Evening star. [volume], June 03, 1923, Page 5, Image 81

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
“Golf Champings,” From One 'Day’s
Experience of Japanese Schoolboy
■ ■■ l .
BY WALLACE IRWIN.
i
To Editor , who are like
Babe Ru'th. a child we love for
her winning ways.
Dearest sir:—Last Satdy p.m.
Hon. C. W. Quackmire, to whose
wife I am engaged washing dishes.
j;rrlve to kitchen looking very es
tranged. He was walking in 2 sacks
resembling Scottish oatmeal and he
had on some stockings, too. and his
vest looked quite scenaHo.
"Togo," he require with financial
expression, "would you like to be a
little cad and carry my bagg while
I go to Golf?"
“That will be a long way to go." I
negotiate geographically. “With all
my education 1 have only learned of
2 Golfs in America. One are called
the Golf of Mexico and the other the
Golf of St. Lawrance.”
“Golf are not any sea annimle Pke
you mention," he dib. "It are a game
which America stole from Scotland."
“If stolen from Scotland," I nego
tiate. “I am sure the Scotch must have
worn it out.”
‘Tussibly," he narrate. "But in
Canada it st}U remain Scotch because
that drink ape not yet Illegal there.
1 know because I remained in Mont
real one week of Joy, putting high
balls into 19th hole. After that I got
such a feeling of sisterhood for Can
ada that nothing but a mortgage can
keep mo from living there. Yes, In
deedly!!! And when I left that sweet
Montreal I took one lifelong friend
home with me. His name was
Phillup."
"Phillup -which?” I ask to know.
"Phillup the Flask,” he say with
some sobs & tear-drops. "But come,
let us go before my strong sorrow
throw's me out. Folia me to Golf
Club. Togo, and I will show you some
strokes that Hon. Spalding has not
yet learned how to do."
Mr. Editor, yoa should have come
along to see what I carried on my
weak back all way to St. Agony’s Golf
Club. It were like a leather stove
pipe filled with curio garden tools.
Some of them look like they was made
to gather seeds from pineapple trees.
Yet others resemble the kind of stove
pokers which Aztecs use to fool
snakes with. I enjoy great confusion,
thinking how things gets into that
strange canditlon.
♦♦ * *
PRETTY soonly one swollen gentle
man incroach out from Club with a
white swetter.
“Hell-O Bill!” he holla without any
curtsey.
"Hell-O Ike.” rejoint Hon. Boss.
"How’s your game?”
“I have notified the Board of
Health.” suggest Hon. Ike.
"How very bull!” holla Hon.
Quackmire. "Then we can be equal
playmates. My game is only admired
by buzzards.”
Speaking In this dead language both
playmates stroll down to ball grounds
where canslderable other gentlemen
were batting with clubs. While
awaiting for them to finish knocking
Old Reliable Draws the Line Between
Quality Folks and Poor White Trash
'' BY HARRIS DICKSON.
ODORS of grreasy cookery came
percolating through every
crack of the Hot Cat Eating
House as Old Reliable
hustled to Its door, digging both
hands Into his pockets, for It was a
cold day in Vicksburg. His coat might
have wrapped twice around him and
buttoned In the back; It once had
fitted the bulkier Col. Spottlswoode.
Fluttering now upon Zack's skimpy
figure, the garment seemed more of a
convulsion than a fit. Fits or con
vulsions, however, mattered not when
his nose sensed the seductions of fry
ing catfish. Turning the doorknob he
paused to sniff, to grin, to anticipate
and to enter. /
First he eyed Aunt Fannie, who
floated amidst a heavenly cloud of
Incense, bending over her skillet
while she flopped the thin pink slices.
And It tickled Zack upon his front
tooth to consider that he’d soon be
• chomping such juicy morsels. With
a mouth hankering for catfish he
plotted no arguments and hatched no
debates. Disputation was not the Joy
he craved: yet no sooner had he
stepped within the eating house than
Unc Eli Mundy passed a remark
which pestered him.
