N&W in 1909--Stone thru window

[NW Mailing List]

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
October 31, 1909

STONE THROWN THROUGH WINDOW OF TRAIN
------
Mrs. Ward, of Roanoke, So Badly Frightened That She Had to Stop Here for Medical Attention.

    Almost 9 o'clock last night, between the west end stock yard and the Allen street bridge, some one there threw a stone through one of the windows of train No. 16's day coach and the sound of the crashing glass and the realization of how near she had come to being struck by the stone so frightened Mrs. H. Luke Ward, of Virginian Heights, Roanoke, that she had to be taken from the train in this city and given medical attention.
    Fortunately for the woman, she was not struck by the flying stone but the fright from her narrow escape wrought on such a bad attack of nervousness that she became hysterical and Dr. Scott had to be called to the Altamont hotel, to which place she was carried from the train.
    The attack of hysteria lasted for over an hour and at no time was Mrs. Ward thoroughly rational.
    As soon as the matter was reported to the railroad authorities by the conductor in charge of the train, the railroad detectives were put on the case and every effort will be made to find the person who threw the stone.  The police would say nothing last night but it is not thought that they have as yet secured any clue.
    Mrs. Ward got aboard train No. 16 at Kenova and had a small child with her when the window beside her was broken.  She has been visiting in Kenova and started for home yesterday, expecting to meet her husband who is employed in the engineer corps of the Norfolk and Western.  He came to this city on train No.3 and when he boarded the train to meet his wife, whom he expected to accompany to Roanoke, he found that she was irrational and suffering greatly from hysteria.  The police were called and as soon as the railroad offices were informed of the matter they instructed that a doctor be called and that Mrs. Ward be taken care of.  She was then taken to the hotel and spent the night there.
    Mrs. Ward could not be seen last night but it was learned from passengers on the train that she was sitting beside an open window when suddenly a sound of crashing glass was heard and then a woman's scream.  The woman became thoroughly frightened and although everything possible was done for her, her fright increased until she was in a hysterical condition when the train pulled into the Bluefield station.
------
Gordon Hamilton
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20090615/0bd27b61/attachment.htm>