Robert W. Littell was an eleven year old boy (news reports stated 12 years old), who had climbed a railroad bridge of the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler and New Castle Railway Company bridge spanning Wallace Run in Big Beaver, Pennsylvania. The Harmony Line, as it was known, had regular daily trolley service between Ellwood City and Beaver Falls. It crossed the Beaver River at Koppel and paralleled the river as it made its way south into Beaver Falls. It came to a dead end just over the Wallace Run bridge in Morado, where passengers transferred to Beaver Valley Traction Company trolleys serving Beaver County. Harmony trolleys were powered by 1,200 volts DC. The line from Ellwood City to Beaver Falls, which opened in 1914, also featured a main transmission line carrying 22,000 volts AC. The Wallace Run bridge would have carried both voltages. The massive wooden structure was an attraction for local youths and in late September 1918, Robert while playing on the bridge with friends, came in contact with one of the electrical lines on the structure, and tragically died from the horrific electrical burns he received. Despite being aware of the details of his ghastly death, less then a year later in June 1919, another young boy, Raymond T. Robinson (age 8), in full view of his four companions, climbed the same structure and was hideously disfigured, when he too was electrocuted, but amazingly survived to later become the legend of "The Green Man" aka: "Charlie No Face." (Bio by: Jay Lance)
Robert W. Littell was an eleven year old boy (news reports stated 12 years old), who had climbed a railroad bridge of the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler and New Castle Railway Company bridge spanning Wallace Run in Big Beaver, Pennsylvania. The Harmony Line, as it was known, had regular daily trolley service between Ellwood City and Beaver Falls. It crossed the Beaver River at Koppel and paralleled the river as it made its way south into Beaver Falls. It came to a dead end just over the Wallace Run bridge in Morado, where passengers transferred to Beaver Valley Traction Company trolleys serving Beaver County. Harmony trolleys were powered by 1,200 volts DC. The line from Ellwood City to Beaver Falls, which opened in 1914, also featured a main transmission line carrying 22,000 volts AC. The Wallace Run bridge would have carried both voltages. The massive wooden structure was an attraction for local youths and in late September 1918, Robert while playing on the bridge with friends, came in contact with one of the electrical lines on the structure, and tragically died from the horrific electrical burns he received. Despite being aware of the details of his ghastly death, less then a year later in June 1919, another young boy, Raymond T. Robinson (age 8), in full view of his four companions, climbed the same structure and was hideously disfigured, when he too was electrocuted, but amazingly survived to later become the legend of "The Green Man" aka: "Charlie No Face." (Bio by: Jay Lance)
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