240 The Story of The Bronx 



there would be a sudden jar and stoppage; and then the con- 

 ductor would stick his head into the car and inquire plain- 

 tively: "Will th' gintilmin plaze get aff th' car an' help lift 

 it back on th' track; an' will th' ladies plaze git aff th' car till 

 th' gintilmin git troo?" There was all the excitement of the 

 hold-up of a western stage-coach; and the "gintilmin" oblig- 

 ingly alighted and lifted the car back, whereupon the inter- 

 rupted journey would be resumed. So frequent were the 

 mishaps and delays, that a writer in the New York Herald 

 in 1864 spoke about getting off the cars at such times to pick 

 huckleberries. Here was a convenient and handy nick-name; 

 and the Huckleberry Road it became at once; a name which 

 was applied to the whole system of street cars in the Borough, 

 and which became notorious under the wide powers granted 

 to the "Huckleberry System" by the act of the Legislature of 

 1892, authorizing the incorporation of the Union Railway 

 Company. 



The first extension of the horse-car service was in 1870, 

 when two cars were run between Third Avenue and West 

 Farms by way of the Boston Road. Since then many exten- 

 sions have been made, both in the days of the horse and in 

 the days of the trolley, until the Borough is fairly gridironed 

 with street-car surface lines, most of which give and take 

 transfers to and from other connecting or crossing lines. 



The trolley, or electric, motive power was first introduced 

 in October, 1 892 ; the overhead system is the only one used in 

 the Borough. The street-car service extends from the Harlem 

 River northward from three points, Harlem Bridge, Central 

 Bridge, and Kingsbridge, though cars cross the Madison Ave- 

 nue, the Lenox Avenue, and the Washington bridges. The 

 most important of these radiating points is Harlem Bridge, 

 over which many lines pass from their terminus at 128th Street 



