Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1913 — Effective Car-Stop Scream Introduced by Child [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Effective Car-Stop Scream Introduced by Child

ST. LOUIS, Mo. —Passengers on a wwwded —Hod lament cntT about 12:30 p. m. the other day were greatly alarmed by a child’s piercing screams as the car began to move after a stop at Clara avenue. Men an# women who had been lucky enough to secure seats sprang to their feet and struggled for a view of the rear platform, from whence the shrieks came. A rush which might have resulted In a panic wai averted only because the congested condition of the car precluded any rushing. As the shrieks rang out the conductor grabbed the bell rope and gave the motorman the "stop-quick" signal The crew and passengers alike waited breathlessly to learn the cause of alarm. , . Male passengers, smoking on the rear platform, performed the seemingly impossible and cleared a passage to the steps, through which walked a matron leading a girl about seven years of age. from whose eyes the tears were welling. “Ain’t you ashamed of ypurseKT"

the woman was demanding. "They were leaving you behind,” the child sobbed. As the car moved on again those passengers nearest the steps explainsituation. > The woman and the child, presumably her daughter, were running to catch the car. Youth led in the race, and the child boarded the car first. The woman was several yards behind, and the conductor did pot see her and gave the signal to start the car before she had boarded it. The near-kidnap Ing, which then was threatened, was prevented by the child's effective if unusual method of stopping the car She just screamed. \