Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 268, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 November 1918 — A False Alarm [ARTICLE]

A False Alarm

•I understand you had a burg tar I scare out your way," aa»d the city girt fl to her suburban friend, aa they I theutaelvei at the table in the fair-l room. "You order fur both of us, m> 1 dear, and then tell me about It 1 I beard JuM a little from Mrs. Dressier, wbotu 1 saw just a moment fester A day.” * - • “We’re always been on t j lookout for thieve* and tramps and things," began the friend, when tb waitress j had turned away. "You see, our au- I burb is on the trolley line and there- . tore very convenient for visitors from town. Then, too, Mrs. Sanborn saw a man climbing oat of somebody’s hitch•n window last month, and that made us nervous. They say now that It was Mrs. Sanborn’s oldest boy getting I cookies without rousing the maid, but | you never can tell! The mere rumor 1 baa ns all nervous, because you do read of such dreadful things. 1 ' i -You haven’t many policemen,' either, have you?" | '*We have one,” the suburbanita de j dared with spirit "And he’s as good J as most police forces, even If he Is I old. He was the policeman when S' J was a child, and I suppose he will be j as long as he lives. He .knows everybody, and it is rather a good thing to i have an old resident on the force." "He might be a little slow getting | after a burglar." "Oh, no, he has a bicycle. Burglars usually keep to tbs roads, don’t they, pa account of trying to flip ears and , SO 0»T" don’t know. My acq-oinaanos Is limited." " j " anyway," continued the 1 i some pf up felt that weren’t a real br ‘enterprising tpwn without such ex* pitement) yrejren’t even suspicious pf the pan whep h* came wound asking ft»r fophf*' ■:.. gracious Did yon believe him?" rwhy, F ben he cams to our house mpther had him fix some screens and J sweep put the cellar and do a lot of I little things that ws always are glad to have somebody else do. We don’t j keep a man ourselves, and we are al ways pleased to get th* odd Jebs done. The worst of It was that on th* | strength of it pur next door iieighbot, Hr*. Dravo, hired him to do a good many things for her. She wasn’t con- _ tent grUh jmtdoor and cellar work, but Ukefl him pp poach that she let him yrorh wpstalf*. And part of the time toeyp wasn’t enybody watching Mm. She fdld she never thought of such a thing as his stealing. She said tt Just jrant to show how you could not judge anybody by his looks. A nice looking man fa almost sure to turn ont to be Up work, put about two hours after she had paid him and he had gone, she camp running over to our house to ask what he had taken from ns. Mrs. prove reported that the man had .walked off with a pair of Mr. Dravo’s - rouaera, the pair he had paid the most or, of ourse, and Mrs. Dravo had. siphoned for the policeman." H should think yon had good reason to be excited. rWe did! Of course, It took us i - good while to find out whether he had faxsn anything from us,, but we ppul4n't find that tbprp a single thing missing.''My small brother was really very much disappointed, because be did »o want the honor of being "burgled," as bn called it. When • ike ppßosumn came we sent him off right awny to hunt up the man, who, pit coarse, had left town at once. We gave him a good description of the culprit and he brought in two in the next' hour that were the wrong ones. They were so mad, both of them, that Mrs. Drava had to pty them well to keep them from raving. "It took him S great.deal longer to find the right mho. but Just about dark M brought him to Mrs. Dravo’s. She wouldn’t let him in, bat they stood out on the porch and we all stood around watching him. He didn’t deny plaything except the trotisers. He said ha had woi’ced for Mrs. Dravo end without waiting for us to Identify him ho said right out that he had dene •ome odd jobs tor us.” » "Why. bow brasen of him!" "Didn’t |t seem so? A big crowd wm gathering and there was all sorts pf about doing things to the man frgnywff* he was to be made aa ex gmpls of to fpighten away other thieves. Then Mr. Dravo came ’ ome. jHe saw the crowd as he got off the fppUny and he ran across lota, thinktog bis house was on fire or something. The thief saw him coming, but he didn’t yun. In fact, he was more ppmpoeed t*ui Mrs. Drava w*s seen as her husband came peeler she gave a shriek and sat flat -* the steps. We aU thought she was dying, bat while one hoy ran tor the doctor and another tor n pall of water, afee managed to tell ns what' the |pg|j|p wee." -The thlf had stolen something Mm?” "No," sald the suburbanite, calmly "Mot Mr. Dravo was wearing the turn earn aha had thought were stolen." Practical Value. “Sea your college education been of any practical value to yon?"' -Ten bet It has! If it wasn’t for my experience In track atheletics rd have to leave my house five minutes earlier evary owning fa ortte to cetah the 7:fg," replied the oonuanter. s * | foyy tad knows haw to attend to