Notes from 1915-1920

 

Politics

 

Joseph Armstrong was mayor of Pittsburgh from 1914 to 1918. He was succeeded by Edward Babcock until 1922. The governor of Pennsylvania was Martin Brumbaugh from 1915 to 1919 and he was succeeded by William Sproul until 1923.

 

January 1920 witnessed the arrest of 223 alleged Communist leaders in Pittsburgh as part of a national movement by federal agents. In November of 1920, KDKA, the first licensed radio station, made its first scheduled broadcast to give the election results for the Harding-Cox presidential election.

 

Construction and City Planning

 

In August 1915 the Manchester Bridge opened, connecting the North Side to the Point. March of the following year saw the completion of Schenley High School in Oakland and the William Penn Hotel on Grant Street, which cost $6 million. Just a few blocks away, the cornerstone for the City-County Building was laid. In 1917 the Union Trust Building and Chamber of Commerce Building were completed. In 1918 the Citizens Committee on City Planning for Pittsburgh was founded; under Frederick Bigger it studied playgrounds, parks, transit problems, and many other city planning aspects in Pittsburgh. In 1920 the committee completed its first report and requested a playground system be built in the city. In December 1919 Gulf Oil Company opened its first gas station in downtown Pittsburgh. That same month, Governor William C. Sproul was present as ground was broken for the Liberty Tubes.

 

Industry

 

In 1915 Carnegie Steel increased its workforce by 8,000. All Pittsburgh mills produced steel day and night in order to accommodate the world’s increasing demand for steel during World War I. The miner strike ended in 1916, but was soon followed by rioting steelworkers from the Edgar Thomson Works in Braddock. 30,000 Westinghouse workers also went on strike. In 1918, Aetna Chemical Company had a huge explosion, killing many employees and city residents. William Z. Foster led 365,000 steelworkers in a strike to unionize the steel industry in 1919, but after four months and little progress the strike ended. In November of 1919 42,000 miners went on a month long strike, causing a national restriction in coal usage.

 

World War I

 

In 1917 the first draft list was published, calling many Pittsburghers in the 28^th and 80^th divisions into World War I. The University of Pittsburgh also sent a hospital unit overseas. Daylight saving time, promoted during the war, went into effect in Pittsburgh on April 1, 1918. Over 60,000 Allegheny County men served overseas during World War I and 1,527 were killed in action. Government contracts to Pittsburgh industries totaled around $214 million. Pittsburgh also ranked third per capita for the sale of war savings stamps.

 

Entertainment

 

The Grand Opera House was destroyed in a 1917 fire and was replaced by the Grand Theater (Warner) a year later. Also in 1917 was the first Pittsburgh concert by Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. In 1920 he returned to Pittsburgh and sang at the Syria Mosque in Oakland. In June 1918 the Red Cross hosted a benefit show featuring George M. Cohan, breaking the most recent one night box office record of the city by earning $138,000.

 

Illness

 

In October 1918 an influenza epidemic struck the city. Over the next several months over 23,000 Allegheny County residents were affected. Pneumonia resulting from the epidemic took over 2,000 lives. A case of unrelated pneumonia claimed H.J. Heinz on May 14, 1919, and Andrew Carnegie in Massachusetts on August 11, 1919. Henry Clay Frick died December 2 of the same year in New York City.

 

Transit

 

Christmas Eve 1917 saw the death of twenty people in a Mount Washington streetcar accident, making it one of the city’s worst transit accidents. Pittsburgh was introduced to air transportation with the inception of the Kennedy Aircraft Company in 1919. Mayer Field in Bridgeville became the county’s first commercial airport and the organization of the Aero Club, consisting of returning war pilots, was founded the same year. In May 1919 streetcar motormen and conductors struck for higher wages, stopping streetcar activity in the city. They walked off the job again in August when they were only awarded half the pay increase they requested. Men from the Pittsburgh Railways Company were sent to operate the street cars, thus causing a riot. The national streetcar union fired local leaders and the workers were back to work by the end of the month.

 

Information found at Historic Pittsburgh- Chronology 1915-1920 and Wikipedia pages on Pennsylvania Governors and Pittsburgh Mayors.