* Corp. Ell Mundy-and Brother Sandy
Spriggs were Grand Army republi
cans, drawing their pensions, draw
ing their breath, and argufying be
side the Hot Cat stove, where Zack
heard Ell glorify the name of a pros
perous white man and assert:
"I tell you he’s wuth a million dol
lars.”
"Shet up. Ell!” Zack strode for
ward. ‘T don’t care es dat feller's
wuth a thousan' dollars, he ain't
wuth nothin’ to me. Po’ white trash!
Po’ white trash!"
"Don’t he live In a fine house?”
Ell bristled up. "Ain't .he got plenty
nroney? An’ two autymoblles?”
“It don’t signify what he got,” Zack
maintained. “I’m talkin' ’bout what he
Is. Dat feller’s so scrubby, es he was a
hose his fetlocks would drag de groun'.
An’ es he ain’t po’ white trash den he
oughter take down his sign; ’cause de
good Lord don’t put wrong marks on
His packages.”
♦♦ ♦ ♦
NOWHERE else would Old Reliable
halve been so outspoken. But here.
In this sable sanctuary, blacks could
discuss the white problem as freely
as the paler race were forever Jowllng
over the negro problem. And Zack's
Internal barometer never lied to him
about white folks. By Instinct he slsed
them up more accurately than they
Judged each others by their logic. Any
shrewd adventurer might come to Vicks
burg and deceive Col. Spottlswoode: yet
If that stranger lacked a certain grace
of life old Zack promptly got his dum
ber.
“Pay ’tentlon to me, Unc Ell,” Zack
insisted. "I kin pick quality folks in
de dark, wid bofe hands tied behind
me. Dis feller which you brags about.
, he acks powerful nice befo’ de .big bugs,
cause dat’a de side his bread Is buttered
on. But he don’t comslder It’s wuth
while to fool a niggard so L aeea plum
“LOOK HERE, FELLA,” NARRATE ONE SMALLISH GOLF.
their highballs Hon. Bill say to Hon.
Ike:
“How sad I am to think that Eng
land has beaten America again. Ho
tan and Olraet were not sufficiently
good generals."
“At where did this alarming battle
took place?" I require historically.
"In the city of Deal.” report Hon.
Bill. “Ho'weverly, it were a square
Deal."
“America should have more Geo.
Washingtons,” I snagger. “Other
wlsely, how can we save N. Y.. Chi
cago and Nebraska from being occu
pied by British army. History is so
peculiar,! America has been defeated
by England yet I did not know there
was a war."
“Hushyf” report 12 Golfing gentle
men standing in circles. “Cannot you
see the Man Driving?”
I look but could not. Instead of
that I observe a Golf going to bat
with a very Insane stick. He uprose
his arms and suddenly he make fol
lowing loud sound:
“4!"
“O stop!” I holla distlnctually.
‘That gentleman are cheeting. He
holla 4. and yet he have only hit the
ball 3 times!"
“Look here, fella," narrate one
smallish Golf, coming up in his swift
short pants. “Are you here to be a
cad or to talk about It? If so you
are ruled off tho coarse. I are Presi-‘
dent of the Green Committee.”
“I did not vote for you.” This from
me with expression of fried repartee.
And yet he could not assimilate the
words I spoke of.
♦♦ ♦ ♦
PRETTY soonly Hon. Bill and Hon
Ike commence to play ball. At first
shoot I could see that my Boss were
most superior player of those 2. Hon.
Ike knock his marble vqry straight
forward. but he made a sinful mis
through him, same as a pane o’ glass.
1 "Huh* De fust day he ever hit
Vicksburg I noticed him pertlcular
at Christ Church picnic, showln’ off
befront de ladles, an' spoutin’ a heap
, o’ language. 'Here, ole man,’ he
hollers to me, 'serve Miss Janie some
1 lemonade/ When I fetch dat lemon
• ade he takes out fo’ hits and holds It
. twlxt his Angers so de ladles could
i see ’twarnt no Boston half dollar ”
i "What’s a Boston half dollar?”
I queried the ignorant Sandy Spriggs.
