THE TRAMCAR ACCIDENT

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3, 30 January 1908, Page 5

THE TRAMCAR ACCIDENT

There are many jokes about the difficulty of finding policemen when there is any trouble "which' requires- there presence, but, as a matter of fact, there is very little excuse for such things. r lhe average policeman does not' hide from trouble, and the policeman who is above the average seems in time to develop a sixth sens-3 with regard to law break/ing. He has presentiments and \inluitions which other men ha\e not. He seems to scent clanger in the very air. - Policeman. McDonouigh had observed this in older officers, and of late he had begun to be aonscious that the same sensitiveness to impending or actually occurring breaches of the peace was developing in himself. He was a married man. A devoted wife and four children, the eldest a bright, mterry-hearted lad of ten, who, albeit a mischievous youngster, was- the prido/of his father's heart, lived in a flat in Avenue 8,, one. of the busiest and noisiest thoroughfares in the city. When AlcDonough was transferred from uptown to a downtown, station, the family moved to Avenue B, so that every, day as he paced his beat he might have the comfort of a smile from his wife, and alhilarions wa\ing of hands from the children as he passed. "He was a devoted .husband an>4 father, and, indeed, had 1 to endure many a jc-e from his comrades at "the station-house V.ccause of being; such a, family man and such .a favorite, not only with his own children, but with all the children in the block. But this tenderness of "heart by no means detracted from his manly qualities. There .was no better or braver, man on the force than he; ,as he had often .proved. < Bis quickness of perception o,ndy.tllingness to risk his life in the performance of his duty made him well liked by his superiors. There was" not' a man in the .station had a keener nose for 1 rouble than .he, or was quicker to locate or abate it. Thp. rcc-euJiar sixth sense of the policeman was developing in Mm rapidly. - - ' . . . One hot '-'day in Jvne, as he passed his heat on Sixteenth s-treet, walking toward Avenue B, and fchiriiking he would miss the usual greeting from; his wife >nd children for once, as/ttay had gone in the .norninr for a day's outing, in the country, there sud^nly came over 'him that sense of 'something impending,' which -''he had felt two or three times before on* the eve of some

■thrilling experience. His very faculty was tit owe on the alert, 'ihejinguor of ihe summer day. f f ell, from him like a discarded ■ garment. Unconsciously 'he iegan to quicken- hie pace nervously. He bad hardly gone half a bl^c-i when he saw a man dash across Sixteenth street and Avenue 8./ Then another, and another. People stopped 'and gaied a moment, then ran in the same direction as the oihers. Men jumped from, cars and waggons and followed. KveryLCMy in sight seemed to be hurrying toward some point oai Avenue B. . By this time McDonough was running, too. As he turned the corner into- Avenue B, he saw at once that his intuition of "a moment 'before was true. Here, indeed, was work cut out for him. A street car was standing on the track (almost opposite his flat, he noted), and around it surged a maddening crowd, ■ curbing and threatening the imotorman, w,ho, white with fear, stood, at bay on the platform. McDonough as he ran too.c in the whole situat'om The all too common street car accident had ' occurred. Some child had been run down, probably Mlled, by the heavy car, and the excited crowd, enraged by the thought of' the poor little mangled body beneath the wheels, were on the point of wreaking wild vengeance on thi motorman. The- scene was not unfamiliar to Mcßonough. He had helped to sjac a motorman once or twice before from similar danger. His opinion was verified by a newsboy whom he bnew, who approached him breathlessly, crying that ' a kid had fell under the wheels.' """ . ... The policeman saw at a glance that single-handed he could not cope with this infuriated crowd. On the corner was a patrol box. He stopped a moment to call up the station for help. Then, slamming' the door shut, he plunged into the crowd, whirling men, right and 1 ft out- of his way as ho made for< the platform • where the • motorman, now bleed^ from a wound in the -forehead, was cMngina; wiklly to Ihe door handle, resisting desperately the efforts of half-a-ckren brawny teamsters to drag him to the grourd, whUe shouts of Lynch him ! ' 'Kill the murderer ! ' filed the air The crowd was by no nraus willing to let McDcn- • ough come to the rescue. He had 'to /ic,ht oven- inch of his way to the car platform. He -reached it at last and not a moment too soon. There was no timn for argument. His club, wielded with effect, caused Ihe motorman s assailants to loose' their grip. They fell baclt S r n! n nt nn ™ d curs j n j- McDonough planted himself beforethe motorman and drawing his revolver faced the an-ry crowd. J J ' Stand back :' he cried. I'll attend to this man Fe is under arrest. Give me a chance to take h"m to th" station house.' The mob had no intention of doing this. Somebody yelled, Kill the cop !' And the cry was taken up and repeated' in a way peculiar to mobs. A moment before it had been satisfied with mainrna; or killing the ruotorman Now its passionate, hatred included the policeman. McDonough knew that in a ,few minutes the reserves from the station wwld arrive, but he also knew *£ fi Iw mmUt f muph misrht hap PpiliP pili He - must stand off that crowd ?nd try to koen it from roischu'f hUmE* ST- Jf oreover ' th « thought «sshcd acrors Ms mind that in the unreasoning madnrss the crowd had forgotten the poor little victim of the accident »<TT ivimr beneath the npnrterou, -car wheels There mieht still be life in the lltfla broken frame Every rnonatre W of STcStd.^ " aPPeal to <* ™^ i ' *£* , ( T od ' s sak e,' he shouted, < what are you fpi a°nd\ K^ °J ? ? ear Out ' the whotopS of you be d? ne her?' l? T* * ° hanCe to s * e what ™n of thP n?+i i, yo l1l 1 have any manhood 'in you, thin?' fx^dolnf m vX Un r er WhCdS » nd your'.ha^s. was^lten 16 iTi n , mom = ntariI J r baP-ed of its ven^ance, trfry there w£ n ° ™° Ye to dis P ers «- On the conplatfom Ot the firSt man Who puts a f oot on this"

