Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-13
MISS CARRIE DENTON,
TIRsT WOMAN To HAVE
CHARGE,*OT A
DINING CAR

gagged in that pleasant occupation.
Several employmentS not in existence
far as women were concerned in 1870
were fourishing thirty years later. OF
these. the most noteworthy are tin plate
makers. rag carpet makers, engineers
and firemen mot locomot!ve), model and
pattern makers and we'll borers. The
largest class of all, outside of factory
hands and seamstresses of various kinds,
was that of the boot and shoe makers
and repairers.
At this point it would be appropriate
to mention a few of the inventions
patented by women early in the CEN
fury and up to the first census re-
port in 1870. The majority of these pat
ents, as was natural, had reference to
women's clothing and to household
utensils. but there are some that are
certainly worthy Of the so-called new
women" of today. In 1928 Elizabeth
Buckley invented a Sheet-irOn shovel
and in 1910 Sarah Mather took out
patent on submarine telescope and
lamp. Around 1860 we find several odd
inventions such as improvements in
reaping and moving machines. boilers
and locomotive wheels, and here Is even
one demure damsel patenting an I'm
proved war vessel. parts applying to
other structures Of defense
During the twenty years between
1870 and 1890 there were patented i'm
provements in car couplings, cigars.
rails for street railways, centrifugal
sugar machines. lifeboats, apparatus
Tor destroying vegetation on railroads.
dump wagons, and, lastly, appears one
who is certainly a forerunner of the
present fiourishing cam oaign against
the death-bearing. SSSu.-iaden insect.
She is woman wh6 t.ok out a patent
on an Improvement in the devices for
killing mosquitoes.
The government has many queer kinds
or work to offer to its employees, but the
woman who has probably the oldest oc-
cupation In Washington, or even in the
whole of the United States. is Mrs.
amanda E. Brown, who works in the
Treasury She Identifies burnt paper
money sent in for redemption. and hears
countless numbers of hard luck stories
thousands of dollars each year for the
poor, foolish people who slowed their
hoard in the stove for the summer rather
than trust it to bank. and who often
lose their all when the autumn fires are
lighted. Also in the Treasury Department
is Mrs. w. A. Leonard, chief expert de-
tector of counterfeit money, and she has
a wonderful reputation for infalibility.
X *
The Office of blind reader in the dead
letter office is position that must call
for much ingenuity and skill as are re-
quired in the solving of the most COM
plicated of the modern puzzles. Mrs. Patti
Lyle Collins deciphers blind directions
on letters in a way that seems sometimes
to smack of clairvoyance.
To Miss Carrie Benton of Cincinnati
belongs the unique distinction of being
the first woman placed in charge of
dining car on any railway in the world.
Miss Benton is employed as stewardess
in the dining car department of the Gin
cinnati, Hamilton and Dayton railway,
and makes the round trip between Gin
cinnati and Dayton. She entered the en-
1910, in the station restaurant at Cincin-
natl. After gaining a knowledge of the
culinary art, Miss Benton made her first
run on April p, 1911. The innovation of
placing a woman on a dining car was
watched with interest by passenger Off
Gals of the leading American railways,