Who Took Charge Of The Streetcar Bell?
It happened In 1907
So far as the streetcar driver, Lloyd Culver and the conductor, M. J. Lyden were concerned it was just another Thursday evening, but all that would soon change when they stopped to pick up men getting off work at the Campbell Works.
The conductor had just gotten out of the streetcar to change the poles for the trip back to town as the men boarded the streetcar and was coming around to reboard when someone inside did the unthinkable, and rang the bell signaling the driver to drive on, leaving the conductor behind.
Stops came up, and passengers got on, but since there was no conductor, no fares were collected, and the driver was none the wiser, wasn't that is till he reached the Square and finally discovered what had happened, and some fifty people got a free ride.
Needless to say when the boss found out what had happened he was angry, and when folks picked up their newspapers the next day, there was a large ad offering a reward for information as to who rang the bell, and Mahoning Valley Railway Superintendent W. S. Sliter said that the guilty party would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.