The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-02-11
NOTABLE EXPERIMENT.
Effort Made to Learn How Many a
Street Car VIII Hold.

At last the hour of the great expert
ment arrived.
The grandstands were packed. So
middle of the field.
THE car now. holds fifty passen-
GERS reported the announcer
through his megaphone.
The spectators cheered, but only for
a moment, for they knew that fifty
ming of what the trolley company
could do when it put it's mind to the
task.
From the clubhouse at, the corner
of the field a crowd of 1aborers rush
ed waving their coats and dinner
and the man with the negaphone
cried:
'Ninety-five passengers!"
Applause greeted his words, yet the
noise made by the on1ookers from
Clinton Hall and BefIeville was not
enthusiastic. Many a time had they
known the register to record 100 fares.
The Inspector in charge of the ex-
pertinent now asked for volunteers,
and a company of old ladies with mar
ket baskets went forth into the arena.
Slowly and painfully they mounted
way inside. The megaphone called:
zone hundred and twenty-five, pas
sengers.''
MuffIed screams could be heard
from the inside of the car, and the
motornan could be seen fighting back
the people who had been pushed out
upon the front platform.
''StiIl room for more shouted the
conductor.
twenty school teachers climbed
aboard and passed through the door.
zone hundred and forty-fve."
The sides of the were grooming
under the terrible strain. So were the
passengers.
The inspector looked toward the
Royal box, where the head officials
of the company sat.
s'Shau stop ~ were the words that
his look expressed, but the trolley Of
fcials pointed their thumbs down
ward.
Bring on the stout mems squad"
the inspector ordered, and fifteen beer
wagon drivers staggered up and went
into the car.
Making one hundred and sixty
passengers the conductor declared.
The tumult of cheering that greet
ed the successful loading of the old
ladies' and the school teachers had
changed to an outcry of pity. The
vast audience turned to the royal box
with outstretched hands, imploring
that the cruel exhibition be ended.
But the royal box sat unnoved.
A party of strong-arm policemen
now stepped upon the platform and
rushed the door, hourishing black
Jacks.
Twice they flung themselves into
the car, only to be repealed. It look
ed as if the car had reached the limit
of it's capacity.
Suddenly. a stern young man in uni
form stepped up and took the first
conductors place.
"Packer, Of the Bloomfield nine,
conducting for Stufrens shouted the
megaphone man.
''Stuffem belongs to the Kinney
neighbours. Packer is the est pinch
conductor in the service
Packer opened the door and roared
in the voice that patrons of the
Bloomfield line tremble to hear:
s'Step forward, there!''
Then he looked at the crowd of
painting policemen on the platform.
''Step inside. please" he command
Humb1y the policemen obeyed. The
car swallowed them up, and the spec
tators gasped as they heard:
.s'.One hundred and eighty-two pas
sengersi''
To all it was apparent that the eli
maxawas near. Great cracks began to
show in the sides of the car, and
heart-ending sounds came from the
interior.
cit reminds me of the stockyaras,"
remarked man from Chicago.
Flushed with victory, the masterful
young Packer signa1ed with his arm,
and the Patsy Brine gang from the
lodging house ward charged the
street car and beat their way inside.
Surely the car could not hold anoth-
er person. Yet the inspector was pre-
pairing to go through, as is the Gus
tom of inspectors in crowded cars, to
see if every one was comfortable.
Suddenly a hush fell upon the
shocked amphitheatre.
The men in charge of the expert
ment could be seen running to and
fro about the car, trying to look in at
the windows, talking excitedly, gestfc-
ulatingz wildly.
The faces in the royal box turned
pale with apprehension.
What had gone wrong?
The man with the megaphone step
ped forward and said:
Ladies and gentlemen, the expert
ment cannot be finished. The fare
register has burst.-Newark News.