’ “Dat signifies a nickel, ’cordin' to
• dese steepin' car porters. Dey say
■ Boston drummers gives 'em. Anyway,
: dis feller held it up ontil de ladles
i made sure ’twarnt nary nickel, den
flips It me same as a button, oratin’
right noisy, 'Keep de change, ole
: man.’
i "Huh! Dese po’ white trash always
1 seeks to make a nigger feel like a
nigger. Now dere’s Cap’n Pepper—
Cunnel calls him 'Cap’n Hotstuff—
: done spent his money, ssti’ lost it be
i sides: but when Cap’n Hotstuff do
. sump'a for you, he do It complete.
- '
> . - - ■ ■ ~'V ■' ,
THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JUNE 3. 1923-PART 5.
take. Hon. Ball fell onto nice green
grass which might get spoiled. But
Hon. Bill were more sly with his
skill. Getting pretty powerful, by
golly, he stroked Hon. Ball on head
so that It made Natl. League curva
tures which would fool anybody while
it flop down amidst* rocks where
nobody could catch It.
"Congratulation!” report Hon. Ike.
“I have played with you six (6) years
yet did not know you could do that."
“I learn a new stroke every year,"
renlg Hon. Boss while ho scromble
down to Hon. Ball with Rocky Moun
tain expression.
Pretty soonly he wave his thumb
at me. • *
“O cad." he narrate hoj-aely, and
when I approach up, he snarrel,
"Niblick!"
“Niblick 1 are a Jewish name for
something.” 1 snuggest. "But I do
not understand that religion.”
"What religion have you. If any?"
be ask to know.
JT am a member of the First
Heathen Church," I tell.
"Too bad," he glub. "I hoped you
were a Christian so you could get
shocked from what I will now say.
Stand slightly to 1 side. I am going
to address the ball.”
While pounding Hon. Ball with en
larged Jewish club he adress It as
following
1— Species of poisoned worm.
2 Tom cat from Poland.
3 Is this Hell?
There was quite a lot more, etc., but
I was alishabled to keep score. At
lastly Hon. Ball got knocked sense
less and fell amidst sweet dandy-cup
flowers and other poetlckle vegetables
where it set there looking quite pale.
“Hand me my mud-iron!" he
growell.
I do so. Swipes by him. Several
Last night I goes to Cap’n Hotstuff’s j
house wld a note from Cunnel. an’
bein’ It was so cold de Cap’n ’spress
hlsself jesso, ‘Zacfc, don’t you want
a little drink?’
“Co’se I snickered at such a tomfool
question, an’ Cap’n never tarried for
no answer, jes sot out his own bottle.
His own quart, mind you, cause he
ain’t one o’ dese short bosses which
keeps ole tlmey llcker for hlsself an’
white llghtnln' for niggers. When
Cap’n Hotstuff gives you anything, he
goes de whole hog, lets do hide go
wld de horns an* taller.
“Den Cap’n passes me a goblet an’
waves his hand. How you 'sposo a
high-qualified gen'leman behaves hls
self? Huh! He jes’ turnt aroun’ an’
looked outer de winder whilst I pour
ed my drink. What for? Cause
Cap’n knowed es he stood watchln’,
like he grudged drop, I’d stay
my hand befo’ pourin’ nigh as much
as I wanted. Den I'd wrastle wld
nightmares ontil cotton-pickin’ time,
dreamin' of de chance I lost to take
a little more. Huh! 1 Jes studyin’
bout dat whisky what I didn’t pour
would hurt my feelln’s; an* Cap'n
Hotstuff onderstan’s how to ease
along widout hurlin’ nobody’s feelin's.
"Lord’ Lord! When I promenaded
away from his house I was steppin’
on de moon ap’ de stars, cause I
nacherly felt so line. Huh! .You
grasses & roots spill up In ths air.
.More swipes. Hon. Ball look carelus.
“Togo," he yowell, “If you do not
stop whistling There la Smile in
Every Sunstroke I shall take club and
smite your head.”
“Could you hit It?" I ask to know.
“Hand me my masher!" he derange.
“This are a masher lie after all.”
Ido so. More swipes by him. When
neatly I got grass out of my eye I
could observe Hon. Ball making a
high sore with landscape flying after
Mm. Pretty soonly it come down in
small dry lake where it look very
neat amidst sand.
