Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-05-04
PLATE GLASS SMASHED
IN CROWN STAMP RUSH

| Continued Prom Page One
fell on heap of trunks behind 1t, fight
| ing each other to escape when they
learned that the only entrance for them
was to be at tho doors at 1909.
There, for three hours. Policemen Kent
and Tryon, two of the heaviest men from
tho 1lth and Winter streets police station,
stood with their backs blocking the door
in efforts to keep the stamp-book holders
from pushing It down and swarming into
the crowd already inside.
At intervals groups of 10 and IL women
wore let in and temporary exit was es-
tabllshed through rear entrance.
CROWD AT $3.50 A. M
Housewives from all over Philadelphia
started for the Crown Stamp Company
offices when word spread that only the
stock then In the store would be eX-
changed for stamps. All wanted to be
first Southbound 10th street cars and
the Arch street lines began dropping on
passengers at 10th and Arch streets an
hour before the Crown offices opened.
BY $3.50 there were 1900 women blocking
the pavement and the number doubled
within half an hour.
The window went through when
mounted policemen Evans, Fulton and
Anderson rode up on the sidewalk and
tried to clear a space before the two
entrance doors Efforts to get out of the
way crowded women against the windows
I'm solid masses. Carpenters sent down
from the Acme Tea Company head
quarters at 4th and Noble streets, boarded
UP the window.
COMPANY MAKES PROMISE.
After tho window was broken and sew
eral OF the stamp book holders had been
carried out of tho crush to be revived,
William Grow, president OF the Crown
Stamp Company and vice president of the
Acme Tea business. gave out statement
that the stock of premiums would be
replenished until all the stamps were re-
deemed.
The Acme Tea Company and the per-
sonal guarantee of II. p. Hunter the
president, is back OF the Crown stamp
business as assurance that every stamp
will be redeemed" Mr.. Grow said.
THE offices on Arch street will be kept
open and new stock to replace that given
out today will be brought In every day
until the business Is wound up
According to Allison n. KINNEY, audit
or of the Crown Stamp and the Acme
Company, who helped direct the store
employees in their battle with the stamp
owners, there is enough stock In the
four-story building on Arch street to
withstand two weeks raidlng.
But the crowd outside didn't know II.
ter them.
Through the door at 1907 beside the
smashed window came a disheveled
stream of the successful, who had SUE
vived the wedge at the entrance AMI
cashed in their stamps. They carried
bird cages, rocking chairs, bamboo book
racks and pictures in gilt frames, and
set them down in the rain Immediately
while they rested.
Inside the store women hurried over
the floor. stamp books held before them.
and climbed on the counters to see what
choice offerings were left. Twenty extra
girls, who We're taken on to wait be-
hind the counters and handle the eX-
pected rush, worked unavailingly to serve
it,
Trading stamp spectators, who arrived
soon after the first of the crowd, cut
prices to $3.50 for a thousand stamps and
found that the optimistic who expected
to get inside later were ready buyers. |
The stamp price per thousand was once
$50.
The panic even spread to include the
Philadelphia Yellow Trading Stamp Com
oany. now the only remaining trading |
stamp concern IN the city. A crowd of |
100 was waiting outside the yellow stamp |
offices, at 726 Market street, this morning, |
and reports were circulated that the yell |
ow stamp company was also planning to |
'etire.
The yellow stamp business will continue |
according to a statement |
made at the offices this morning The
,ellow stamps are widely known through
'ut the city as being handled exclusively
~ Robinson & Crawford. the George NJ
dunlap and the William Butler grocery
tore chains. The Crown stamps were
distributed by the Acme stores and inde-
PENDENT retailers.