|
|
| |
The first "chauffeuse," or woman driver to appear in public was Miss
Daisy Post, a niece of Mrs. Frederick Vanderbilt; she was soon joined
by Mrs. Herman Oelrichs and Mrs. William Vanderbilt.
A Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, with Miss Greta Pomeroy as her passenger,
decided to drive the "machine" around the grounds. She meant to stay
close to the drives and sidewalks, but instead, ran into a stone
wall. The wall fell down and the car proceeded, tearing out a clump
of choice shrubbery and finally smashing into the steps of the house.
At this point, the car finally stopped and the whole side of the
automobile gave way and fell off. Mrs. Fish may have been the
originator of the male expression, "woman driver." Of course, many
male drivers fared no better than Mrs. Fish on their first try - and
many did worse. There were many instances recorded of panic-stricken
men losing control of their vehicles and shouting, "Whoa! Whoa!"
Miss Anne Rainsford French of Washington, D.C., whose father was a
noted physician in the capital city, was awarded her "Steam
Engineeer's License, Locomobile Class," on March 22, 1900. She was
one of the earliest licensed women drivers in the United States. Mrs.
John Howell Phillips of Chicago is said to have been licensed two
months prior to Miss French, however. In the same year, 13-year-old
Jeanette Lindstrom received license No. 322 and it was claimed that
she had already been driving for two years.
Mrs. Mary Landon was the entire office staff of the Haynes-Apperson
Automobile Company. In 1899, she read the instruction sheet put out
with each of the vehicles and proceeded to drive one of the firm's
automobiles across town to the factory. Upon her arrival there, Elmer
Apperson exclaimed, "Well, I'll be damned!"
Mrs. Newton J. Cuneo of New York was the only woman driver in the
first Glidden Tour in 1905. She was driving smoothly along when
another car stalled in front of her on a narrow bridge. Unable to
|
|
|
|
|