“That will be nice place to shoot
from." I negotiate.
"Others have been killed for saying
that," he dlb.
** * *
AND so onward. Hon. C. W. Quack -
mire were very hard to make
Joyful. With every chop of club he
mono & gcone. Quite frequently he
ask to know why he had been bora,
yet I could not think any good excuse.
When Hon. Ball Jump over clllf or
croll Up tree Hon. Boss say prayers.
I got to slpposlng that he were not
making pretty good score. Yet such
were truthless. By time ho reach 4th
hole he had 68 while Hon. Ike only
got 18.
And yet he were not satisfied.
"Who ever did invent this dammed
up Game?** he require at 13th hole.
“Mary Queen of Scotch," I snuggest.
“Too bad they did not use a Niblick
in chopping her head," he report with
savagery.
Yet after all that Hon. Boss come
back to Club with very proud number
on his score card. 212. Could any
body be unhappy with so much? I
expected all members to shook his
hand. But Hon. Quaokmire ar& very
modest gentleman who do not boost
himself. He remove pants & other
etc. while wash-up In lock-away
room. While all his friends set
around, taking gaylshly about bogies,
stogies and other curios found on the
bunker hills. Hen. Boss merely
smoked.
In far away comer of room I could
observe ore other gentleman saying
nothing pretty quietly. He look very
funeral while folks walk up and
shooked his hand.
“Why everybody so sadly hand
shake that lonesome gentleman?” I
ask one caddish boy near to me.
“He got 71,” narrate this small cad.
"Too sorry!” I grone. “Yet ho may
learn to get more If he practice slf
flclently.’
“What you say Is so true It gives
me a pain," report he.
Therefore I go home with Hon.
Boss, who walk along with disjointed
expression peculiar to American man
who have had a good days sport and
are looking for some nice place to die.
Hoping you are the same
Yours truly
HASHIMURA TOGO.
(Copyright. 1023. United and Great
Britain, by North American Newspaper Al
liance.)
can’t pay no man a higher recom
mendation dan to take yo* eye off
him whilst he tilts yo' quart."
♦* * ♦
AS Zack administered this sock
dolager ho commanded Ell to:
"Hush yo’ mouf. Conversation
ain’t reached you ylt. I got some
mo’ to say: When dat po’ white
trash commenced beglnnln’ to git
rich, he buys Jedge Tremaine’s house,
'cause 4t was stylish. You all 'mem
bers Sis Bunny what nussed dem
Tremalqe Chilian, an’ nussed the
Jedge to boot? Little bit o’ ooman?
Well. Sis Bunny, hadn’t been in
Vicksburg for more’n twenty years
at de time she 'rived back home to
see de fambly, an’ didn’t knoiv dey
done moved away. Bat’s how come
Sis Bunny got so bumfoozled by dat
strange white ooman which was set
tin’ on Jedge’s front gallery, wearln’
a fine silk dress. Huh! Bat’s de wife
o’ dts feller which you brags about.
"An’ when Sis’ Bunny 'quire for de
Jedge’s Chilian, dat ooman ack kind
er uppity an’ tole Sis Bunny, ‘Dey
done busted an’ gone. Dls is my
house now,’ which injuce Sis Bunny
to set down on de step and cry. She
done traveled so far to see dem Chil
ian. After while she tried to talk
some ’bout de chillun, but ’twarnt no
use. Den she ax, nice an’ perlite,
’Please, ma’am, can’t you gimme
some onderclo’es? I’m most naked.’
What you reckon dat white ooman
done? Traipsed herself into de house
an fotch out some rags, with a pair
o’ scissors. D&r she sot an’ cut off
ev’y frazzlin' button befo’ she give
dem clo’es to Sis Bunny. Did you
ever hear de beat o' dat for a po’
white trash trick? .
"Huh! Got autymoblles. Is he?
Goes puffin’ an’ snortin’ roun’ Vicks
burg like & gasoline boat wld
breeches on. Two autymoblles.
Huh! He oughter be rollin’ dirt on
de levee wid two wheelbarrows, one
In each hand. Huh! He puts me In
mind o' dat 11<&-blt mule which I
used to plow on Sherwood plantation.
