PEDESTRIAN HAS AN INNING.
Eleventh Street Gets a Bath and the
Autos Stampede.
The pedestrian -- that meek and lowly man who ducks and dodges the restless and unruly benzine buggy in Kansas City's crowded thorougfares, and who is smile upon benignly by the carefree chauffeur, had his inning yesterday, or he might have had he been along Eleventh street, between Grand and Walnut, for automobilists who attempt to frisk up and down "Petticoat lane" have their troubles.
Early yesterday afternoon the street springling brigade took special pains to give the aforementioned section of Eleventh street a good bath. They succeeded in mixing a mud that made the surface of the asphalt as slippery as the floor of the oleo room in a packing plant. And when the first autoist to attempt to perform on the slippery surface rounded the corner of Eleventh and Grand the pedestrian's fun began, for the auto refused to make a scheduled stop. In a few minutes the street was full of smoking machines that groaned and chugged to no avail. They were all stuck.
There were cross words from chauffeurs and merry "ha-has" from assembled pedestrians. As the wheels of the autos whirled about like a buzzsaw and the cars did not move an inch, the merry crowds on the sidelines offered numerous suggestions.
"Give 'er the sand, pal," suggested a man who wore the garb of a motorman.
What they did give a majority of the stubborn cars before they got them out of the trouble district was plenty of push.
And the "common people" stood by and smiled broadly.
