Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1899-12-08
WOMAN RAN A CAR.
MRS. MABEL BRIEFLY OF PORT JEWS
N. Y. HANDLED THE BRAKE.

Her Husband Protested, au" the Com
psny Informed nsr She Must PucsIe her
Studies Elsewhere.
A young woman has SHOWN that her
sex is quite capable Of handling the
electric juegernaut with skill and
safety, says the New York Herald
She is Mrs. Mabel Briefly, of Port Jer-
Wis, n. Y, VINO has been iearnipa in
Middletown how TO be a motGr-wol4an
She has been accCmpg; ed by an in
structor during the weeA sac WAS on
trial.
After one week Of operating th-
brake her services were dispensed with,
but she has determined 10 follow ner
newly adopted profession elsewhere.
Her husband demonstrated with the
superintendent, and the latter conclud-
ed that the womans presence on the
car was giving the road TOO mSch no
toriety.
Mrs. Biierly was much depressed
but declared she would go to Port Jer.
Wis and get a position on the e.ectr.c
road there as she was dete; mined To
make it a lie business III spite OF jeers
and taLnts
The car from which Mrs. Briefly
hoped to graduate belonged to the Md
dletown Goshen Tractior Company
and was used as an exp css "ar g
tween MiGdletcwn and Goshen. The
forward end Was used to convey boxes
nd bundles sert by express, while ne
rear was partitioned off as a smokinG
car.
Mrs. Briefly went on duty at I
O'Clock in the morning. The track
leads out of Middletown through the
streets and then among fields and
woods 10 Midway Park and Goshen
| AS soon as the express car was out in
| the open, where there is little danger
of accident, the motorwoman threw
the cape of her macintosh back over
! her shoulders and grasped the brake
! with one hand and the controller Win
| the other. She answered the caution
of her companion with the remark
! that if she could handle a bicycle she
! could take care Of a trolley car.
She knew how to modify the current
and take the car around curves with
out jolt. If COW got on the track,
as sometimes happened, she tangled
the gong until the animal fed in dis
may. She likes the work and means
to continue it.
Mrs. Briefly is tall and strong, and
thirty years old. This is the account
which she gives Of herself and Of the
reasons which led her TO engage in her
aovel occupation:
My name before | was married was
Mabel McCarty. My mother lives in
Matamoras. where she is a nurse. My
/ husband. Charles Briefly, left me. and
was forced 10 support myself and
my three child.ep as best l could.
Il tried fiji 81 che thing and then an
utner, working a almost anything that
/ could get to do Finally became an
agent for a household article. and sold
II all throEeA this part of the STATE
Using a bicycle TO get around. | fine
! can do q mans work, and when J
nave learned all about running a car
am going back to Port Jervis to try
FOR a position On the new road there.
| don't think the work is hard. Any
way, it is a lot better than doing
housework for some fretting woman"
Mrs. Brierly's entrance into a nelc
which has hitherto been occupied ex-
clusively by men has aroused some op-
position among the latter One Of
them wrote a note TO her short time
ago and left it where she would see
it, telling her that she had better go
back to Port Jervis and not be trying
TO run men with families out Of Jobs
in Middletown. Another man has Of
fcced her work cutting wood In CALI
coon, and promises not to charge her
anything for board. A citizen of Mid
dle,own has written TO her to say that
he will give her pair of boots If she
will wear boomers. She has not &C
copied the boots.
She has even had proposal OF mar
riage through the notoriety which her
work has given Ter. A short time
ago she received a letter from Scran-
ton, Pa, signed by James Runyon. OF
that place. telling her that he has a
good salary from the Scranton rail
road and would like to correspond with
ner concerning matrimony.
IeTHdpS however, the HnOlOI "OiHdH
may come to the conclusion that ii
will be better to go back to her own
home and resume her place in the
ranks Of matrons whose names are not
heard beyond the circle Of their
friends. Her husband is anxious to
have her adopt this course. He went
to Middletown a day or two ago to ask
her to return to Port Jervis. where he
promises to establish home for her.
When he arrived he found that his
wife had just left for Goshen on the
express car, and he was Obliged TO
| 4. l.. Co. cr