July 6, 2025
CHILD HURT TRYING
TO SAVE HER SISTER
ETHEL AND NORINE AINS-
WORTH INJURED BY CAR.
When 6-Year-Old Girl Was Caught
by Fender, Sister, 9 Years Old,
Grabbed Her -- Both
Will Recover.
ETHEL AND NORINE AINSWORTH.
In an effort to save her sister, Norine, 6 years old, from impending death beneath the wheels of a street car at Eighth street and Tracy avenue, yesterday afternoon, Ethel Ainsworth, 9 years old, was struck by the fender and knocked several yards away on the asphalt pavement. The younger girl was rolled beneath the car, and when it was stopped was found wedged under the motor casing of the forward truck. The child was taken from beneath the car after about five minutes' hard work, during which operations were directed by T. P. Wood, a passenger.
Norine's injuries are serious. The child's head was cut, her right arm dislocated, her abdomen injured and the skin torn from her limbs. Ethel's injuries were not so serious. She suffered a slight concussion of the brain, a scalp wound and injuries to her side, arms and limbs.
TRIED TO SAVE SISTER.
Norine and Ethel are the children of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Ainsworth of 1312 East Ninth street. About 5:30 o'clock they left a store at Eighth street and Tracy avenue. Ethel carried the bundles and Norine led the way.
In crossing the street they avoided a westbound street car, but Norine failed to see eastbound car No. 142 on the Independence avenue line, manned by Motorman L. A. Towhouser and Conductor W. H. Donahue. Norine did not hear the warning cry of the motorman, but her sister Ethel did. Norine was struck by the fender and felled. The fender was forced up and the child rolled beneath it. Dropping her parcels, Ethel grabbed for her sister. Just then the front end of the car struck the elder girl, hurling her unconscious into the street.
Motorman Towhouser applied the air and reversed the power, coming to a quick stop. Women in the car fainted when they heard the child's cry.
Volunteers were many in the effort to rescue the imprisoned child. She lay in one of the sunken spots in the paving and it is believed this had much to do with preventing her hips being crushed. She did not lose consciousness, and did much to assist her rescuers in extricating her. The child was seized by the frantic father and carried to her home a block away, where doctors attended her injuries.
DAZED CHILD FORGOTTEN.
Half an hour later neighbors took Ethel home. She was dazed from the shock, but the first question she asked was as to the condition of her baby sister. When told that she would recover, she smiled her satisfaction. The girl had been lost sight of in the excitement which followed the accident, and it was not until neighbors found her wandering about in a dazed condition that it became generally known she had been injured.
"I did not see the car until it was right on us," said Ethel last evening. "Sister was in front of the car, and I knew the motorman could not stop it. I tried to grab her, and then felt something strike me. I do not remember how I got home."
Motorman Towhouser declared that the accident was unavoidable. He said that if his car had not been running slowly the child probably would have been killed.
"I managed to stop the car within ten feet, and this I think saved the child's life," he said.
Labels: accident, children, Eighth street, Ninth street, streetcar, Tracy avenue
