In the late 1800s, Philadelphians were transported around the city on horse-drawn trolleys. In order to maximize profits, trolley company owners often overworked the horses, loaded the trolleys with too many people or used too few horses to pull the trolleys. When the Women’s SPCA (the early name of the Women’s Humane Society) tried to stop these practices, the trolley company owners pretended to be sympathetic to the plight of the horses, yet made no changes in their policies, frustrating the women of the Women’s SPCA. Caroline Earle White, our founder, described one such case on a snowy day in 1873.
“We had a number of witnesses, among them three policemen (men not accustomed to be carried away by their sensibilities) to testify that it was impossible for the animals to drag the cars, that the were entirely exhausted from their previous attempts to pull through the heavy snow, and that they were perfect useless so far as any further efforts went.”
The trolley company was cited for cruelty but failed to appear at the first court date…or the second. The next day the case was heard even though it wasn’t on the schedule, but nobody bothered to tell the Women’s SPCA and the case was dismissed. Mrs. White was greatly disappointed by the SPCA’s failure to bring about any significant changes in the way trolley horses were treated. Despite all she accomplished in the field of animal welfare, the trolley situation haunted Mrs. White for years. Luckily, the 20th century brought about the invention of the gas motor and horses were no longer used as a primary means of transportation.
