buggy driven by Albert Runbe.
June 5: A team belonging to the Calvary Cemetery Company ran off on Canal street, smashed a pickle-wagon on Randolph, and did other damage.
June 7: Mrs. Louisa Kokel was run over in an alley in the rear of 39 Clybourn avenue by a light wagon driven by Edward Cane.
June 9: Hose-cart No. 17 collided with a truck-wagon at Lake street bridge, and the horse was so badly injured that it had to be killed.
June 9: John Wolf’s lumber-wagon collided with Mandel Bros. delivery-wagon on Kinzie street. Wolf was thrown out, and Gustav Fick also received some injuries.
June 10: Team attached to a brick-wagon ran away from the corner of Larrabee and Menominee streets, and smashed a wagon and a lamp-post.
June 10: A horse attached to a buggy driven by Matt Tooney ran away on Twenty-sixth street, near State. Tooney was thrown out and the wheels passed over him, injuring his legs. The runaway struck the curbing at Michigan avenue, and the horse had to be killed.
June 14: John G. Ehrhoff, of No. 220 Freeman street, was thrown from his buggy, on Indiana street, and his right leg broken.
June 14: A boy named Peter Fritz was run over on Thirty-first and Clark streets by Wereke Bros. grocery wagon, and received some severe cuts and bruises.
June 16: Team owned by the Empire Warehouse Company ran into Dr. Clark’s buggy on the corner of Market and Madison streets. Nobody killed.
June 16: Ralph Knight, 6 years old, was run down by a wagon driven by John Moore, and was badly bruised.
June 18: An infant son of Andre Herman, of No. 152 Hastings street, was struck by the pole of a wagon drawn by a runaway team and instantly killed.
June 18: A newsboy named Abraham Cassanger was run over outside The Tribune office by a buggy driven by Mr. Munton, of No. 85 Madison street, who attempted to drive off, but was detained.
June 19: A horse attached to a buggy driven by C. F. Camp ran off on Twelfth street, and one of the shafts of the buggy ran into the breast of a horse driven by Daniel Corkery, of 44 Twenty-second street.
June 19: Mrs. Dorothy Young and Mrs. Eliza Baumgarten were thrown from a buggy on State street, near Sixteenth. Mrs. Young broke her right arm and the other lady was severely injured.
June 19: Mr. H. A. Christy was thrown from his buggy on Michigan avenue and was badly bruised.
June 20: Daniel Ryan, of No. 61 Henry street, fell under a Blue Island avenue car and the front wheel passed over his foot, crushing it at the instep.
June 20: A hay-wagon collided on Halsted street with car No. 121 and Michael Butler, driver of the wagon, was thrown to the ground and severely injured.
June 20: Charles Ducharme, 9 years old, was run down by a runaway horse on the corner of Clark and Van Buren streets, and received injuries which may result very seriously.
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