"The result was a series of high-profile electrocutions of citizens and
electrical workers. Three days before the blackout, a Western Union
lineman was electrocuted as he worked high above huge lunchtime crowds
near the Tweed Courthouse. Suspended like a poor fly in the tangled
electrical wires, "the man appeared to be all on fire. Blue flames
issued from his mouth and nostrils and sparks flew about his feet,'' The
New York Times reported. "There was no movement to the body as it hung
in the fatal burning embrace of the wires." Mayor Hugh Grant angrily
ordered all high-voltage alternating current electric arc lights shut
off. The electric companies were told to remove, repair and upgrade the
jungle of overhead wires, a deadly mélange of telegraph, telephone,
burglar alarm and electric light wires."

New York Unplugged, 1889
By Jill Jonnes
frm NY Times 08/13/04

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