All durin* de week dat mule went
pokin’ along mighty humble. Den
on Saddy nights when I turnt him
loose for Sunday, he’d kick up an'
prance, ’tendin’ to be a powerful Im
portant pusson. I used to watch dat
fool ‘an laugh, ’pears like you don’t
’member whar you come from, an’
don plum forgot yo daddy wam’t noth
in’ but a jackass.’ Bat's de way wid
dese po* white trash when dey gits
de blghead.”
(Oopfright, 1923 )
Waiting Room Baths.
wvxrASHPUL WAITING” la the
” motto in Berlin, where a bath
house has been Installed in the city’s
largest railway station. Travelers
may utilise their spare time with a
bath while awaiting their train* and
officials report that many arrive fif
teen or twenty minute* early that
they may take a plunge in the tub
before starting their Journeys. 1
Boy Detective Smashes Opium Gang,
After Clever Pursuit of Criminals
Seventeen-Year-Old Student, Ambitidus to J oin Ranks of Sleuths, Gets Office-Boy Job in Gov
ernment Service and Is Instrumental in Preventing: Deals Involving: More Than Half-Million Dol
lars—Takes Part in Thrilling Mott Street Encounter Which Is Clirdax of Investigation in New
York* a ,
• * j
BY BEN LUCIAN BIRMAN,
/ >HE most far-reaching opium
• • I plot In American customs
i service history." ' The
_ ■*. words are those of United
States Assistant District Attorney
Herman L. Falk,- whose convictions
Os the smugglers’ band crushed a
gigantic conspiracy to Introduce by
stealth Into this country more than
half a million dollars' worth of the
Indian drug that seethes and fumes
In the dingy Chinatown the sight
seer passes but never knows. And In
this drama, enacted upon a stage of
crooked streets and gloomy ware
houses, there stands out a youthful
figure, grinning, unique Willie
Smith, United States boy detective.
Willie Smith, seventeen, veteran
resident of New York's west side—
the street and number this historian
has sworn not to relate—after two
years of high school, found It neces
sary that he secure employment. He
became office boy in the headquarters
of the Government Treasury Service
at the customs l building, continuing
his scholarly pursuits In one of the
night high schools. Standing at the
polished gate of the special agent's
office, barring the way to an Intruder,
or welcoming an official, he watched,
wondered and envied. Whether
Willie had hoped, from the days he
could first lisp out “detective," to be
come enrolled In that mystic pro
fession, the bashful youth could not
or would not Inform the chronicler.
Suffice It that often he had been an
entranced listener of the garrulous
corner policeman near his home, and
had read deeply In stories of strange
crimes’ unraveling. Sherlock Holmes
he placed, and still places, far above
those psychic and mechanical detec
tives who solve murders with ma
chines instead of their heads. _
♦* * *
IT was not long before his genial,
ruddy face grinned Itself Into the
friendship of the officers constantly
passing. The winds of the friend
ship blew warmer, until one day
gracious. Willie bustled
oft a guest on a sudden night raid
startling Mott street's sister across
the Hudson—Newark's Chinatown.
His behavior was without blemish.
King Brady himself could not have
observed a single violation of the de
tective’s book of etiquette. As a re
sult when other raids followed Willie
accompanied. Tiring of being mere
spectator, Willie determined that a
good detective, even if only a guest,
should be useful. So he got busy.
Through crannies which large men
could not penetrate Willie squeezed
—up sooty chimneys, into dusty
closets, to emerge black but trium
phant, In his hand the tin cans shel
tering the "tols,” tiny balls of the
potent drug. Now he tapped with
his foot for a loose board, now pulled
with finger or pried with pocket
knife the knob of a door or the scroll
on a chair; now pawed through a
coal pile. The guest pnived his cali
ber by thus amassing SSOO worth of
the gummy pellets that bring dreams
and was admitted into the great fra
ternity of sleuths.
The secrets of the craft Imparted,
he was assigned to trail suspects.
Sedulously h© haunted them, recon
nokerlng*where they entered, wait
ing outside, or if the building was a
store of two entrances where pursuit
could be lost, strolling Inside also, and
buying a handkerchief or sundae.
