The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-24
STRANGE CONDUCT
FRIGHTENS GUESTS
MRS. J. S. BEVERETT CLIMBS TO A
PERlLoUS POSITION ON A STONE
coRNlcE OUTSIDE OF SECOND
STORY WINDOW OF MORRIS.

Guests and idlers in the Morris hotel at
about the hour of $3.50 last night were
somewhat amused. yet worse frightened,
at the strange actions of a middle-aged
white woman who had come in on a train
at about that time and registered as Mrs.
j. s. Beverett of Dothan.
1t seems that she had been met at the
station by the hotel porter. and when
asked by him If she wished to go to the
Morris. replied in a natural and perfectly
easy manner that she did. The porter then
took charge of her handbag and she fol-
lowed him to the office of the hotel
where she asked the clerk to register her
She was assigned to room No. Ii on the
second floor on the side of the building to-
wards Twentieth street.
No sooner had she entered the elevator
with the bell boy. however, the door been
closed and the elevator started, than she
uttered a scream and attempted to spring
through the glass door. The hotel emu
ployes attempted to calm her, and ac-
oordng to a later statement of hers
caught hold of her, presumably to prevent
her from injuring herself. It took but
an instant, of course, TO reach the second
floor, and when this was done. the ele-
vator boy proceeded her to the room as
signed, where he turned on the light
and set the bag on the threshold. The
woman did not enter her apartment, how
ever as expected. but appeared to be
greatly excited and ran across the cor
ridor
rF-t.n t..ft4 4.
NJ. Hays who is in charge of the hotel,
that he had better go upstairs and see
what was the matter with the lady who
had just gone up. Mr.. Hays hastened to
do so and not finding tho woman In room
No. II hastily made an inspection of all
the other rooms the same side OF the
corridor, thinking that she might have
entered one of these which had been left
unlocked by mistake. BY the time he had
become thoroughly alarmed at her dis
appearance an employe of the hotel has
tened to him and told him that the wom-
an was standing on the stone cornlce out
side of the window OF the room on the
Nineteenth street side at the corner of
Morris avenue. a narrow ledge a few feet
in width with about thirty feet sheer
the wall back of her to hold to.
1t was perilous position, and the res
! cue demanded caution. Mr.. Hays states
that when he arrived on the scene 1t
looked as though Mrs. Beverett was on
the point of leaping off to the street be-
low However Mr. Hays climbed out on
the ledge beside her. and bracing HIM
self by means of the stay wires of a
large sign over the barroom below, held
her until Jack Crawford and A. NJ. Wal
lace. a guest of the hotel came to his
assistance and removed both to a place
of safety.
Mrs Beverett was then brought care
fully down the stairs, and at her request
a colored chambermaid accompanied her
to the ladies' waiting room of the union
passenger station. She stated that she
had intended to take the Louisville and
Nashville train this morning to Oneonta,
where she has a sister who is Ill. She said
that she was acquainted with John Mont
gomery who is a bartender at a saloon
in the outskirts of the city. and an officer
was dispatched to this gentleman to In
form him of the plight into which the
frightened woman had fallen. He came
to the station shortly after II o CLOCK ana
took charge of Mrs. Beverett and her
grip.
The only reasonable solution of the
woman's strange conduct is that given
by Mr. Wallace, who talked with her for
considerable time al the station, and
finally got her to answer in a rational
manner His theory is that she is an un-
sophisticated country lady, who, unac-
cushioned to the unusual experience of an
elevator ride and other attendants of a
modern hotel. fancied when the drop
door" as she called IT, had closed upon
her that strangers were attempting to
take an unfair advantage of her unpro
tected condition, and driven to frenzy at
the thought, was suffering momentarily
from mental alteration
Internal Revenue Standing.