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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 1: show that proves there's more than one way to make history.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this episode, we're talking about

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Speaker 1: one of the darker outcomes of the Industrial Revolution, a

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Speaker 1: higher mortality rate for pedestrians brought about by the automobile.

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Speaker 1: The day was September thirteenth, eighteen ninety nine. Henry Hale

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Speaker 1: Bliss was fatally struck by a taxi cab, granting him

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Speaker 1: the dubious distinction of being the first person in the

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Speaker 1: United States to be killed by an automobile. The tragic

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Speaker 1: incident sparked a flurry of debate over road safety in

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Speaker 1: American cities, as well as the growing need for motor

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Speaker 1: vehicle regulation, issues that remained just as relevant as ever

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Speaker 1: at the time of his death. On the evening of

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Speaker 1: September thirteenth, Henry Bliss was a sixty eight year old

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Speaker 1: real estate salesman living in Manhattan. According to witnesses, he

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Speaker 1: had just disembarked from a streetcar at the intersection of

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Speaker 1: West seventy fourth Street and Central Park West, but instead

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Speaker 1: of moving away from the trolley, he turned back toward

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Speaker 1: it to help a young woman down the steps. That

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Speaker 1: act of chivalry turned out to be Bliss's undoing, as

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Speaker 1: in that moment he was hit by a passing taxi

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Speaker 1: and knocked unconscious on the pavement. The passenger in that

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Speaker 1: cab was doctor David Or Edson, who happened to be

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Speaker 1: the son of former New York City mayor Franklin Edson.

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Speaker 1: The doctor tried to assist Bliss until the ambulance arrived,

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Speaker 1: but unfortunately, neither his medical skills nor his political connections

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Speaker 1: were of any use to the injured realtor. The blow

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Speaker 1: from the taxi had crushed Bliss's skull and check, and

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Speaker 1: by the time he arrived at the hospital he was

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Speaker 1: deemed too badly injured to survive. Henry Bliss succumbed to

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Speaker 1: his injuries a few hours later, marking the first time

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Speaker 1: in US history that a human was killed by a car.

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Speaker 1: Bliss's death came thirty years after the first known automobile

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Speaker 1: fatality in world history, that of Irish scientist Mary Ward,

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Speaker 1: who died in eighteen sixty nine after being run over

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Speaker 1: by a steam powered car built by her own cousins.

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Speaker 1: The car that killed Bliss, on the other hand, was

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Speaker 1: an electric powered vehicle. It was driven by Arthur Smith,

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Speaker 1: a cabby for New York's Electric Vehicle company. Smith claimed

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Speaker 1: he had swerved close to the trolley to avoid hitting

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Speaker 1: a large truck, and that he hadn't seen mister Bliss

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Speaker 1: until it was too late to stop. He was arrested

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Speaker 1: and charged with manslaughter, but was later acquitted at trial

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Speaker 1: after the judge determined that there was no malice or

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Speaker 1: negligence on Smith. The death of Henry Bliss made headlines

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Speaker 1: nationwide and cemented many people's belief that horseless carriages were

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Speaker 1: too dangerous to operate alongside pedestrians. The ensuing conversations gradually

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Speaker 1: led to stricter traffic laws for motor vehicles, but more

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Speaker 1: than a century later, it's now more dangerous than ever

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Speaker 1: to walk the streets of America. In fact, twenty twenty

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Speaker 1: two saw the highest number of pedestrian deaths in forty

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Speaker 1: one years, with more than seventy five hundred people struck

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Speaker 1: and killed by vehicles. That's the equivalent of more than

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Speaker 1: twenty deaths each day. Most of those fatalities go unnoticed

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Speaker 1: by the general public, but in New York City, there's

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Speaker 1: a permanent reminder of the one that started at all.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety nine, on the one hundredth anniversary of

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Speaker 1: Henry Bliss's death, a safety awareness group placed a memorial

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Speaker 1: plaque at the intersection where he was struck. The sign

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Speaker 1: was erected, as it says, to remember mister Bliss on

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Speaker 1: the centennial of his untimely death and to promote safety

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Speaker 1: on our streets and highways. According to The New York Times,

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Speaker 1: the dedication ceremony was attended by three great granddaughters of

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Speaker 1: Henry Bliss. The women placed pink and red roses on

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Speaker 1: the spot where the collision occurred, a loving tribute to

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Speaker 1: the country's first pedestrian fatality, the first, but far from

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Speaker 1: the last. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you now know

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Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us

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Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and

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Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to

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Speaker 1: pass them along by writing to this day at iHeartMedia

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Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

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Speaker 1: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here

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Speaker 1: again tomorrow for another day in history class,