To track a supposed drug peddler
hour after hour, trying to Imagine
whether hls next move would be to
board a bus, and calculating whether
his own hundred feet behind was far
enough not to be perceived, yet near
enough to permit boarding the bus if
neceusary, was. of course, exhilarat
ing. But today, by comparison, was
drab, he knew, as sitting in a restau
rant near Union Square—where we
now find him —he sipped a glass of
milk and. apparently absorbed In the
white fluid before him, listened with
acute ear to the whispered conversa
tion of the four men at the table op
posite. For this time he was trusted
agent In a case perhaps the most im
portant of Its kind In the annals of
the service: a half-raillion-dollar
opium conspiracy, embracing smug
glers. swarthy Italians and blinking
Chinamen; a conspiracy which even
Sherlock Holmes would have deemed
worthy. He was trailing * the ring
leader, a prosperous appearing, sleek
haired Italian, one Devanno.
Devanno, an uptown dealer in silks,
imported from Greece, packed secure
ly in twenty large cases 2,800 pounds
of opium, whose value on the street
totaled $560,000. The opium was
stored in a harbor United States
bonded warehouse, supposedly for
transshipment to Cuba, a transaction
usual, legal, In which the government
could have no concern. Emissaries of
the government, however, hidden In
the underworld, learned that enor
mous quantities of the drug were
shortly to be on sale and suspected
the source. But It was only a sus
picion. Mere surmise could not effect
one arrest, could not stop a single
sale. The need was evidence. Which
legal fact explains why Willie's inter
est at the moment was centered on
other things than milk.
♦♦ ♦ ♦
OF the four diners to whose muffled
words he was eagerly but unob
trusively attentive, besides the Im
porter Devanno. were two white men,
111 clad, malignant, probably not un
acquainted with the penitentiary.
The fourth of the group was a China
man, whose flashy clothes contrasted
oddly with hls staid, colorless face.
Now the voices were louder, the
Chanaman and one of the shabbily
dressed ruffians, who appeared to be
the Importer’s assistant, were hag
gling. “Seven hundred dollars. Too
mucW* muttered the oriental, angrily.
The assistant furtively commanded
him to silence. More argument, but
bushed.
At last the Chinaman seemed
appeased. A long, waxy hand dipped
into a pocket and withdrew a roll of
greasy bills. The fingers counted out
S6OO and gave them to the importer.
A satisfied smile curved the latter’s
thick lips; stuffing the money Into a
pocket, he wrote a receipt. Upon a
g*unt from the more white than yel
low faced Celestial, the four men rose
and sauntered outside. The Italian
signaled a taxi. All crowded In.
Willie, too, wa a now oa the sidewalk,
~ m
\ , . ' < *
-
hailing another wheeled knight of
the streets.
“Yep.”
, “Follow It.”
[ The Jaded driver smiled at the
order and the stature of hls fare,
i '‘Whadyesay?’’
“You’re wasting time. Keep that
cab In sight, please."
The chauffeur laughed, but obeyed.
The first car sped down Broadway,
, wheeled onto the noisy Bowery, Into
murky Chatham square. It came to a
, halt before a four-story warehouse
tenement, adding its dlnglness to the
forbidding gloom of Mott street —
Chinatown. The men entered. A
, door closed after them. While
Willie, the vigilant, scrambled from
hls taxicab, halted half a block away,
. and took up hls post In the shadow
l of a curio shop nearby, where, seem
, Ingly staring at bronse Buddhas mi
nus arms and carved elephants minus
, trunks, he waited. Waited until long
. after darkness had fallen, when, ce?-
, tain that the men had either de
. parted by an exit of which he was
, Ignorant or would spend the night
, within, he carefully noted the ad
, dress and hurried offleeward to re
port. A day’s work well done. He
had seen the money and the receipt
pass between the Importer and the
Chinaman. That was enough. The
suspicions were confirmed.
