The weekly tribune and the Cape County herald. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1914-1918, 1918-03-22
Business Men Tell of UnSan-
itary Conditions at Pres
ent Depot.
STATION CONGESTED
BY HEAVY TRAFFIC
McAdOo To Get Copy of Testi-
mOny-FriScO Asks to Delay
Erection Of Depot.

Business and professional men ap
peared before State Public Service
Commissioner Bean yesterday after
noon to testify in the hearing. in
which the official gathered evidence to
determine whether the Frisco paSsen-
ger station should be built 1T this time
or whether the construction of the
building be postponed til the war has
been settled. The general opinion rs
expressed in tie testimony of the wit
nesseS was that the present building
was Inadequate and that a new build
ing was most necessary at this time.
Several witnesses emphasized that the
sanitary conditions around the present
station not considering the congestion
of traffic at all warranted the immed-
late builling of the station.
Commissioner Bean made no deci-
sion. but asked that the railroad pre-
sent its counter-evidence' within five
days. Several railroad officials were
present at the hearing. but none was
heard as witness. The questions
asked of the witnesses for the city by
y. A. Motley, attorney for the Frisco.
left the inference that the Frisco
would plead that the erection of the
local passenger station should be post
pOned until the war Was over. and that
the freight cars. which might be need
ed for the hauling of the building ma
terial, were demanded at the present
for government shipments.
Miss Iten. the local schco; curse de-
scribed the condition in which she
found the washrGom for women The
absence Of waShbOwlS and other SAM
tary supplies made the washroom more
than the general condi-
ton of the floor.
Mayor Hirsch. Councilman Arthur
Bowman, W II. BohnSack. Judge r.
+. Davis, Louis Wittmor. Ed Repen-
hardt. Prof. W. W. Martin and Sam
Sherman were the witnesses in be-
half Of the city as to the necessity of
erection of the passenger
depot All agreed that the present
conditions were such that the station
was wholly inadequate to accomodate
the heavy passenger traffic on the
Frisco.
Prof. Martin told Of the undeScrib-
able congestion at the station due TO
The coming and leaving # the students
IF the Normal. OF The coAfuSiOr and
lam during the convictions ~ this
rity, which were attcndc,I by r;r.l-eds
rf people from Soutne;. i Missouri.
During these days, he said. the plat
form was crowded to such an extca:
that it was difficult for the pasSen-
gers to move about The heavy bag
gage shded to the congestion. He al
so pointed to the danger arising from
The fact that the passengers had to
walk around the train for a distance
IF 150 feet before they could reach any
to take them to the city.
Judge Davis. Bohnsack and Sher-
man testified as to the sanitary con-
ditions in the stations in the station
Sherman asserted he could
not enter the Mushrooms without
gas mask. This prompted Attorney
Motley to ask the question whether
he had entered a perfumed waShroom
in any railroad station.
A plat of the building was shown
by Ed Regenhardt for the purpose of
the argument of the rail
road that the present building could
be extended. Regenhardt was of the
opinion that the tracks would not per-
nit such an extension. as the station
was wedged in between the main line
and the branch lines running to the
lower counties.
It was also shown that the increas-
ing passenger traffic demanded a lar
ger building. Cape Girardeau, it was
brought out by the witnesses. was the
terminus of several branch lines. and
as result many from the lower coun-
ties were compelled to remain at the
station to make connections either
with the incoming or the outgoing