The Washington herald., 1907-03-31
BUGS ROUT BATHERS
Big Reaches Invade WOman's
Bathing Establishment.
SCARED By SUBWAY BLASTS
Three Inches Long and an Inch
Across the Shoulders, They say.
Varied Assortment OF shriel<s and
Hurried HuddIing Into Corners.
Men Haste TO Get on Water wagon.

While half a hundred women were rest
ing after the bath on Saturday Ia the
| lounglng room OF a Turkish bath estab-
lishment not far from Madison Square.
there was an upr0ar at one end Of the
large dormltory. when one OF the women
suddenly shrieked:
IT'S coming my way"
Every woman in the room at once sat
up and took notice, says the New York
sun. A similar cry from another part
Of the dormitory. Then the cries began
coming fast and furious. One woman
changed the order Of things by screaming:
IT'S crawling up on the couch! Take It
away!"
Then one OF the women who had kept
her nerve saw an object about three
inches long. with plenty OF feet. and
raised about an inch from the ground,
slowly ascending the edge of the blanket
that covered her. With a WhOop she was
of the couch. and then followed a scene
such as, according TO the most reliable
feminine authority. has meyer been before
equaied in a Turkish bath establishment.
Women with a minimum OF clothing
in a corner Of the dormitory. On every
side there was an occasional shrek, as
one Of the Its" seemed to lay a straight
course for the frightened women. One Of
the women attendants presiding over the
baths was appealed 10. She explained
that the horrible objects we're water bugs
True they were the largest and most
angry looking water bugs that ever were
but still they we're only water bugs. One
OF the principal attendants, Elizabeth
o Brien. told her charges that the big
water bugs had been seitred into the baths
by the blasting that is going on near by
for a building.
Three Inches kong.
They were evidently water bugs that
had been under ground all their lives. Tor
they seemed TO stumble ard go about in
an uncertain way in the bright light Of
the bathing establishment They were
actually three inches long on the aver
age. according TO the same feminine au-
thority, and about three-quarters Of an
inch across the shoulder blades.
The woman who gave the fact OF the
scene in the baths publicity is a resident
of one Of the fashionable uptown apart
ment hotels. She declared that at first
the scene was indescribably funny. most
of the women bathers believing that the
first one TO give the alarm had been
seeing things When the cries were
taken up from various portions Of the
room those who had not yet seen the bugs
believed that a sort of bTain-stoTm had
suddenly possessed the other bathers.
The entrance Of the bugs followed a
dynamite blast next door, an interval Of
about FIVE minutes eiapsing between the
blasts and the entrance Of the army. The
bugs seemed bent upon era wing up the
soft blankets. the ends of which touched
the fiocr from the different couches. The
blankets afforded the wabbly bugs the
only available foothold. and they stopped
and biinked as they got to the tops Of the
couches.
Incentive to Temperance.
The attendants at the baths say that
the trouble has been recurring every few
days Sometimes the bugs do not come
out after a blast. but evidently burrow
under the floors or do not ind an exit
into the bathing establishment proper
The woman ,.-I andants say that they have
had several scenes during the hours when
women occupy the establishment and the
man attendants say that they, too, have
had great deal of trouble with the bugs
owing TO the susceptibility of some Of the
man patrons OF the baths who go there
to sleep off pink monkeys and green ele-
plants.
One of the day attendants said that TN
one case a man believed that he had
them again when one of the great water
bugs climbed aboard his couch and stood
blinking on his chest This particular
patron had just recovered from a private
view into a full-hedged menagerie. and
the arrival Of the bug put him back a
week again.
The sale Of stimulants during the mems
hours at the baths has fallen of so much
since the bug season began that il is
almost Insignificant. once q man sees
one Of the water bugs coming his way he
gets on the water wagon instanter
AS the bugs appear they are collected
herded into a private room, and asphyxi-
ated twice daily.