Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 149, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 July 1918 — TALES FROM BIG CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TALES FROM BIG CITIES

Boy, Look Up Present Address of Joe Mulhatton HAVANA, CUBA.— Natives of a small island off the west coast of Cuba were recently thrown into the highest pitch of excitement and terror when a gigantic animal of the dinosaurus or diplodocus species suddenly. ■ crawled forth from the sea and con*

tinned to make its slow and destructive way toward the principal village on the Island. The island is not more than 20 miles in circumference and is mostly given over to the- cultivation of grapefruit. The monstrous creature, described as being more than 60 feet in length, according to its Imprints in the soil over which it passed, and .weighing many tons, has been pronounced by scientists of this city to be a genuine

and probably the only living remnant of the gigantic reptilians that prevailed in the western part of the United States in prehistoric times, the bones of which are still being unearthed from, time to' time by scientists and archeological explorers. * , The monstrous specimen that has almost depopulated the island alluded to through hasty flight of scores of natives by small boats to a neighboring isle, broke down fences over which it crawled, knocked over small outbuildings, uprooted palm trees and cut big swaths through fields of crops. While it has been pronounced to be the only known living specimen of the thought-to-be-extinct giganticus amphlbl diplodocidae, so far as is known, and while it i..sappeared after crossing the narrowest point of the island, those who saw it and so far recovered from their fright as to be able to discuss it, declare that it was the most terrifying thing they have ever seen or wish to see again, and all agree that it had eyes that shone like searchlights, huge teeth and mustaches exactly like the kaiser’s. Its whinings and other noises as it passed over the Island were not as unnerving to the natives as was its mammoth size, which was awe-inspiring. Some of the natives declare they will never return to the island.

Minister Saved Money by “Dicker” With Footpad BIRMINGHAM, ALA. —A very interesting story came to light Sunday, when it was related that a very distinguished minister of the Methodist church, Dr. Plato Durham, had been held up by a young white man as he alighted

from a car and started toward the place where he was stopping, he having just returned from a session of the state Sunday school convention at the First Methodist church. The minister got off the car, and as he walked half a block away and the car vanished he was confronted by a man who thrust a cocked pistol against his stomach and demanded that his hands go up. ‘‘No, I won’t raise my hands. But what*do you want? There is no need

to shoot; just tell me what you want and I will give you anything that I have,” said Doctor Durham. “I want money, and I need it badly, and I am going to have it.” “Well, I have $9, a five and four ones, here,” replied Doctor Durham, “and I will give you the four and I will keep the five, for I am a Methodist minister, and you know that we preachers don’t have much money, so I think you ought to leave me the big’end of it. ’ “Well, I’ll be d ,” replied the amateur road agent; “ain’t this a of a business for'a white man to be .engaged in? Why, this is a nigger’s job; but I tell you I need money, and I need it bad, so give me the five and keep the four ones.” “No; I think you ought to leave me the biggest pile, for I am hard up, too,” replied the preacher ; “so here are the four ones, and I will keep the five-spot,” and he handed the nightman the four one-dollar notes. “All right,” said the unknown masked man; “but you won’t shoot as I walk away, or you won’t report this to the police, will you?” “No,” replied Dr. Plato Durham, and he has up to this hour kept his word.

Absent-Minded Governor Almost Got Stranger’s Hat NEW YORK. —Governor Whitman, at the meeting of the National Union at the Garden theater, didn’t know his own hat and sought to grab another man’s. And the two lids didn’t resemble each other in the least, for the

governor’s was of the stovepipe variety—tall and very shiny—and the other one was a derby. The governor, who was announced as the speaker of the-evening, came in while Isidore Hershfield was opening the meeting, and was ushered to the stage box, where his military secretary, who followed him, received his tall hat and his overcoat and carefully deposited them in a corner of the box. ' As soon as Mr. Hershfield finished, the governor was escorted to the plat-

form, where he spoke at length on the issues of the war and the Liberty loan.’ Pausing at length, he cast his eyes behind him. Though still under the spell of his own eloquence, he realized that he needed a hatpin order to go forth The man who sat at the right of the speakers’ rostrum held a likely appearing one in his hand. Calmly, abstractedly, the governor possessed himself of it. , The bereft man was a good sport and made no protest. But Mr. Hersnfield was not going to see a fellow member of the National Union —who, by the way, happened not to possess much hair —getting a cold in the head through losing his hat, even if it was to the man who had been introduced as “our great war governor.” So he tactfully thrust his hand forward, and Mr. Whitman, remembering that he ought to shake hands with the chairman, dropped the hat to do it. By this time the useful military secretary was on hand with the right lid and all was w>pll.

When Will Folks Recognize Boys Crave Excitement? ■ JOHNSTOWN, PA.—The two very young disciples of Diogenes whO-are looking —not for an honest man, but for the worst boy in'America —pausedintheir search to meditate on conditions here. The poor boys in Johnstown are held at

a disadvantage. The Y. M. C...A. will not take them in as members because they are afraid the. Had boys would make their boys bad. The young men of the church have been good enough to organize a Big Brothers’ club. Eut the Big Brothers try to make good boys out of them by teaching them a lot of the Bible at one time, so they have let the opportunity of a swim and other enjoyments go. A group of 12 organized a regular

boys’ club and called it the “Gut Gang” They found a cave in one of the many near-by bills, stole a few chairs and a table, arid then decided to take a few meals there, reports a correspondent of the Baltimore American. There would be no excitement In just asking their mothers for the meal, so they derided to get their own meals. They raided a few ice boxes, taking bread and butter and other things. ■ \ At one of these raids they trod on war gardens. It all ended when one of their bonfires caused a forest fire, and they were arrested. Their parents Paid Now, these boys are not bad, only young lovers of excitement If the juvenile officers would have a man take charge of them and use the same cave as a clubhouse, the boys would become better citizens. But the juvenile Segment and bwome more «««"•• “ « et “• The °“ c ' r ” have a regular job when the boys start in.