May 14, 2005
The wagon tipped over onto its side, flinging the two men driving it from their seats, the police said. The two white horses, Hero and Princess, each weighing more than 1,000 pounds, broke away, sprinting down the sidewalk. One of the drivers chased the horses, who were heading east, yelling at people to get out of the way. And many did, fleeing into the street and running into building entryways. Chester Burroughs, 62, said he was sitting at his desk inside the lobby of the Teamsters union building on 14th Street when he saw the horses run by. "I had to get up and look again," he said. "It was strange to see two horses loose on 14th Street."
Blanch Peltenbusch, 68, was sitting inside the Odyssey coffee shop when the horses went by. "I saw a man running down the street yelling, 'Ho! Whoa!' " she said.
Hero was eventually corralled at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue by police officers who came from an antiterrorism drill in Union Square. The police did not have details about how the officers stopped the horse, but after doing so they tied him to a lamppost.
Princess proved harder to catch. She ran east along 14th Street to Fifth Avenue, turned right and then turned right again onto 13th Street.
"It was flying with the flow of traffic," said Bob Di Giorgio, a crane operator working at a nearby construction site.
But when a light ahead of her turned red and the cars in front started to stop, the horse tried to slow down and started skidding before stopping behind a sedan, Mr. Di Giorgio said. Her skid marks, stretching about 50 feet on the black pavement, were still visible on the street yesterday afternoon.
With the horse stuck in traffic, Mr. Di Giorgio saw his chance. "I leaned over the barrier, grabbed the reins, and restrained the horse," he said, describing a move that would have been far more common on city streets a century ago.
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The driver of the car that stopped behind Princess jumped out to help. "It was a joint effort," Mr. Di Giorgio said. "Luckily, the light turned red."
Thomas Bender, a 48-year-old construction worker, led Princess down the street until he found the police, who tied the horse to a tree.
Tags:
nypd, stagecoach, wagon, white horse
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Posted on 5/14/2005
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