Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 266, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 November 1912 — HAPPENINGS IN THE CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HAPPENINGS IN THE CITIES

One New York Policemans Devotion to Duty

NEW YORK.—A new form of torture for policemen, more sinister than graft investigations, more painful than winter wind whipping around a fixed post, and possessed of possibilities as deadly as the burglar’s bullet, was put to the test on placid Washington Heights the other night and described in Harlem court the other morning by a red faced young policeman. Facing the victim —Policeman Geiger of the Weßt One Hundred and Fiftysecond street station—as he told Magistrate House about it, was a handsome, dark haired woman, who frequently blushed and * murmured “Impossible! Oh, I cqwdn’t have done that!” / ‘‘Yes, your honor, she kissed me," stammered Geiger. “Right out in the middle of Amsterdam avenue at One Hundred and Fortieth street she kissed me, and there’s nothing in the manual that says part of a. policeman’s

duty is being kißsed by strangers.” “Couldn’t you have escaped if you didn’t like It?” asked ths court. "I was on fixed post, your honor,” groaned the youthful guardian of the peace. “Oh,” said his honor, “that’s devotion to duty!” “Yeß, sir; it was like this. I was standing there all alone about 1:30, wondering where all the people were. Suddenly some one grabs me from behind and two strong arms are wrapped around my neck. The first thing I thought, of course, was ‘gangsters!’ It It seemed whoever it was was trying to garrote _ me and I started to fight for my life. “But I couldn’t shake off those powerful arms. The best I could do was to squirm around so that I faced the —the —er —the assailant And, your honor, it was this lady. “Then she kissed me,and that’s not the worst of it, for by this time a big crowd had collected and women were yelling and men were shouting.” Mrs. Margaret Hoeflatt, who said she was 30 and lived at 1071 Freeman street, the Bronx, smiled sweetly but incredulously as she paid a ten dollar fine. She said Geiger looked like a truthful young officer, and she wouldn’t dispute his word, though she didn’t remember a thing about it. ,