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raped me!" About 20 persons were
attracted by her críes. She fell clown
the last severa! steps to the first-floor
landing. The crowd grew to 40
persons. The girl, sobbing and scream–
ing, was left lying on the floor,
dad only in a jacket, as the crowd qui–
etly looked. Not one person moved to
help the girl. Policemen, arriving later,
had to shove sorne of the crowd aside to
reach the stricken girl.
In Philadelphia, a crowd of shoppers
stood watching as a 62-year-old woman
grappled with a purse snatcher. The
woman, Edith E. Lambert, is partially
crippled. She was waiting for a bus
when she discovered a man attempting
to steal her wallet from her purse. She
grabbed the wallet, and punched the
man in the face. He tried to board a bus
to escape, but she grabbed his coattai ls
and hung on, screaming, "Don't let him
on the bus - don't move the bus !
Don't Jet him get away !"
Police said the woman bravely hung
on until an officer arrived. Severa!
bystanders offered encouragement. One
man said, "Go ahead, lady, give it to
him!"
But none offered to help.
Mrs. Lambert said she regretted not
having uscd her cane on the man.
In San Diego, California, two police–
men were injured in an automobile
accident near a drive-in restaurant.
Customers jeered derisively as carhops
rushed to their aid. "Let them die -
who caces?" commented one onlooker.
Unbelievably, one spectator looted a
carhop's pocket of coins while she was
helping one of the accident victims.
"Go Ahead and Jump !"
Richard Roland Reinemann, 19 years
of age, was having a life-and-death
struggle - with himself. He was pac·
ing back and forth on a narrow ledge
atop tbe 11-story DeWitt Clinton Hotel
in Albany, New York, obviously intent
on suicide. A crowd gathered on the
lawn of the State Capitol across the
street, and soon police and 6remen
rushed to the scene. Spotlights were
turned on the youth, and radio and tele–
vision stations carried reports of the boy
atop the building threatening to leap
to hi s death. The reports swelled
The
PLAlN TRUTH
the crowds as many rushed to see.
"Chicken !" screamed someone - "Go
ahead and jump !" Richard paced back
and forth along the ledge. "1 hope he
jumps on this side," a well-dressed
onlooker remarked, "We couldn't see
him if he jumped over there."
Sorne of Richard's relatives were
rushing to the scene.
A roan in the crowd was heard to say,
' 'That kid isn't faking. 1'11 bet 10 bucks
he jumps." Someone took the bet.
By the time the boy's frightened rela–
tives arrived, the crowd numbered about
3,000 persons. "1 can't wait around all
night, I just missed my favorite tele–
vision show," said one woman. When
the distraught youth was finally pulled
to safety, the crowd broke up, and
began drifting away. The betting roan
cursed, and said, "He cost me 10
bucks !"
"These people wanted him to jump
- they really wanted to see him die,"
said a fireman, shaking his head in
disbelief.
And then there was that "Palm Sun–
day" in Los Angeles. At about 11 :00
a.m., "Christians" were going to and
from services, in seasonal observance,
presumably, of the crucifixion and resur–
rection of Christ, who gave the example
of the "Good Samaritan."
A newspaper photographer noticed
traffic swinging wide to avoid an
automobile which had crashed into a
light standard. As the photographer
neared, he saw a man lying in fu ll view
of the passing motorists, obviously
unconscious and injured. The photog–
rapher radioed for help over equip–
ment carried in his automobile, and,
satisfied be could offer no other imme–
diate assistance, quickly photographed
the unbelievable spcctacle for the
record. The picture be took sbows the
injured man lying beside his car, and
the traffic continuing on. Another
motorist finally stopped - to light
fiares - and then continued.
When police investigated, they found
the horn had been blowing incessantly
from the moment of impact, finally
stoppiog only when the battery weot
dead. A resident of the area said she
had seen the crash, and that another
man had fled the sccne, dazed and
April-May, 1970
bJeeding. She hadn't bothered to notify
anyone.
Canada no Exception
In Montreal, Canada, a 23-year-old
waitress, Patricia Cunningham, had
been beaten, choked, stabbed and
slashed by vicious assailants in what
was described by police as one of the
most brutal attacks recalled by the
department.
The victim, bleeding from at least 75
razor slashes, crawled barely conscious
clown the hallway of her apartment
after the brutal attack by three men. She
tapped weakly on a door for help, and
had the door slammed in her face.
Police said a neighbor, answering the
fe·eble knock, was shocked by the sight,
and slammed the door - then called
the owner of the apartment building.
He in turn cal1ed police. The victim
required six hours of surgery to help
her survive.
A Case
in
Australia
In Australia, a man was held clown
in a city street by 15 teen-agers, kicked,
punched, spat upon, robbed of $70.00,
and left unconscious. "Kili him! Kili
him !" screamed the girl friends of the
gang, who were watching.
The man's piteous screams were
heard by crowds leaving a nearby
• cinema. Sorne looked the other way.
Others watched, briefly.
But no one offered to help.
So the victim, reviving, went to the
Darlinghurst police station to report the
incident. "Sorry, it's not in our district,"
he was told. "You should have gone
to central."
So
he called a cab to take
hím to a hospital for treatment.
Remarkably, en route to the hospital, he
recognized part of the gang which
attacked him. He asked the cabbie to
call bis base on the taxi's radio, and
notify police. He was refused. The cab
driver said, "Not on your life, mate, it
didn't happcn in my cab."
The man, Rocco Di Zio, an Italian,
and managing editor of an Italian lan–
guagc.: newspaper, said,
"lt
seems that in
Sydney you could be bashed, robbed,
and even dying, and nobody would
care."
Thcse are only a few of the recent
sickening episodes, revealing a shameful
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