The next day the hidden govern
ment emissaries, much older than
Willie, believed criminals and there
fore criminals’ confidants, aided by
, the youth’s Information, learned that
a cab was to be dispatched the fol-
I lowing afternoon at 6 o’clock from
, one of the conspirators' houses. It
was to meet the Importer and a
Chinaman In front of the building on
Mott street, probably for a delivery
of the narcotic. The cab was to be
black and white.
The afternoon came. Willie was again
watching, beside the ugly
doorway of * ten shop, hands burled
1 in pockets to conceal his excitement.
How could a boy detective be other
wise than excited? At various points
along the narrow street thronged
with tall Mongols and droning Pekin
ese loitered six agents, so stationed
that a cab coming in any direction
could be perceived at some distance.
The agent first catching a glimpse of
It was to signal by dropping a hand
kerchief, •whereupon his fellow sen
tries were to leap out and with drawn
revolvers trap caW passengers and
cargo.
Ten minutes to 5. Willie moved
closer to the warehouse as he saw
Devanno come strolling along and
stop before the somber structure.
Five o’clock. A heavy truck, laden with
hemp, rattled past. Three minutes
after 5. The auto wheeletTinto sight.
No. Only the shining black coupe of
a doctor taking a short cut on his
rounds.
♦♦ ♦ ♦
EIGHT minutes after 5. • • • The
men are late. • • • Well. Wil
lie can wait all night if necessary.
• • • A spluttering of a motor, and
a cab whirls around the corner.
• • • Quick! Why doesn’t the
agent drop the handkerchief? Funny,
the other detectives, too, stand mo
tionless. • • • Are they paralyzed?
• • * Hum! • • • The cab is yel
low. Not black and white. • • •
That's the reason. • • * The ve
hicle bumps onward, it pulls up to
the spot where Devanno is waiting,
now joined by the chalky Chinaman
Willie saw two days ago. Devanno
leans over and whispers to one of the
riders. The detective nearest Willie,
now suspicious, but confused by fail
ure U>. receive the signal, lurches for
ward and grips the Italian's arm in
his powerful hand. Instantly the taxi
driver presses his foot upon the ac
celerator. The already throbbing
engine roars, the wheels begin to re
volve. But not ' too quickly for
Willie. His eye has caught some
thing lying In the bottom of that
automobile —he has recognized the
faces of the two men Inside as those
of the restaurant In Union square.
And they were getting away! * * *
“Look out!" he shouts to the officer
struggling with the importer, loud
enough for all the agents to hear.
“That’s the taxi!" • • • Hurling
the Italian aside, the detective now
dashes frantically after the yellow
car Just beginning to acquire speed.
In a second it would have darted
round the street turning and been lost
in the labyrinths circling Chatham
Square. The officer leaps upon the
running board. He thrusts a revolver
above the opened window. The two
men offer no resistance. The fright
ened driver applies the brakes The
other agents climb on. They look
about. On the floor of the cab are
two large sugar sacks, filled with
opium. One hundred and two pounds.
Worth over s2otooo. More Important,
the evidence needed to arrest the
plotters and check their further
machinations. For which we must
give much praise to Willie.
The detectives glance about fdr
their hero. He is not to be found.
But blocks away a light-haired boy,
puffing, panting, possessing all the
fervor that comes with seventeen, is
pursuing a black-haired Italian Inc -
porter. The Italian’s legs are long
bis enduraao* greater; finally he
fc
dashes Into a maze of traffic, and
when the youth , arrives has disap
-4 eared. • Other detectives catch him
next day. Federal authorities cable
the American consul at Havana,
where the twenty cases of opium
were consigned, to open the boxes on
arrival. The order Is executed. The
cases are found to hold not the drug
/ 1 ’
Law Offers Obstacles
To Rebuilding Verdun
PARIS, May 16.
VERDUN during the war was one
of the most remarkable be
sieged cities the world ever
saw. After four years of peace
It seems likely to remain for a long
time, if not for ever, the most remark
able war ruin that the world can see.
It may be impossible to rebuild it, al
though its inhabitants have come back
and are doing theia best.
