The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-11-25
MYSTIC, BLINDED,
ESSAYS TO DRIVE
THROUGH TRAFFIC
But Broadway Fellow Mo
florists Are Not Duly I'm
pressed With Showing

New York, Nov. 25.-When engag-
ing your chauffeur for next season, be
sure his name is not Kai Rau. The
name, incidentally, has nothing to do
with Greek-letter fraternities, but be-
longs to a very young, dark-haired
person of mystic mien, who has
thrilled the populaces of Copenhagen,
Christiania, Stockholm, and Petro-
grad by driving a motor car blind
folded through their busiest streets.
Being mtnd-reader, Mr.. Rau only
reeded some one to sit behind. him
with the tips of that some ones flng-
ers pressed against the back of his
head, and that some one thinking
hard all the time which way the car
should turn next, and Mr. Rau drove
about Copenhagen, Christiania,
Stockholm, and Petrograd with the
dexterity of licensed taxi driver.
But yesterday Mr.. Rau undertook
to motor blindfolded down Broadway
and-well Broadway wasn't anything
like Copenhagen, Stockholm, Chris
tiania, and Petrograd. In Mr.. Rau's
own words, it was a bit "too traffic"
That's all Mr.. Rau said, but some Of
the Fifth avenue bus drivers and
traffic policemen and taxi and limou-
sine and truck drivers that got caught
in a hopeless tangle Of vehicles when
Mr.. Rau stalled his engine at Broad
way and 57th street, were heard to
relieve their minds at considerably
greater length.
This happened a few minutes after
Kai Rau tied a handkerchief about
his eyes and, inviting half a. dozen
hitherto enthusiastic motorists to
climb into the Strand Theatre
Grade-A cream-colored limousine,
took the wheel, swayed a few times,
and then threw in the high speed
with lurch that left clouds of dust
to mark the spot in Columbus Circle
where the start was made from. The
medium, caressing the back of Mr..
Rau's head, wanted him to turn to
the left, but the thought-waves got
tangled in the traffic regulations or
something, and Mr.. Rau turned to
the right This undoubtedly accounts
for the fact that the monument of
Christopher Columbus is still stand
ing.
Not Grade A Thought Waves.
Having turned to the right, Mr..
Rau steered jagged course along
Broadway, narrowly missing a traffic
policeman at 58th street, two taxis
on the curb between that and 57th
street, and coming to a full stop at
57th, while, crosstown and south
bound traffic piled up on all sides Of
the Grade-A cream-colored car. Mr.
Rau made no excuses, but the way
he ran his hand playfully over the
face and shoulders of his medium in
dicated. that the thought waves the
medium was sending out were not
up to standard.
So a regular chauffeur relieved him
and the car was driven away from
Broadway in q westerly direction, un-
til the waves Of the mighty Hudson
could be heard tapping at the Man
haitian shore, and all seemed safe for
further experiment. The place was
identified on the road maps as
Thirteenth avenue. AS site for Mr..
Rau's further excursions in blindfold-
ed motoring, it had the advantage Of
Roosevelt and Polytechnic hospitals.
Mr.. Rau did some mighty queer
things with that grade-A cream
colored car when he next took the
wheel. Once he almost sideswiped
AoOA Va ASAAs AAOoAOAo . OOcA AAOA oOo Gil
in a row, and another time he steer
ed straight for Mr.. Umhey's cafe,
one black above the coal-pockets.
Mediums were being changed every
few minutes, since it seemed that
everybody couldn't send off the kind
Of thought waves Mr.. Rau liked.
One medium, himself an expert
driver, handed down the verdict that
Mr.. Rau took one turn first-cIass,' %
but the rest Of Mr.. Rau's curlicues
were obviously of the mind-reader's
own invention.
Not Educated Waves.
"You see,'' explained Mr.. Rau, wip-
ing his forehead feverishly between
spins, "I have been here only six
weeks, and have been studying the
language, SO I am not in good train
ing for this EXPERIMENT. But I am
ready for more if you are"
The nine passengers huddled in
terror behind Mr.. Rau, took secret
vote, and said that enough was
enough, and that Mr.. Rau shouldn't
overwork himself on their account.
AS a chauffeur Mr.. Rau ought to do
lot to revive interest in the lost art
Of walking this season.