The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-07
STOLE A Big STREET CAR
TWO MEN GOT AWAY WITH ONE
BEFORE 100 PEOPLE.
Conductor and Motorman Were Car
ing for an Injured Child Within
Few Rods.

The MANAGEMENT of the Martinsville In
terurban line was somewhat embarrassed
last night by the sudden disappearance OF
one of its cars. 1t was stolen before a
crowd Of more than hundred people. The
car was filed with passengers on the way
to meet the big car at the belt railroad
The theft of the car was one of the nerviest
and most remarkable robberies TO which
the attention of the police has ever been
called. The passengers had good fright
and several of the women in the car threat
ened to jump off. The bandits who stole
the car, fearing that if they did not soon
get off they would be dealt with harshly
by the masculine passengers, left 1t at
Morris street and the Vandalia switch, at
the starch works, and made for the river
bottoms, where they were lost sight of. 1t
is charged by those who were witnesses
to the theft that members of the Bungaloos
rere implicated in the affair.
The stealing of the car was preceded by
an accident The car was No. IS and was
the Martinsville special that runs from
Illinois street and Kentucky avenue to the
Belt road, where transfer is made for the
big interurban cars. AS it came down West
street it struck little Willie Ferguson, nine
years old, who lives at oil West McCarty
street. The boy was running across the
track when he was hit. He was hurled
twenty feet to the pavement. When picked
up he was unconscious and bleeding from
several wounds the face and head. When
the motorman saw that he had struck the
boy he Immediately jumped off, and with
the conductor carried him to DR.. j. M.
Rhoades's office. The doctor examined Fer
guson and found him to be dangerously in
jured a large bruise was found on the
back of the head at the base of the brain:
DR.. Rhoades could not tell last night IL
the skull was fractured. Both lips were
cut by the boy falling against the sidewalk
The motorman and conductor remained in
boy all the attention possible. When the
wounds had been dressed the men carried
| the boy to his home across the street.
AMAZED AND DISGUSTED.
1t was while the men were in DIR.
| Rhoadess Office that the car was taken.
| When the motorman and conductor re-
| turned from the Ferguson home they were
told by excited bystanders that their car
had been stolen. They walked like men in
a dream to the corner and saw to their
| amazement and disgust that the car was
really gone. 1t was suggested by DR..
| Rhoades that probably a road officer was
| aboard. and, not wanting the passengers
| to miss the big car. undertook to run it
| to the end of the line. The conductor and
| motOrman said they were personally re-
! sponsible for the car and no other en-
| Immediately telephoned to the louisiana
| street barns for information, and were
| told that the missing car had not been
| there. The police station was also notified,
| but no help could the excited men get.
| Both started south on West street, and
| when they arrived at the corner of West
and Morris streets they saw, looming big
| before them, the car that had suddenly
| disappeared. AS they ran down the street
and boarded the car they were warmly re-
| ceived by the excited and uneasy passen-
gers, who all wanted TO talk at once in tell
ing Of the theft. The card proceeded across
| the river with it's passengers. Efforts were
made last night to capture the two men
| who played the prank, but they hid them
| selves in the bayou west of the starch
| works.
Several of the men who stood about the
corner of McCarty and West streets when
the accident occurred said they saw two
| full-grown men board the car, and noticed
| one of them ring the bell. Instantly the
| big car moved away with increasing speed
| and nothing was thought of ii until the
| cries of the women passengers and the
| yelling OF the men caught their attention
1t then occurred to them that the two mer
| who boarded the ear were not dressed In
the regulation blue of the street car EN-.
ployes. 1t then began to be regarded more
as a joke. The street car men did not
look at the matter in that light as it will
involve few hours of explanation with
the owners of the road.