A few days ago we read that the horses pulling the police wagon had been sold off to Johnson Transfer. On this day one hundred years ago, the Bloomington Police force became comepletely modern! The new patrol car/ambulance was a 40 horsepower General Motors vehicle with two dash lights, a tail light and an interior light. It was originally capable of speeds as great s 20 mph but had been gered down in obsrvance of the business district speed limits. The bed was enclosed with screens and curtains and was called the "Tin Lizzie." The ambulance was provided with equipment for treated the injured and sick. The photo here is from the 1915 Pantagraph.
All horse drawn vehicles had been retired, along with their bell. The reporter assumed that now that the horse drawn wagon did not have to ring its bell to hurry traffic along, perpetrators would not get this warning and escape -- we have to assume that the siren had not yet been invented or made its way to Central Illinois.
The Tin Lizzie was added to the fleet that included one Ford motor car and a motorcycle. The Ford touring car had been added in August of 1915 and was a very popular vehicle with the policemen. The chief had never driven a car before this one and his attempts to drive were enjoyed by observers. Others on the force were carefully reading up on the proper use of an automobile in preparation for their first opportunities to use the new equipment. In July the city was using the personal motorcycle owned by Patrollman Gierman and had plans to buy a machine that the city would own. It was urgently needed because of the desire to stop the speeding of automobiles in the city. As we have already seen in this blog, the frequency of automobile accidents and pedestrian vs auto accidents were increasing at an alarming rate.
Even before this announcement could appear in the Pantagraph, the Tin Lizzie was in an accident with a Johnson Transfer wagon, injuring one officer as well as an aged woman who was being transported in the car.