KANSAS CITY GIRL
STARTS STAMPEDE.
CLEVER MAUDE NEAL HELPS
MAKE POLITICAL HISTORY.
WITH HER $25 TEDDY BEAR.
KEEPS THE BIG ROOSEVELT
DEMONSTRATION GOING.
Newspaper Woman, With Assistance
of Press Gang, Breaks All Rec-
ords of Continuous Cheer-
ing at Convention.
MISS MAUDE NEAL.
CHICAGO, June 17. -- (Special.) Miss Maud Neal, a Kansas City girl, started the stampede in the national convention today which almost resulted in the nomination of President Roosevelt for a third term right on the spot. It was one of those incidents which occasionally come at the psychological moment. The delegates were thrown off their feet and pandemonium reigned for three-quarters of an hour. The Taft managers were greatly worried.
Miss Neal and her big Teddy bear did it. During the demonstration following Charmian Lodge's statement that "the president is the best abused and most popular man in America today," Miss Neal put her wits to work She was an ardent supporter of the president. "Why didn't some one bring a Roosevelt banner, or a Roosevelt picture onto the scene to enliven things still more?" she said.
TEDDY HER PASSPORT.
Not a picture or a banner of the president showed up. So Miss Neal decided to go out and get one. She left her seat in the press section, where she was working as a reporter for a Chicago paper, went across the street from the Coliseum, and looked in vain for a Roosevelt picture. Finally she spied a big Teddy bear sitting in a chair in a plumber's shop. That was just what she wanted. She stepped inside and took possession of the big animal. A clerk came forward and remonstrated, so Miss Neal emptied her pocketbook into his hand, a total of $10, and took the bear.
Gleefully she started on a run for the Coliseum, though she could not make fast progress, for the bear was almost as large as herself. Miss Neal is 5 feet 3 inches tall, and the bear measured five feet from tip to tip. The police guards and doorkeepers swung the gates wide, and did not ask for her ticket or credentials. They hurried her into the runway into the hall. Again the guards gave her free passage.
No sooner had she gone up a short incline than a dozen eager hands grabbed for the bear. But she clung to the big animal and made her way to her seat, close to the speaker's stand. At that particular moment the Roosevelt ovation, which had been on for twenty minutes, was subsiding, and Chairman Lodge had arisen to resume his speech, but just as he began the first sentence she tossed the bear among the newspaper men and the stampede started.
HOW THE BEAR HELPED.
In a moment a number of correspondents were aiding and abetting Miss Neal in her scheme. They held the bear up in the air. Willing hands made the animal's head nod in approval of the wild yells. Its ponderous paws led the cheering. Its big legs engaged in a fantastic dance. The effect was electrical. And in another moment the big animal was hurled out into the air, off the platform and shot with flaring arms and legs into the Wisconsin delegation.
Tonight the plumber presented an additional bill of $15 to the owner of the newspaper whose girl reporter had appropriated the bear. The plumber claimed it was worth $25. The editor gladly paid the balance due.
Miss Neal is the daughter of Assistant District Attorney Neal of Kansas City. She left Kansas City four years ago. The first two years she spent in New York in school and newspaper work. She came to Chicago two years ago to work on Hearst's paper but recently changed to the Inter Ocean. She is regarded as one of the brightest newspaper women in Chicago.
