When I was a girl, back when hippies and Yuppies strolled the earth, a club for people trying to stop taking the Lord's name in vain posted a flyer on a church bulletin board that read: "Don't Cuss, Call Pruss." Some smart-alecky scribbler added, "Pruss will cuss for all of us."
The club most certainly did not offer any such cussing proxy, and the defaced poster soon disappeared.
But the memory has lingered down the decades, and it resurfaced last week, when 100-year-old headlines caught my attention in the Nov. 29, 1922, Arkansas Gazette:
"Mrs. Pruss, Whose Auto Was Carried Two Blocks on Pilot of Locomotive, Did Not Even Hear the Crash, She Says"
Above the story was a muddy but impressive four-column photo of one smashed-up looking automobile dangling from the boom arm hook and chain of a wrecker.
The story identified the driver as Mrs. Edward W. Pruss of 1309 Orange St. in North Little Rock; but I have my doubts about that W. The Gazette and Arkansas Democrat routinely got people's initials wrong; and from snooping around in Ancestry.com, I see there was a Rose Wojciechowski Pruss who married a railroad worker named Edward S. Pruss in 1910 (see arkansasonline.com/1205rose). They had a boy, Stanley, in 1911. They divorced in 1919 but remarried in 1921.
Later this couple had another child, but in 1922 Stanley Raymond Pruss was their only boy, and that name matches the name of the boy mentioned in the train story.
But Pruss isn't an uncommon name in Arkansas, and it's possible I have tangled up two different Mrs. Prusses, both of whom named their boys Stanley. Such boys happen.
Nevertheless, what the subjects of that long-ago news story survived was a breathtaking event. Here's some of that report, verbatim. (It helps to know that "pilot" was a synonym for cowcatcher, the arrow-shaped, inclined metal grill attached to the front of a locomotive for shoving obstructions off the tracks.)
"Injured Wife Remembers Nothing of Wild Ride"
Riding for more than two blocks in a wrecked automobile neatly balanced on the pilot of a railroad locomotive is a terrifying experience, but she doesn't remember any of the details.
Mrs. Edward W. Pruss, 1309 Orange St., North Little Rock, told the Gazette reporter yesterday she was driving the Essex car, which was struck and demolished by a Missouri Pacific freight train, near Marche Sunday night. In the car with her were her 8-year-old son, Stanley, and Mrs. Pauline Maracvek, 1417 Willow St., North Little Rock.
That the three escaped death undoubtedly was due to the fact that the locomotive struck the car squarely in the middle. The car was neatly hoisted upon the pilot and carried for a considerable distance before the locomotive could be stopped.
Mrs. Pruss and her son were at the Research Hospital while Mrs. Maracvek is at the Baptist Hospital. None of the three is considered seriously injured.
"I did not see the train coming on us. And I don't remember hearing the crash," said Mrs. Pruss. "People told me the crash was terrific and the noise could be heard a long way off, but I don't recall hearing anything."
Mrs. Pruss appeared in good spirits. She asked anxiously what damage had been done to her car. She laughed and joked about the accident, but admitted it was a serious one.
She, her son, Mrs. Maracvek and another automobile load of friends had spent Sunday with her husband Ed Pruss, a striking Missouri Pacific shopman who now is employed in road work near Marche. She said they were driving very slowly, about five or 10 miles an hour, when they reached the railroad crossing. Pete Banski, driver of the other car, was leading Mrs. Pruss' car. She said they reached the grade crossing at 10:40 o'clock.
"I did not see nor hear the locomotive," she said, "and the only warning I had was when Mrs. Maracvek grasped hold of the steering wheel excitedly. There was no time to ask what was the trouble, and the next thing I knew someone was picking me up out of the car. My head was bleeding terribly, and after that, I don't remember anything until I found Dr. Barlow was taking stitches in my scalp.
"They believed my boy and myself were dead as we both were unconscious. Mrs. Maracvek, I understand, was screaming, but I could not hear anything."
Mrs. Pruss said she and Mrs. Maracvek were in the front seat and her son in the rear seat. She said they had the storm curtains up, and she believed that these prevented them from being hurled from the car. Some men returning from a hunting trip brought the injured to Little Rock, Mrs. Maracvek to the Baptist Hospital, and Mrs. Pruss and her son to their home. She later was removed to the offices of Dr. M. J. Barlow, where she received first aid treatment. At 2 o'clock Sunday morning, she was removed to the Research Hospital. Her son remained at home until yesterday morning, when the physician decided it advisable to remove him to a hospital.
The lad occupies a small cot in the room with his mother. He has spoken but a few words since the accident and his mother fears he is injured seriously. He had nothing to say to the reporter and did not answer a question put to him.
Mrs. Pruss, who was employed at the Pugh Printing Company, regretted sincerely that she was unable to work during the Christmas holidays. "I just took a contract for some work. But here I am in the hospital for no telling how long," she lamented. "The car was a present and I used it every day for the past 15 months in going to and from work. I never had an accident before.
"No, I don't think I want to ever own another car. My old one cannot be repaired, they tell me, and I think I'll do without one when I get well." ...
The wrecked car was brought to Little Rock early yesterday morning by the Lynn Bros.' wrecker. The car was the most complete wreck seen in Little Rock for many months, the garageman said. It was impossible to drag the car in or put it on dollies, so the wreck was swung from the crane and brought in in that manner.
ESSEX
Celia here again. To my way of thinking, this story testifies to the solidity of that automobile.
Oddly enough, the Essex was a "light" car. Made by Hudson, a line more expensive than Ford but not a luxury brand, Essex shared with the pricier Hudson Super-Six something called radiator shutters that maintained heat in the coldest weather. But it was not equal to the Super-Six performance-wise, as ads stressed. It could not match the Hudson in hill-climbing speed or endurance.
But the Essex was comfortable, ads promised. One placed by Little Rock Motor Car Co. in the 1920 Gazette said, "A ride is all that is needed to win men to the Essex. ... It has the high priced car's richness in appointment. The seats are large and roomy. They are deep and comfortable. The backs are high and support the shoulders. The driver has ample room for full and comfortable action ...
"If you are the user of a small car, it will give you a new sensation of power and stability. If you are more familiar with large and costly cars you will be surprised at its steadiness and ease of riding."
To check out a 1919 Essex like the one that didn't kill Mrs. Pruss even when hit by a train, see arkansasonline.com/1205essex.
Comfy, economical and it didn't crush her. What a car.
Email:
cstorey@adgnewsroom.com