The Southern herald., 1896-03-13

/ lie bOlted round the corner ] began 10
see that eahman may have things to
trouble him which we folks don't often
think about.
Pretty soon a woman hailed me, and
as the cab was moving very slowly she
managed 70 get the door open and to
climb inside. in spite of my telling her
that ! was engaged, "A very likely
story said she. settling herself in the
cab us { she meant 10 stay there. 'Yoh
can't refuse to take a passenger when
you've got nobody, she said, making IS
II she was going to stir me up with her
umbrella; and you know it. You drive
me 20 bloomsbury square, or III make
it 'ot for youl
snow knew too much 10 pet into an
argument with woman, and so drove
10 bloomsbury square. But when i had
stopped at the number that she had
given me she did not attempt TO get
out She was perfectly sober, but, in
my opinion, she was stark crazy, for
she insisted that l had lost nv way
and that we were not in Bloomsbury
square. ] got down from my seat and
tried to argue the matter with her. /
asked her to look ut the corner Of the
street. where she could zee Blooms
bury Square, NORTH In large letters,
but she told me not to be impertineBt
or she would summons me, and refused
TO look at the corner of the street or
anything else. l rang the dOor-bell of
the house, but when the servant had
answered it, and looked at my fare.
she said that she didn't know her, and
went back into the house, calling out
to me from the doorstep that | ought to
be ashamed of myself for being in such
a state so early in the morning. Igot
back on the box, and wondered II every.
body in London was made either drunk
or crazy by IN extra thick fog.
There was very little fog by this
time. and l made up my mind to drive
back to the place where had taken
the woman up, leave her on some quiet
doorstep and drive off before anyone
could stop me. 1t wasn't very long
before | was back again in the Flnsbury
quarter, but it wasn't a very pleasant
drive, for the woman kept yelling TO
me out of the window, when / got to
Flnsbury 1 selected good, quiet
street, and then got down and fold
my passenger that she must get out.
OF course, she said she wouldn't do any
thing of the kind, and when she saw
that | meant business she set up yell
that promised to wake the whole
street. About 50 windows went up,
and more than so men and wemeh put
their hends out and remarked: 'Fire!'
and 'Murderl' at the top of their lungs.
1t was clear that this sort Of thing
would never do; SO jumped upon my
perch again and drove away, feeling
more sympathy for cnbmen than | had
ever felt before,
Having started to scream the wotn-
an kept it up. Moreover, she mahaged
to pull the front wihda% bpeh and set
to work TO 1ab me in the ribs with her
umbrella, The street filed up with
people, though where they cntfie from
couldn't iinagine, and some of them
cried 'Shamel' and Stop him!' Boys
seemed to spring up out Of the ground
and followed me, running alongside
the cab, and all the time that dreadful
woman kept screaming murder and
thieves and making other unpleasant
personal remarks ef the same general
character.
ut would have been useless for mt
to abandon the cab and run away, fol
l would have been caught before
could have fairly got off my box.
knew that a policeman would turn uL
presently, and for the first time thai
morning | was anxious to see one. Any
thing would be better than driving that
yelling demon of a woman and having
a mob gather round me. The thinl
went on for perhaps ten minutes longer
when a policeman arrived, and the WON
an gave me in charge for attempted
murder and a general assortment o.
miscellaneous offenses.
THAT policeman was an intelligent
man. He saw at once that the woman
was crazy, and he was evidently read,
to accept my version Of the affair; bu+
when he asked me for my number anC
saw that l hadn't any he changed hi
mind. It certainly was a suspicious
circumstance from his point Of view
that didn't have any number; anS
after he had asked me few questions
which | answered in way not to CIV
him much information, for didn'
want to explain things before tn
crowd, he got into the cab, so as t.
keep the woman quiet, and told me u
drive to the station house.
"0f course, when l saw the officer II
charge | told him the whole story.
did sound rather improbable, as
couldn't help feeling while l told II
and I could see that he didn't believe
word / said, but was of the opinion
that l was some desperate sort of vii
lair who had been caught in the act o
tying to lSidnap an inoffensive woman
So they locked me up. What they dil
with the woman don'tknow.
"I sent off messengers for my land
lord and my banker and half dozei
other people, and the upshot Of it al
was that the next morning was take
before magistrate, who, after ex
amining into my case, gave me to un
derstand that wasn't guilty Of th
great majority of the crimes that ha,
been charged against me, but that as
sort of warning to me never to comrni
any of them he should fine me. pai
the fine--I needn't mention just no,
much It was-and went home in a ca
that had a real cabman on the box.
"I'ye considerable more sympath
for cabmen than l used to have, and
ss a class they are men who look o
tbe rest Of mankind as their natura