Freighting teams tangle

ONE EIGHT HORSE TEAM AND A FOUR HORSE TEAM TRY TO PASS AND HAVE MIX-UP

Thus reads the headline and subheads in the Dec. 29, 1904 issue of “The Saratoga Sun.” Following is the article which appeared in the weekly newspaper.

“Last Thursday afternoon the freight outfit of L. B. Chase, consisting of an eight horse team and three wagons met a four horse coal team belonging to C. S. Taylor in the middle of the bridge and as a result one of the horses belonging to Taylor has a broken leg and a wagon wheel was badly smashed.

“The bridge is sufficiently wide to allow two wagons to pass if the teams are driven with lines, but the freight outfits nearly all use jerk lines and it is a difficult matter to keep a long string of horses hugging one side of the bridge. It seems that Mr. Chase had gotten his teams swung over, but the minute the Taylor wagon, which was driven by Chas. Warnock passed the leaders then swung back to the middle of the bridge crowding Warnock into the railing and they were stopped just in time to prevent pushing him clear off the bridge.

“The horse with the broken leg was shot.”

This and a hundred more stories and photos will be featured Thursday evening beginning at 6:30 in the Saratoga Branch Library when local historian Dick Perue presents his “Riding the Stage” program, sponsored by Friends of the Saratoga Library.

Everyone is invited to come for the free show, and then stay for refreshments and visiting.