Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 302, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1912 — Woe for Messenger; “Cute Puppy” Was a Skunk [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Woe for Messenger; “Cute Puppy” Was a Skunk

CHICAGO. —Jimmy Malbaum, special delivery messenger, has been banished in disgrace from the federal building. It isn’t Jimmy’s personality that’s wrong—he is, or was, of a lovable and energetic disposition; It’s something else. Jimmy’s exile dates from the time toe went to the town of Jefferson with a special delivery letter. Trippiing merrily along, Jimmy’s eyes fell on a cute little black and white puppy crouched on the sidewalk. Across Jimmy’s mind flashed the idea that he would corral that “pup" in his mail hag and take it home. He took after the animal. The chase finally wound up in a nearby thicket. Jimmy gave up after a full five minutes’ endeavor. Disappointed, he went back to the car line. A car happened along, and Jimmy hoarded:

The conductor clanged the bell for a start and then clanged still harder for a stop. "Hi, you’ll have to get on the front platform,” he yelled to Jimmy. Jimmy went. / The motorman took one whiff and then stopped* the car. “Say, kid, if youse wants to ride on this boat board the fender. I can’t stand the gaff,” the knight of the controller shouted. hJ “Say, take this bundle out,” a mail clerk told Jimmy as soon as he landed, white the other employees scurried for windows. As luck happened, the bundle of specials was for the hotel run. The first stop was the Palmer house. Jimmy had hardly landed when the head clerk rushed for a telephone and called up the postoffice. “Say, do you want to drive all our patrons out?" he yelled through' the transmitter. “This kid is awful." That finished Jimmy. Another delivery boy met him on the comer outside the building and relieved him of his letters. In explanation it might be said —and reliably—that the "puppy" Jimmy tried to catch was of the genus spilogale—otherwise a skunk.