Third Rail Electric System

In Use on Boland Line From Jackson to Battle Creek

NOT MORE DANGEROUS

Than Overhead System As Precautions Are Taken to Fully Protect Everyone

Now that it is settled that the Boland line is to come to Ann Arbor and will use the third rail system there are many inquiries as to what this system is and what the danger is, if any, in using. Many persons claim that there is great danger in its use but, according to a gentlemen who has inspected the Jackson-Battle Creek line there is no more liability to loss of life than by the overhead system, while its advantages are many. He says:

"The electric rail system is undeniably a success. In this manner alone can the best service be given. The great contact of the wide shoes on the rail running alongside the two tracks, with the removal of the danger of the trolley jumping from the overhead wire, makes high speed possible. The best evidence of the safety of the service is furnished by the willingness of officers and directors to take chances on the first car over the new roadbed at the speed made Saturday.

"It is quite impossible to look on the third rail which is elevated about a foot from the ground and is just handy stepping distance on the north side of the two arils, without a degree of awe. Outwardly and visibly, the only thing to distinguish this rail from any other is its elevation on little cement posts. But it is different--very, very different.

"The danger from the third rails system is, however, declared to be overestimated. Perhaps it is just as well that this is so. In the first place, the company's right of way is securely fence in, the rails are cut out at street and all other crossings, and cattle guards are provided, so a person, must either climb a woven wire fence or walk over a guard to get in a position to be electrocuted. It is very doubtful if a person stepping on the rail, with the other foot on the ground, would get enough of the current passing through the rail to send him to Kingdom Come, electricians declare. If he grasped a rail in each hand standing on the ground, he would be fixed, but he would have to inconvenience himself to do it. 

"Men working on the line tell of the experience of an exceedingly well-behaved horsed, employed on construction work. He slipped and fell with his haunches on the electric rail. There he "froze"--which means that he couldn't get off without assistance. When the men finally pried him away the noble and intelligent animal ran two and a half miles down the track in his urgent anxiety to quit the job, and never once looked back. When he finally rounded up the only damage aside from laceration to feelings, was a slight burn on his flank. A small colored boy near Albion put his foot on the rail, to see if he really would get a shock, and had his curiosity satisfied, and some left over, but after he picked himself up the only damage was a burned heel. And there was a the man with the wooden leg. 

"However it is advisable to let the rail alone at all times. Under the most auspicious of circumstances the shock is more than physicians recommend for the cure of rheumatism."