uproar, there, broke sharply upon his ear the clang of iiie patrol wagon gong, unl he knew -thatv the reserves had arrived, arid that his piisoner was 'saved. - - ' When helped to his feet by the sergeant, McDunough saw the crowd melting away before the not very gentle at ten Lion of a dozen of his brother- officers. He saw,too, that" an _ ambulance had arrived, and' that a number, df men were ' jacking up ' the front of the" car, so as to reach the victim of the accident. 1 A olose call for you that' time McDonough,' remarked the sergeant. ' 1 thought you we're all in.' ' Me, too>, ' answered McDonaugh, with a grim smile,as he knocked the dust off a muoh-battered helmet. ' X thought for a while it was "my finish—and right before my own door; you, may say. I'm glad Mary and the kids are not due at home till evening, or they might ue watching" that performance of mine from the parlor window and scaring thjmsehes to death over it. How about the motorman ?' ' Oh, he's all right ; only a scratch or two. More - scared hurt! I'd almost "say it served some cf these- fellows right to scare them once in -a while. They're altogether too rec 1 1 ss speeding up in a street crowded with youngsters.' The sergeant frowned. He lud children' of his own. Then he_went on : ' I wonder who the poor kid is und^r-the car. Nol.ody seems to- claim him. Usually, there's a-heart-broken mother waiting for the car to .be lifted. Here, the've got it up. Lend a hard th-re on the oth?r side". 5 Used though, he was to scenes liWe .this, the sergexnt could not repress a groan of pity\as the poor" J little iorm, all huddled and bro':en, came ' to \ iew McDonough was the first to stoon o^er that" pitiful little heao which was once a lad full of life and promise."- And as he did so something famil : ar in Ihe clotrrs struck him and fear such as he had nwer known before Md its icy' "•np upon his heart. Trembling he uncovered th- f-c? f'-om which the cao had fall™. As he did so a heartbroken cry burst from his lins. 'Oh Father in hoaven !' he (rroan'd. 'It is Jimmy ! It is -my boy, my own boy .! ' fi, T f h^ SC ? ne that J ollnwert need no.t he d-scrir-ed. Truly the father's am of sorrow was filled to o-erflowm-and 1- drained it to th* dre-s.. T t W8 indeed wS owi son vhom he had foupd craned to rl^a+h hen^th X i j 7,. hnVl who was £iTeni T 'en to nlavip X pranks \h-»d eluded his mother's vigilance and had taVen an ' early car home from the country. p is only tboiht ™Se ■ sum™ ho should n-i^ vis fa^hpr, whom he wnl on hS way to meet and jrrpet whrn th e car struck him.,