The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-03
IN A PREDICAMENT.
A Drummer's Experience With a
Indy ON the Cars.

Lady ON the Cars.
(From the Detroit Free Press)
II had a very peculiar experience on my
last trip between Cincinnati and Louis
VILE" remarked the Philadelphia drum
mer at the Saturday night roundup, and
il was one that made me feel as If !
didn't want to be polite TO a woman, not
withstanding the well known reputation
Of our class for that sort of thing. i went
down on the Kentucky side and at Gov
ington, opposite Cincinnati very hand
some woman came on and took her place
in the parlor car near me. So near, in
fact, that / could not help extending the
courtesy of a newspaper or two and a
periodical. There was nothing like a ffrta-
ton, you knew, or anything more than a
gentleman could do with propriety, and the
lady seemed to be pleased by the attention
l paid to her. Naturally we drifted into
conversation, and must say that she was
not only handsome, but brilliant in CONVEX
sation as we'll. and the most confiding kind
of woman / ever met on train.
'In an hours time she had told me all
about herself and her home in Cincinnati,
and that she was the daughter OF rich
parents and was on her way to Louisville
to meet friends there and go with them to
the Mammoth Cave. At La Grange, which
is not far from Louisville, she asked me
to take a telegram and have it sent on 10
the city. l got a blank for her, and she
wrote her message and handed it to me,
folded, to deliver. / Just had time to
throw II off the train with a quarter to
pay for II, and once more we resumed our
pleasant conversation. which We kept up
till We reached our destination. l had
gathered my stuff together and was ready
to get off when the train stopped, but the
lady had scattered her things about pro-
miscuously. and, OF course, had to assist
her in gathering them up; in the very
midst Of which i was when two stalwart
policemen entered the car. looked around
to see what they were there for, when the
lady stepped out to meet them, and with
out q word of explanation told them that
l was the man referred to in her telegram
from La Grange and asked them to arrest
me for abducting her.
WELL you could have knocked me down
with feather. l looked at the iudy and
/ looked at the policemen, and when one
of them took several packages from my
hands which belonged to my recent trav-
cling companion l felt that appearances
were decidedly against me. Worse still,
hadn't been in Louisville before, as it was
new territory for me, and didn't know
man personally in the town. / knew
lueIe Was uO use tiyihS " captain " ehC
officers, and knew also there wasn't any
good in making a scene, and telling them
to carry out the orders Of the lady and
take me to the stationhouse, picked up
my bag and umbrella and stood ready to
go at command.
Then the lady began to cry and carry
on, and the policemen seemed to be in
Quandary. However. We cheered her up
the best We could, and, wondering what ii
all meant, walked out onto the platform
and waited with one officer while the
other called a carriage to take US to the
station. AS We waited a crowd began as
sembling but before it had grown to much
size two men with caps on appeared, and
when the lady saw them she screamed
and started to run. That made 1t more
embarrassing than ever to the officer in
charge of me, but the men in caps went
by us on the jump and caught the lady
before she had gone fifty feet.
More explanations were necessary now,
and in few minutes / was released, 1t
having been shown to the officers that the
lady was an escaped lunatic whose mania
was that she was the victim of abductors
from whom she was always attempting to
escape. For wonder the officers didn't
take me to the station, where might
have had to give bail or something, but
they didn't and / now hold In as high
esteem Louisville policeman as do not
hold Cincinnati lady running away from
her keepers"