St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-15
STUDIES IN AN ELEVATOR.
People Who Invariably SO the
Wrong Way.
From the Chicago News.


From the Chicago News.
Il want to 20 TO Mr.. Smiths Office
First door TO the right at the end of the
hall"
THANK you"
1t was in an elevator in one OF the large
Office buildings on LaSalle street, and a
lady had just landed on the top floor. The
| conversation took place between a lady
| passenger and the elevator man. I'm
mediately on receiving her instructions she
| looked up and down the hallway in a con-
fused manner and then faced around and
started toward the left end of the hall.
'The other way, madam" cried the ele-
vator man. as his car started OF its down
| trip, but almost before he said the words the
elevator was ON the floor below.
Its BANKED strange" he said to the re-
porter, who was on the elevator with him,
but over one-half of the persons who ride
on elevators get so mixed up that they don't
know right from left or east from west.
Now, that lady upstairs, I'll wager a dol
lar. Is at this moment cropping around the
north side of the building, when she should
be at the south end. l told her plainly
enough where TO go, but she was so con-
! fused she didn't know which was her right
hand"
GLOW do you account for ito" asked the
! reporter, taking a seat at the mans side as
the car came 10 StandStiu on the ground
floor
''Oh, I'm sure don't know. How is ii
man will enter strange city in the early
morning and find the sun rising in the east
He will get into carriage and close his
eyes as he is driven two or three blocks. and
when he gets out the sun is in the west? or,
in other words. he is all turned round. The
main reason, guess, for persons getting
mixed up in an elevator is-they get i'm one
! side and when they get out a few stories
above they get out on the other side of the
elevator, and they don't notice the differ
ence. Then they wonder why the hall is
facing an opposite direction from what il
did below, and if you showed them black
and white they couldn't really tell which
was which, they get 50 confused. Whena
man gets confused once he's gone, sure
Did you ever notice it? He can only turn
two ways, but he will always take the
wrong one"
You elevator men have queer expert
enceS," remarked the reporter.
We'll, rather, at times" he answered.
Zone queer thing is that when we are going
up these warm days the AIR is hot and sti-
fling and does not stir hardly, but when we
are going down the draft is cool and re-
freshing. The meaneSt thing is 10 get a
car full of passengers and get stuck between
the floors; but next to that it is to have the
average woman waiting ON the first floor for
the elevator when it is just going up. Ii
she doesn't ring the bell twenty times, then il
is because she's got lame arm. But, talk
ing about getting stuck, had quite little
romance about year ago, in which my car
got stuck, and l got stuck at the same
time. 1t was on May 10, ISL remember
the exact date, you See-and was
going up with pretty little girl. with
bright blonde hair. bright ruby lips, and the
SmaTteSt pair of blue eyes / had seen in
many day. 1t was about o'clock in the
evening. Well, was watching her out of
the corner of my eyes. when, somehow or
other, there was sudden jerk and the car
came to sudden stop. The ear is closed
all around, you see, except the door on each
side. Well, from the front side here l made
an observation. and saw that something
about the machinery had broken and we
were stuck between the third and fourth
floors, and in such position that we
couldn't get in or out, and il struck me that
perhaps we might have To stay there sew
eral hours; but l looked at that pretty little
girl and didn't care if we had TO stay all
night. l didn't want to speak at first, for
fear she would be offended, but pretty soon
she began to fidget around in her seat and
then asked what was the matter. l told
her the easiest way that L could. but it was
no use. She looked scared little at first,
and then asked me if it would take long to
get started again. / told her that it might
take an hour and it might take five. Then
her pretty eyes filled with tears and she
commenced crying. just sat there like
big gawk' ut first and let her cry, but by
an by my sympathy got worked M and /
went over and talked 10 her. She only
cried the worse. Then / sat down beside
her and she leaned her head on my shout
der and cried. Finally she quit crying long
enough TO tell me that her father was sick,
her mother was dead, and she had three
little brothers TO support. She had been
promised some copying by lawyer, but it
had to be completed by 9 o'clock. and now
she couldn't get it; that she needed the
money for medicine and food, and rent was
soon due. and she didn't know what she
would do. Then her tears flowed afreSh,
and pretty soon [ put my arm around her
waist and consoled her bv promising to get
her some money when the car got up TO the
next floor whenever that happened, and
that she could return il when she pleased.
"
that. and | walked with her to house on
West Madison street where she said she
lived. / gave her s. and took her name and
numbe-. but didn't go up. as she thought
her father might not believe the elevator
story if she was with a stranger l prom
ised TO call soon and then went away. Well,
sir, the next morning, bright and early, the
girl was down TO see me. She looked bad
Her eyes were red with weeping. and she
told me her father was dead-that he had
died while she was away. ! felt pity for
the poor thing and gave her S25-all l had
without her even asking for it. Well, she
went away. but the look she gave me when
l handed her the money went TO my heart.
Married now, eh?1 asked the reporter.
The man ignored the interruption. u
went over TO the house that night" he con-
tinued. Nobody had ever heard of such
a family. had been duped. She was
CON woman and 'bled' me just like the
worst haySeed from the country. Well,
got off cheap. I'd have given her thou
sand if I'd had it."