Shocking Theory on Horse Carriage Death of Romanch Mahajan

The long-running saga of the Central Park horse carriage trade and its efforts to fend off animal rights advocates who seek to end it took a shocking turn this past week when it was reported that the nag who unexpectedly bolted and caused the death Romanch Mahajan might have been electrocuted.

Appearing in the online Daily News on July 29 and seeing print the next morning, the story advanced a Transit Workers Union theory that an underground ConEd electrical leakage might have jolted Samson the horse prior to its wild June 17 death gallop.

One photo accompanying the story by transit reporter Evan Simko-Bednarski show four safety yellow cones placed around one of the many steel utility-access plates present in the Cherry Hill section of Central Park. Yellow caution tape wrapped around the cones makes a rectangular border, to which was affixed a black, white and red sign reading “Warning. Do Not Enter. Possible Electrical Condition.”

Tellingly, a graphic image also adorns this sign. Inside a red circle with the diagonal do not enter line dividing it is the black silhouette of a dog and a human dog walker. So—forget horses for a moment— ConEd knows that “stray voltage,” as professionals call it, can be deadly to canines.

It Was a Scream, a Yelping

While it doesn’t appear to happen often it does happen. The most recent, widely reported fatal dog shocking incident occurred on January 31, 2022, on Bell Slip near Commercial Street in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn. It was around 7:15 when a 4-year-old greyhound mix stepped on an electrical metal plate.

“We heard a terrible noise outside the building. It was a scream, a yelping, almost like construction machinery. It was like no living thing,” a witness, Julia McInnis, who was attending a dog training class with her own pooch nearby, told the Daily News. “A man came in and said if we knew of a 24-hour vet, and a woman came in, crying hysterically, ‘My dog is having a seizure. Does anybody know CPR?’”

“I told everybody not to touch the dog. It wasn’t breathing. I couldn’t feel a pulse. The poor thing. I started chest compressions on her. I did CPR through the nose. No response. If she wasn’t dead, then she was certainly dead shortly after. I couldn’t revive her,” McInnis continued. “It was terrible.”

ConEd acknowledged what was already well known to dog lovers: that stray voltage can sometimes electrify metal street plates, especially in winter when salt contributes to corrosion issues. A sampling of headlines outlines the jolting problem:

“Dogs Are Getting Shocked on Harrison Street” —Tribeca Citizen, Feb. 4, 2022.

“Dogs Keep Getting Zapped on this Brooklyn Block” —New York Post, Jan. 10, 2018

“Dogs being zapped by stray voltage from Con Ed manholes and wires in Brooklyn” —Daily News, Jan. 10, 2014

In a story that made national news, at least one human was killed by electricity in Manhattan, with the New York Times’ Jan. 19, 2004 headline reading “East Village Woman was Electrocuted on Street With Metal Plate, Medical Examiner Says.”

As for horses and electricity, in the late 19th and early 20th century, when electric wires, trolleys and trains were all above ground, injury and death by voltage was common. Two New York Times headlines signal the era, ”ELECTRICITY IN CAR TRACK.; Mounted Policeman Thrown from His Horse, the Animal Being Severely Shocked,” from Sept.. 1900; and “ELECTRICITY ON RAMPAGE.; Horse Killed, and Scores of People Slightly Shocked in Paterson,” from Dec. 1903.

A Muddy Day on Cherry Hill

When Straus News canvassed Cherry Hill on the rainy afternoon of Thursday June 30, all traces of utility work were gone.

There were horseshoe marks were in the mud around Bethesda Fountain, from where Samson the horse bolted while the Mahajan’s family had their photo taken, and there were remnants of Romanch’s Hindu memorial, including a photo, flowers, apples and oranges.

Despite the weather, the ongoing carriage trade was doing well, with drivers, horses and delighted passengers unfazed by the alternating drizzle and downpour.

While horse-carriages typically roll slowly, the same can’t be said for some empty pedicabs, which complement and compete with horse carriages, and Central Park’s steady stream illegal e-bikes, speeding scooters, electric monowheels etc., all of which regularly challenge the safety of walkers, runners and pedal bicyclists.

Déjà VU All Over Again?

While ConEd has confirmed it found “very low levels of stray voltage” near Cherry Hill on July 16 and July 23, further details were elusive, with the utility company punting questions to the Parks Department.

How much stray voltage they found, how long it might have been in the ground, and how much electricity it takes to make a horse go wild is presently unclear.

Seemingly unrecalled in this confusion, and the rancorous debate over the carriage industry that followed the death of Romanch, is the incident on Jan. 8, 1990, wheb a horse was electrocuted in Manhattan. The next morning’s New York Times headline read: “Carriage Horse Is Electrocuted on Street.”

“One of the carriage horses that charm tourists and lend a touch of history and romance to the bustling Manhattan streetscape was electrocuted last night when it stepped on a steel Con Edison service box cover on East 59th Street between Park and Madison Avenues,” the story began.

”The 7-year-old horse, Jackie, kicked her driver in the head after stepping on the cover, then collapsed and died. The carriage had no passengers, and the driver, Stephen Hand, suffered only minor injuries.”

A Con Edison spokesman at that time acknowledged the incident, noting that wet weather and winter salt can corrode wires and cause short circuits.