New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-06-02
Women Agents of Travellers Aid Society Are on
the Alert at Stations and Piers to Prevent
Arriving Unsophisticated Girls from
Falling Into the Hands of Vile Great
ures Who Lie in Wait for Them

, watch the streams OF passengers as the lat
ter slowly move along the train platforms
after the tiresome railway journey or flow
de- n the gangways from the decks of the
great transatlantic liners. Whenever they
/ catch sight of a person who looks as If he
! or she might need help of any kind they
| keep their eyes upon that person until GER
tain that assistance is OF is not required, be
1t man, woman or child. Unlike the railway
porters, whose services are supposed to be
! free but who have acquired the habit or
expecting a bonus for their assistance. their
| help is unbuyable, but is given without
rrice No one need hesitate to ask for their
assistance through fear that they also are
numbered among the greedy-handed para
sites of a railway terminal Through the
cooperation which they receive from rail-
way and steamship officials and hotels they
are able to be of assistance to persons who
may find themselves in difficulties in places
where the representatives of the society are
not posted.
Good people find II very difficult to believe
that vilany may be perpetrated right in
their presence, that even they may be the
object Of II. In their innocence they are
blind and do not recognize the pitfalls that
lie along their paths. That woman could
be kidnapped from the Grand Central sta
tion or a steamship pier, for instance. with
out any one being the wiser does not occur
TO them.
A few months ago a we'll dressed young
married woman left town in the Middle
West to make a visit in a city beyond
New York Her seatmate was a man
whose bearing was such that no suspicious
of an unpleasant character regarding him
arose In her mind. They became &C
quainted. as seatmates often will and she
learned that he was bound for the same
place as herself When the train reached
New York they had two hours of wait
ing before the train for her ultimate
destination would leave. The newly made
| acquaintance invited her TO dine with him
in the interval with some hesitation she
accepted. They sat down and, having par
taken OF a meal, she knew nothing more
until she awoke in a Hoboken hospital.
Her money and jewelry were gone. Pen
ncss. she was in despair. What should
she do? She could not bear the thought Of
telling her husband Of her plight. The
Travellers Aid Society was Informed ana
her story was corrobOrated When it was
suggested that a telegram he sent to her
husband asking for money for her return
she objected and started off with the pur-
pose of destroying herself. Then per-
sonal loan was offered. which was ac-
copied. ticket was purchased and her
husband received message from her that
she was returning on certain train and
to meet her. The money was promptly re-
turned with letter Of deep gratitude for
helping her after her terrible experience.
One day as one of the representatives of
the society was watching the stream Of
passengers debouching from a train at one
OF the New York stations she saw a well
dressed and intelligent looking woman OF
perhaps twenty-three or twenty-four years
emerge from the throrg neatly CARRIED
man who had been seen around the station
for several days acting in a suspicious
manner and whom the soclety's representa-
tive had been watching stepped up 10 the
woman as If he had been expecting her.
You are looking for -" he inquired,
hesitatng just an instant before mention
ing a name in order to give her an oppor-
tunity To respond