HEROIC TELEPHONE GIRL.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10574, 27 January 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

HEROIC TELEPHONE GIRL.

1 — 'o ; o ' — -■ KEEPS HER HEAD AMONG BANK

ROBBERS.

Once again a woman has proved her courage and resource m sudden emergency and peril. Miss Hattie Cheeseman, telephone operator at Hagerstown, Indiana, is the heroine this time.

When a gang of ten bold and daring robbers were breaking into the First National Bank buildings at Hagerstown, Miss Cheeseinau, seated at the telephone exchange m her room, immediately above the bank, pluckily stuck to her po6t while seven explosions of nitro-glyterine shook the floor beneath her feet.

She was the first to give the alarm. If her efforts had been rewarded the robber gang would never have escaped with their spoils, fully a thousand pounds. As it was, her conduct was so admirable as to win the praise of the entire community. Not for a single moment were her thoughts turned toward her«.lf. She was thinking only of the safety of others and of the disaster that would follow the looting of the safe m the bank below. She was thinking of the people that would be made penniless if the burglars succeeded.

As these thoughts passed through her mind the plucky girl made heroic efforts to arouwe the slumbering citizens and spread the alarm.

It was shortly before 1 'o'clock that Miss Cheeseman, all alone, was seated at the telephone- switchboard. Suddenly she was startled by hearing strange voices below. Investigating, she discovered that robbers were at work m the bank.

Whispers and the noise of breaking glass greeted her ears,, and presenting a fine opportunity for her to faint or go into hysterics. But she did neither. Although the dread and anxiety which she felt beggars description, she coolly and calmly went back to her switchboard and began to call up the local subscribers. Her conversation ran something like this : —

"Hello, is this Mr B?" "Yes."

"The bank is being robbed by about a dozen armed men. I am calling up all the subscribers. Tliey do not know that tlie alarm is being spread, and you can catch them if you hurry." With that Miss Cheeseman would disconnect Mr 8., and immediately call up another subscriber.

Her duty accomplished, the brave girl, almost m" a 'frenzy, peered through the oflice windows, and breathlessly listened at the cracks m the door to ascertain if the citizens were coming to the rescue. Just as breathlessly she waited to hear the welcome sound of tiring m the street, the signal that the citizens of the sleeping village had rallied to the support of their property. But no sound indicated that her warning had been heeded or her exhortation obeyed.

How long she waited Miss Cheeseman does not know. Minutes drag slowly under such suspense as she was enduring. It was but a few moments later that she felt the floor beneath her feet shake, and then a roar like thunder burst upon the midnight air. The first charge of nitro-glycerine had been fired. Then for a moment all was still. She still remained at her post, hoping that the citizens whom she had awakened would come to the rescue.

In another moment a second explosion followed. This was stronger than the first and seemed even to shake the building from its foundations, more nitroglycerine was used and more explosions followed until a total of seven had torn a patch into the inner vault where the money was stored. The citizens did not heed her warning, however, and the robbers were successful m their work. Although some of those whom she notified did hurriedly dress and come into town, they were too frightened to get together and put up a desperate fight. Besides ,fchey evidently thought that the. issue of an assault on 10 desperate and well armed robbers would be exceedingly doubtful. After looting the safe the robbers made good their escape, carrying with them more .than d thousand pounds of the people's hard-earned money — which could have ben saved for them if every one m the little town had displayed the bravery and dauntless courage that Miss Cheeseman did.

Even after the escape had been made and before Miss Cheeseman had been relieved from her perilous and nerve-rack-ing duty to her telephone company, she had succeeded m calling up other towns m the neighborhood, notifying the officers at these places of the bold robbery at Hagerstown and telling them to be on the lookout for the bandits.