An 1891 "Fuel Spill"

I was fascinated by this historical tidbit from our local paper, The Arlington Advocate (February 3-9, 2011):

1891 ... After having his load of hay weighed at the municipal hay scales next to the old town hall, ... Joseph Butterfield’s wagon tipped over on the trolley car tracks. For two hours, this became the temporary “end of the line” while what humorously could be called “an old-fashioned fuel spill” was cleaned up.

This brief item tells us a number of things:

• The town government was even then in the business of ensuring uniform measurements of “fuel” -- in this case, hay, which fed the horses that were still the chief form of motive power for transportation. These days, checking the quality of gas pumps has, of course, become a state responsibility.
• New technologies present new challenges. Although Arlington (then named West Cambridge) had had horse-drawn trolley service since 1859, electric trolley service had begun only three years before Butterfield’s incident.
• And yes, even back then, an accidental “spill” could cause a traffic tie-up for many people not directly involved. Of course, now the number of people likely to be affected is much larger because there are so many more of us. But proportionately?

I wonder how many people back then bemoaned the complications inflicted on their lives by the newly emerging technologies.