Hairpins In the Trolley

1895

On a Walnut Hills electric car recently there was a rather entertaining sight. The passengers paid nothing extra to see it, and some of them forgot to get off at their homes, so absorbed were they in the occurrence.

Three young ladies furnished the amusement.

"Did you over notice," said one, "that a hairpin will stand up on end if you put it on the floor of an electric car just over the motor?"

"Oh, it won't either!" her companions shouted in a chorused giggle.

"I can prove it," said the first.

And she did. Taking a hairpin from the bright knot at the top of her head, she stood it on the floor, and it performed such antics as set all the passengers in an uproar.

The reader who does not believe the story can easily demonstrate its probability. Let her take a hairpin and try it, or let him borrow one, and he will discover a most interesting experiment. — Cincinnati Tribune.

Hotel Keeper Hahn Hurt

New York, 1895

G. Hahn, a hotel keeper of Winfield, met with an accident which, it is thought, will prove fatal while jumping from a trolley car of the Newtown and Flushing road Monday morning. Hahn was on his way home from New York, where he had been visiting friends. When the car got to Fisk avenue he asked the conductor if they had reached Winfield, and upon being informed that they were passing through the village Hahn rushed to the platform and jumped off. The car was going at a rapid rate, and before the conductor had time to stop it Hahn jumped and landed on his head on the frozen ground.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, N.Y., Jan. 18, 1895, unknown page number.

Saves 4 From Runaway Trolley Car

1920

Rescuer Catches Up With an Auto

WORCESTER, Massachusetts— There are a lot of thrillers in real life that rival anything ever seen in the movies. And Mrs. Bertha Velle and her three children of Bramanville, Mass., will fervently subscribe to the statement. For Mrs. Velle and her youngsters had an experience with a trolley car followed by a heroic rescue that they'll never forget. In some unknown manner the brakes became loose just after they had climbed on the car and the car started on a wild run down the steep hill. Mrs. Velle fainted and her children clung frantically to her. But Arthur Heywood, the motorist, hailed a passing auto, gave chase, and pulled off the rescue in a manner that would have made Douglas Fairbanks green with envy.

It all happened a few days ago. Mrs. Velle and the three children went to Worcester to bring a charge of non-support against her husband. They waited for a trolley car in the outskirts of the city. Finally one came. The motorist and conductor went away to make their reports while Mrs. Velle and the children entered the car.

Car Speeds Down Hill.

They were chatting when the car suddenly began to move a little. In a few seconds it had gained more speed. Mrs. Velle gave a scream of horror as she saw that they were going over the brink of a steep hill. She rushed to the brakes. The car had already started down hill and was going at a terrific speed, swaying from one side to another as if it were to leap the rails at any moment.

The woman tugged frantically at the brakes, while her babies clung to her and screamed. Then she fainted.

Arthur Heywood, the motorist of the car, appeared on the scene. just as the car began to speed down the hill.

Catches Car in Flying Leap.

He hailed a passing automobile and a wild race began. But the auto, a high-powered machine, soon caught up and Heywood made a flying leap from the auto to the car platform. It was soon brought to a standstill.

Mrs. Velle, after being revived, went on to Worcester, where she appeared in court against her husband on a charge of non-support.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 1.

State May Intervene in New York Strike

1916

Governor Whitman in City to Watch Developments in Struggle Between Street Car Men and Companies.

NEW YORK — Efforts at State intervention were expected when the strike of the street car men's union reached its sixth day. The report gained more credence from the fact that Governor Whitman established headquarters here to watch developments.

The danger of a great general strike to help enforce the demands of the traction employes seemed remote in view of the statement that the only unions likely to be involved in such a movement were those directly concerned with the operations of the street cars. Hugh Frayne, State organizer for the American Federation of Labor, who made this assertion, said that if a sympathetic strike were called it probably would not involve more than 60,000 workers. In this class he named engineers, firemen, longshoremen and teamsters.

The strike involves three counties and the residents of Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle are entirely without street car service. Every trolley car in Manhattan and the Bronx stood still Monday night and service was resumed on only a fraction of normal schedules.

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company maintains that subway and elevated trains are running regularly, but the strikers declare that they have made inroads in the ranks of the company's motormen. As a result of the limited service on the surface lines, elevated and subway trains are crowded and the suburban service of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway systems is congested.

Two Killed in Crash.

The first tragedy of the strike occurred when a trolley car, operated by a "green" motorman, got beyond control as it started down a grade at One Hundred and Seventy-fourth street and Boston road, crashing into two jitney buses.

Two persons were killed and nine injured. Four of the injured were so badly hurt that their death was believed to be only a matter of a few hours.

—The Saturday Blade, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

Painful Results of Stoutness

1901

A stout man lifted himself into a Heights car the other morning and took the only vacant seat. Pretty soon a lady came aboard, and the stout man quickly arose to tender her his place. As he reached a standing position the car suddenly started, and he sat down with a sound like a broken slat. Blushing deeply, he once more struggled to his feet and was about to step out into the aisle when the motorman saw a wagon on the track and fiercely applied the brakes. The car stopped so suddenly that the stout man doubled over on a thin young man in the front seat and almost cracked his slender neck. The young man pushed the dents out of his derby hat and muttered some remarks that were not complimentary to fat people in general.

Then the fat man braced himself for the third time, and the lady sympathetically remarked, "Please don't trouble yourself." But the fat man's spirit was up. He crowded out into the aisle and filled it so full that the lady could not get by him; then, with a polite wave of his hand, he indicated the seat and backed out of the way.

"Thank you!" said the lady very sweetly. "But I get off at the next stop."

