Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1913-02-22
MENTALLY AFFECTED
A WOMAN SAVED
Drawn From in Front Of Train
Just in Time.
HAD WANDERED ALL DAY.
Was Trespassing on Tracks Of An
napoIis Short Line Railroad in
Great Danger.

4 a MYSTERIOUS woman IN Dlacks WnOse
dark, gle aiming eyes, pierced TO the
marrow the bones of the weak-heart-
/ ed. had the trainmen Of the Annapo-
| lis Short Line railroad doing the
heart-swallowing act for severa.
hours yesterday. Ia long black coat
nd black head covering, called fas-
cinator which, by al reports, was not
fascinating, the mysterious woman
was the talk OF the line.
1t was only after dozen narrow
escapes from death beneath the wheels
of the high-speed motor cars that she
was, as the dime novel reader would
say, ''snatched from the jaws of death
| in the nick of time. {" Then ii was
/ found that she wac suffering from
mental ALTERATION and Authorizations
/ that would have put to shame the
best efforts of Jules Verne, that past.
master of Imagination, or the fanci-
fuI tales of Edg ar Allen Poe, through
whose feverish brain coursed the
weird and sombre, CHASTITY and NOR
bid, traceries of drug-laden body.
1t was quite early in the morning
| that she was seen on the tracks of
the railroad, halfway between Balti-
| more and Annapolis. The first motor
man who saw her early had heart
failure, for she stepped from the
track in front of the rapidly moving
car with but a scant foot from death
in her favor. Fifteen minutes later
car going in the opposite direction
came suddenly upon her in narrow
cut and to the accompaniment OF the
alarm whistle. the shrek of the air
brakes and the scream of the quickly
freed air the woman again stepped
from the track.
Again and again was this repeated
until the various crews began notify
ing the dispatcher Of the strange wo
man and the word was passed down
the line to keep sharp lookout.
First at one place and then at another
she was seen, each time in such a
place that she narrowly escaped the
wheels. Late in the afternoon Spec
ial Agent F E. Gould, of the rail-
road, was on the front end of car
that just missed hitting the woman a
short distance north of Robinson Sta
tion. He realized at once that she was
mentally incompetent and, getting
off the car, walked back and found
her between the rails. She gave
vague and unresponsiye answers to
his queries and he decided to take
her in charge when she reached Rob-
inson Station. Her actions were such
that he was surprised that at least
twenty-eight trains had passed her
without killing her, for with a train
in either direction every half hour
she was threatened with death every
fifteen minutes.
He was Just few feet behind her
when the freight platform at Robin
son was reached. Suddenly she broke
into a run and started down the track
between the inside rail and the plat
form. At that moment one of the
limited trains, travelling at 80 miles
an hour, swung around the curve and
bore rapidly down on her. Another
moment and she would have been
caught between the car and platform
and ground to death.
So sudden was her dash that for a
moment Mr.. Gould was distanced,
but he sprang after her, caught her
about the shoulders, dragged heI back
ward and threw her across the wires
that control switch target at that
point. The next instant the high
speed train dashed by, so close that
the heat of the motors and wheels
famed the faces of rescued and res
cuer. The woman was taken to the
store and efforts made to establish
her identity. She gave rambling ac-
counts of herself and conflicting
stories as to her identity and desti-
nation.
She was placed on a train and
brought to Annapolis where the SER
vices of Patrolman Holiday were en-
listed TO secure her Identification.
For reason which was not, at first.
apparent she seemed to take kindly
to the officers uniform. Then it de-
veloped that she was Sophie Stemple,
of 20S Saratoga street, Baltimore,
sister of Patrolman Stemple, of that
city and sister of the keeper OF the
Baltimore Zoo.
She had been visiting a sister
some place in the county and was sud-
denly attacked by spell of mental
affection and started wandering about
the country. Mr.. Gould took the
woman to Baltimore and at Camden
Station turned her over to Patrolman
Morgan, who took her home.