Verdun before the war was the gate
of France on the side of Alsace-Lor
raine. where the German armies were
massed against it. It was defended by
a chain of forts and against these the
utmost strength of the Invader rolled
up again and again for the whole four
years of war. A few hundred Greeks
died to hold the Pass of Thermopylae—
and 400,000 French soldiers were killed
around Verdun to hold back the in
vaders. “They shall not pass’’ was the
war-cry. and they did not pass, even
over their dead bodies, into France.
Now the question is how many of the
21.701 inhabitants of Verdun when war
began will be able to live again in
homes that shall be rebuilt. And. it
may be added, how many of the 78,493
inhabitants of the “arrondissement,” or
county of Verdun, who depended on the
life of their city will be able to rebuild
their houses again and earn their liv
ing?
An assistant pastor of Plymouth
Church who sat beside me at one of
our Paris press lunches gave me this
good advice: "'When you write for
American papers do not say ’repara
tions.’ Say ’rebuilding expenses.’ We
In America sometimes get the idea that
reparation means war expenses and not
mere necessary reconstruction.’’
♦♦ ♦ ♦
ro I will say that all the difficulty of
getting the population of Verdun
on their feet again Is only a question of
getting reparations money for rebuild
ing the city, so ftiat its people may
earn tljeir Hying by their industry. The
inhabitants of the city and of what
were prosperous farming villages be
fore the ruin came on them have used
up the little means they had left. The
French government has borrowed from
its own people all that it dared in order
to advance the needed money while
waiting for Germany to pay repara
tions. But a great difficulty has arisen.
Before the war the 21,701 inhabi
tants of Verdun proper—‘that is, the
city—lived largely from the perma
nent garrison of 30,000 soldiers.
This place was the key to France, as
the war proved, and there was an
infantry division with a brigade and
five regiments; there was a battalion
#
. - ./ . • ,
sent from Greece, but brick and stone
chopped from the foundation of the
New York warehouse in which they
had rested. The remainder of the
opium was recovered; the smugglers
ordered to jail a few days ago.
It is the duty of a historian to b«
just and impartial; he must not strive
to conceal a fault in the characters of
which he writes. All boy detectives
of fiction possess generous freckles;
the chronicler, as he chatted In the
customhouse w’ith the boy detective
of fact, scrutinized scrupulously, and
could find not one.
1 of foot chasseurs, a brigade with two
regiments of hussars, two artillery
regiments, an engineer battalion and
■ another infantry regiment of the re
> serve. They were just enough to
hold out against ,the first overwhelm
ing attack until French army after
army came to set up their wall of
human breasts in defense of their
country.
** * *
fIpODAY Alsace and Lorraine are
JL again French, and Verdun is far
inland, far from any future frontier
of war and invasion. Its whole gar
rison and that of what is left of the
demolished forts is only a few In
fantry squads and two, artillery bat
teries, more for the care taking of
military property and cleaning up
than anything else. These few hun
dred soldiers have no wants that will
keep up again the commerce and in
dustry of a city of 20,000 inhabitants.
Then the bombardments year after
year have made much farming of the
surrounding hills all but impossible.
Earth has been blown and scraped
from the slopes, and what is left In
many spots is thickly sown with
rusting scrap iron of war that all but
prevents even hand cultivation. Still,
the farmers who have returned are
growing crops of wheat and other
grain that are amazing under the
I circumstances.
The present trouble is to find some
industry that will give work and
well being to the inhabitants of the
town. They are willing to change all
their pre-war habits, and they ask
only that they may be enabled to re
build in away that may bring new
industry Into Verdun. Their city
would naturally be the center of la-i
bor and commerce for all the sur
rounding country. But to do this
they should be able to use their re- •
construction money for new kinds
‘ of buildings fitted for the new in
dustries, and not the same as the old
| buildings for a garrison town. Now
, the reparations law is, or threatens
’ to be; “You can have the necessary
. money for rebuilding your houses
, which were destroyed, but they must
. be the same kind of houses.”
So Verdun has its own little corner
. of the reparations problem to solve.
. Its citizens wished to use ths money
to which they have a right for ro
‘ building their houses on factory
• buildings that would employ 10.000
I workmen and restore business life In
their community. And now they are
told the law or treaty may not per-
I mit it.
II STERLING HEIUQ.
r
5