Then the fat man went out and filled up the back platform. — Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Rats Lured Into Traps by Rodent Leader Who Acts as "Pied Piper"

1919

SHERMAN, Texas. — Sherman's Pied Piper, an aged, bewhiskered and tailless rodent, is no more. A frisky terrier, unaware of the importance of the tailless wonder, pounced upon him one day this week as he was leaving a trap where he had led hundreds of rats to their doom, and brought his useful career to an untimely end. And Sherman folks are sad. They feel like wearing mourning. Meanwhile rats which have infested the city have become "leery" of traps and are multiplying.

It was several weeks ago that the rat killing campaign was begun here. They were trapped by the hundreds. The killing was done by dogs assembled about the traps to pounce upon the captured rodents as they were turned out. One day what appeared to be the "daddy of all the rats" was found in one of the traps. One of the wise citizens suggested that this rodent's tail be amputated. He declared the old rat was the leader of the others and that his pride in leadership would make him leave the city. when his long tail was cropped off.

The operation was performed and the old rat turned loose, and admonished to leave the city.

But did he? Not much. The following morning the old rascal was found in one of the traps with forty others. The others were killed and the "leader" turned loose again. The following day he was back in the traps with more than a score of others. This continued from day to day. The people began to believe they would soon have the rats exterminated.

But the unusual happened. One morning this week in letting the captured rats out of a trap the "daddy" rat ran out with them. The terrier failed to recognize the "leader" and leaped upon him. Before any assistance could be given the old rat was killed. Since that time but few rats have been found in the big municipal rat trap.



Bullet Knocks His Hat Off

POTTSTOWN, Pa. — Only by the narrowest margin, John Stoudt, conductor on a trolley line, missed death when a bullet passed thru the number plate on his cap and knocked off his headgear. It is thought the bullet was fired by a would-be robber, who was scared off by the arrival of night-shift men.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Jan. 3, 1920, p. 5.

$25 Reward for Missing Wife

1911

Editorial Quips

An Illinois husband has offered a reward of $25 for the return of his missing wife. "That's all she is worth," she says. That is love.

The Marquis of Landsdowne's Rembrandt, valued at $500,000, may go into the National gallery and then again it may be brought to America.

A Chicago professor says that lack of money is the bane of wedlock. In the matter of feeling this lack as a bane, wedlock has plenty of company.

Nearly 2,000,000 brook trout fry are ready for planting in Wisconsin's streams. They will probably develop into 2,000,000 fish stories later in the year.

Australians have perfected the milking machine so that it milks a hundred cows in two hours. But the milkmaid will continue to live in poetry.

Flat-wheeled trolley cars and all auto horns are to be regulated in New York.

The center of population, unlike most of the sons of Indiana, remains in that state.

The Trolley Wagon

1898

A New Thing Which Makes Fifteen Miles an Hour

The very latest vehicle to transport people around is called the trolley wagon. This interesting contrivance is really a happy medium between the trolley car and the ordinary vehicle. We have had auto-cars and motor-cars, but the trolley wagon is neither. It is an invention all by itself, and its source of power is the one thing that enables the trolley car to call it a first cousin.

The motor of the wagon is connected to the rear wheel by suitable gearing. It is about 15-horsepower. It is a powerful affair, for its two rear wheels are eight feet in diameter. The two front wheels are four feet in diameter. The frame supporting the motor is suspended from the wagon frame.

The width of the wheels is considerable, and as the front wheels are much nearer together than the rear wheels the wagon acts to quite a degree as a road roller. One of the advantages of the trolley wagon is that the worst road in the country has no terrors for it. The width of its wheels and the way they are adjusted make it possible for it to even ride over plowed ground in safety, and without that disagreeable jar that a rough road generally causes.

The trolley itself is adapted to run either on two or three wires. Everyone who has seen a trolley car must have noticed the little wheel that runs along on the wire. This is called the locking wheel, and its movement, which has heretofore been on a vertical plane, is arranged in this instance to operate on a horizontal plane, thus changing complication to simplicity and reducing the cost and weight of the wheel.

The inventor of the vehicle believes there are wonderful prospects in store for it. He sees no reason why it may not be utilized in many sections of the country, particularly where street cars do not run, and the building of a street car line would involve tremendous expense. He thinks the trolley wires could be erected, and then all that is needful will have been accomplished, as the trolley wagon can run over any kind of a road.

The wagon referred to has made a speed on a road of not over good construction of 15 miles an hour without great jar or accident. The invention certainly possesses the merit of being unique, and in attracting no little interest among those who are interested in the future of the trolley. — Philadelphia Press.

Farmer Shoots Wife, Then Dies Under Trolley Car

Canistco, New York, 1909
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FARMER SHOT HIS WIFE

Pursued by Several Men, He Threw Himself Under a Trolley Car.

Canistco, N. Y., April 17.-Arthur G. Conklin, a young farmer, last night shot his wife and then threw himself under the wheels of a rapidly moving trolley car. The woman is still alive but is in a critical condition. Conklin is dead.

The couple came to the village at night apparently in the best of terms. Conklin went into a hardware store and bought a box of cartridges, several of which he slipped into a revolver while standing in the doorway. Mrs. Conklin was walking slowly down the street slightly in advance of her husband when he suddenly drew the revolver and fired a bullet into her brain.

Flourishing the revolver and threatening to kill anyone who touched him, Conklin ran down the main street. Several men followed him. A trolley car came running along at the rate of about 20 miles an hour. Conklin dashed into the middle of the street and threw himself between the front and rear trucks of the car. The car was thrown from the tracks and the passengers tossed about but none was hurt. Conklin was terribly mutilated.

--The Evening Observer, Dunkirk, New York, April 17, 1909, page 2.