On This Day in 1899, a Car Fatally Struck a Pedestrian for the First Time in American History

Electric taxis known as Electrobats drive through Manhattan in 1898. A similar vehicle fatally struck Henry Hale Bliss on September 13, 1899. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons When Henry Hale Bliss, a pedestrian described on the plaque that stands in his memory as “a New York real estate man,” was struck by a passing taxicab in Manhattan on the evening of September 13, 1899, the New York Times reported that he…