 

 

1917

 

On Christmas Eve, a runaway streetcar jumped the track at the south end of the Mount Washington tunnel, ran a distance of about 2,000 ft and overturned. There were 22 deaths related to this accident. The driver had been "grossly careless" in the operation of the car. Witness testimonies state that the car was crowded, the safety brakes blocked, and that the driver was speeding at about 50-60 mph. Apparently the driver never received any instructions from the Pittsburgh Railway Company as to the maximum number of passengers permitted at one time. The Coroner's Jury recommended that the driver be charged with manslaughter and the dispatcher held as an accessory. They further recommended that "a greater scrutiny be made by the dispatcher before permitting motormen and conductors to take charge of cars . . . Employees should be called together to be instructed frequently as to their duties for the careful and safe carrying of passengers. The overloading of cars should be prevented and if necessary certain laws should be enacted so that the cars aren't loaded beyond their safe operation . . . All brake handles should be kept clear, so that they can safely operate, and the conductor in charge of the car is responsible for the safety of the passengers."

Immediate deaths: 191802-204-191802_213

Hospital deaths: 191802_214-191802_226

 

RLM 07 Jul 08

 

 

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In 1918 the Spanish Influenza epidemic caused a noticeable increase in the number of deaths in Allegheny County. Typically, each month consisted of about 200 to 250 deaths; however, October to December of 1918 consisted of anywhere from 300 to 400+ deaths per month. The flu was usually the cause of death, but in some instances it served as a contributing factor with the primary cause being pneumonia. The death rate at the beginning of 1919 was still elevated, but by spring the death rate had returned to normal.

 

Also in 1918 there was a major explosion at Aetna Chemical Company in Oakdale, killing over 50 employees.

 

During these six years the number of train related deaths and automobile related deaths seem to be reaching approximately equal numbers. Often, automobile accidents involve driving off embankments or striking streetcars. In the latter case, it is implied that the city streets were not equipped to handle the increasing number of inexperienced drivers and the still vital streetcar system.

 

ZB 07 Sept 2007

 

 

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1918

 

In 1918, there have been a total of 6 train related deaths in the files I have gone through thus far. This is not so unusual, what makes these cases particular is that all of them have been handled by the deputy coroner George Ambos. I will have to wait and see if this is just a coincidence or if he was interested in these train deaths. The only other cause of death that has the same deputies working on it regularly are the organic Heart disease deaths, which are handled by O'Brien or John Danner

 

AFS 2 June 2008

 

I've been taking note of how many women verus how many men died in the hospital. In January of 1918, 22 percent of women died in the hospital, while 33 percent of men died in the hospital. In March, it was 17 percent of females versus 34 percent of men. This isn't a major difference but I still find it interesting. It's my theory that since women were at home alone all day and didn't have someone around (besides children) to get them help, they were slightly more likely to die at home.

 

AFS 12 June 2008

 

In looking at box 159-1 (June of 1918), The most common causes of death were burns (mostly due to industrial accidents or clothes catching fire) and injuries resulting from accidents including falls and being struck by automoblies and trains. Stillbirths also made up a large portion of the files.

 

AFS 01 July 2008

 

I came across the first flu-related death of 1918. This woman was 40-years-old and had been complaining of a headache, severe cough, and pains in her arms and legs. Her death was listed as La Grippe and Pneumonia, duration 5 days. This instance was surprising as the death was in April; I was not expecting to see the flu so early in the year, as the outbreak did not officially reach Pittsburgh until October. Apart from this case, 3 other deaths in April were influenza related. First case: 191804_085.

 

RLM 07 Jul 08

 

In August of 1918 there were 32 cases of Heat Prostration (or heat exhaustion). When I researched this further, I found that one of the record high temperatures was on August 6, 1918. The heat wave actually lasted from August 4th to the 8th, which explains the large amount of deaths from the heat during this time. It also explains the number of deaths due to drowning in the rivers while bathing. They were just dying to escape the heat.

However, if one looks seriously at the situation, it is a miserable way to die. They had no way to escape the heat except for swimming in the rivers, but even that could lead to the end of their lives. It's a lose/lose situation.

 

AFS 09 July 2008

 

On November 29, an 8-year-old Italian boy was killed by a bomb going off at Glass House Field in Rankin. The night before a celebration had been held there in honor of the victory of the Allied Nations in WWI. The celebrants shot bombs up from steel pipes to explode in the air, reaching heights of 75 ft. The next day, the deceased and his 2-year-old brother lit a bonfire in the field, found an unexploded bomb and threw it into the fire. His brother survived with injuries. The organizing committee did not have a permit from Rankin Boro to hold the celebration.

While many coroner case files reflect the war years in some way, whether it be despondent housewives or returning soldiers committing suicide, this instance was tragic and ironic . . . a young boy dying on the field after a peaceful celebration commemorating the end of such wartime atrocities.

 

RLM 28 July 2008