Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1919 — Page 3

HAPPENINGS in the CITIES

Bert and Bertha Spring a Surprise on the Police f”' !•■• ■ ■ ' * • * ‘ _ *. '—— ST. LOUlS.—Somebody became suspicious of Bert Schmidt.- He was reported to the police as a provable German spy. The police looked him up and found that he was a young fellow of twenty-three,-living, with a wife

to whom he was married October 12 by a justice of the peace. The Schmidt establishment, looked all right W the police, but they put Schmidt under arrest. The police were in for a surprise. At the police station Bert stoutly maintained that he was all right. He produced a registration card. He said he was a Hungarian by birth, but a good American and willing to do his bit. About this time it was discovered that

thougbßort might be a good American 7.7” ~7_: „ lie was an American woman, not an American man. Thereupon t e po ce became more interested In the woman phase of the case than, in the spy business. They arrested the “wife” and then held an informal, court to clear up the mystery. Policemen are just as curious as anybody else—in St. Louis $s elsewhere. , . ... „ . It was all very simple. There was no deep, dark mystery about It. Bert -wasn’t a German, spy. The informal court finally came to these conclusions: Bert’s name is Bertha Schmidt. • His wife’s name is Mary Ashate. They are natives Of Hungary and cousin?. ’ Bertha dressed as a man in order to get a man’s wages. Bertha apd Mary, lived together as man and wife to help along the deception. . The upshot of It was that Mary was released. Bertha, however, was held to the federal authorities on a charge of false registration.

“I Tried to Do My Duty as a Boy Scout, Mother”

SOUTH ORANGE. N. J.—The Boy. Scouts of America are pledged to “do a good turn dailv.” This “good turn” is done both to man and beast. It ranges from filling mother’s wood box to feeding a hungry dog. There is no

inflicting a wound that will probably prove fatal. Then it struck the young boy scout in the throat. Just before Gordon died in his mother’s arms he whispered to her: “I saw Pauline with the pistol and I tried to do my duty as a boy scout.” This is the spirit that has raised a vast army of Boy Scouts of America and has broken down every barrier of face and caste and creed. Of course 7 there is more to the boy scout movement than just doing a good turn daily. ’ Boy scouts camp out and explore and wigwag and extend first aid to the Injured and help in municipal and national movements and make themselves useful members of the community. The boy scout is loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty and brave—or at. least he tries to be. He stands for clean speech, clean habits, clean sport. Yet the boy scouj is in no danger of being made into an angelic boy. If he were, nobody would have any 'use for him and the movement would have died long ago. “I tried to do my duty, as a boy scout*’ should be carved on the tombstone of Gordon Seyfried.

Her Fur Coat and a Handsome but Stingy Motorist

BROOKLYN. —They were evidently very close friends, and when they met on a Gates avenue car they had a whole lot of important news t« exchange. A new ifufr coat that “one of them had on afforded conversation

for 12 blocks. “I’m taking it to the furrier’s to have it repaired,” said the owner; “it’s jyst in awful shape.” “Why, you only bought it last week,” said her chum. “Yes, I know, dearie, but a most terrible thing happened to it yesterday. It made me so nervous that I_ haven't stopped twitching yet.” “You see, I was crossing the street near my house,..and I had the coat over ray arm. Along came a limousine with an Adonis at the wheel, at 40 miles an

hour It just grazed yours truly. The coat disappeared under the machine I screamed and the man stopped his car and jumped out. He picked up the coat 'made a low bow and without a word, laid it across my arm. “Then he took a big roll of bills from his pocket, selected one, pushed It into ray hand with another bow, and was at the wheel and away down the street before I could say ‘Jack Robinson.’ ” a “Didn’t you get his number?” '** “No. You see, my dear, by the time I got my lorgnette adjusted he was so far away I couldn’t even see the color of the car. When I had partly recovered, I looked at the bill in my hand. How much do you suppose It was?” “A hundred at least.” “A hundred nothing! It was just a mean little measly old five dollars. I couldrih: believe that a good-looking chap could be such a mean scamp. “I am sure the repairs on the coat will be sixty or sevehty-five, and Doctss Smooth’s bill for ironing out ihy nerves will’ be another fifty. Awful, tsn’dftriear?” ' . '' • «

“Come Across, Boys, for a New Police Flivver”

CHICAGO. —Don’t be surprised if you should,,have a man share a tin can under your iyjse and “Come across, noys; this is tag day io buy a new flivver for the detective bureau.” The old car, which has seen 11 years'

90 miles-an hour was . put in “Unser FHtz” to chase automobile bandits. For the last three years “Unser Fritz” has tafcen part ip more thrilling big incidents than all the cars in town put together. There hasn’t been an exciting chase or a “big pinch” of recent years that ••Unser Fritz” wasn’t on the job. „ <~4 ’. But ihe once stout frame is disintegrating. A board is now used for a 'wind shield. The top is gone, and when the bureau sleuths dash out on fl charge they are compelled to wrap newspapers inside of their coats to keep from freezing. . " “Unser Fritz,” they say, is a disgrace to the city. 7 ? AU unk man who know WHS the official thief chaser “offered $7 for It* and Mooney told bin he could have ft Qn, examining the relie the junk man reneged. Now the sleuths want Chief Garrity to give them permission to have A teg day to raise furida for a new car. j,? ■

limit to its scope. Gordon Seyfried, a boy scout twelve years old, ran up against something new In the way of doing his daily gocd turn. He foutfft his mother’s maid in the act of shooting herself. Gordon saw his chance to do a good turn. It was not only his chance but his duty, as he saw it. So he tried to tear the revolver from the maid’s hand. The revolver was discharged. The bullet passed through the maid’s body.

service* is demobilizing. It has made nearly 200,000 miles in chasing bank and auto bandits, been shot full of holes, and has teen in several wrecks. In honor of its first owner, the late Mayor Busse, it was christened “Unser Fritz” When it'was wished on the detective bureau. Chief- Mooney said a bureau flivver ought to have an alias, sb it also is. known as “Mary Ann,” alias “Chicago Bed,” alias “Disorderly Conduct.” A new engine guaranteed to make

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

President Wilson, during hts European trip, will visit Carlisle. England, where his mother spent her girlhood. The photograph shows Carlisle castle, width dates back tp the Roman days. ...»•: -

LIFE UNDER HUN WAS LIVING HELL

Englishman Tells of Four Years in Bruges During Occupation. CRUELTY OF KULTUR RULE Determined Efforts by German Officers to Break Spirit of Belgian Residents Prove Futile—Fined Indiscriminately. London, —Life under ‘the German heel is vividly portrayed in the diary of Mr. Humphrey Page, an Englishman who lived four years In Bruges during the German occupation. Events nre recorded showing determined attempts by the German officers to break the spirit of the Belgian residents proved futile. The ramifications of kulfur=TUle also are shown. Here are some of the events, sketchily told: Tn September, 1916, the Bruges city council was directed to find a specified number of workmen for the Germans under penalty of $25,000 fine for each day’s delay. All who refused to work were imprisoned. M., Schrauvune, leading attorney, discussing this affair with Belgians in a case, said he would not work for the Germans, and considered Belgians who did as cowards. The next day the attorney was summoned before the German commander, fined $750, sent to Sedan for six months’ hard labor, but never was returned. ’ There were all sorts of petty tyranny. French and English, advertisements op buildings had to be removed. Even printed funeral notices Id French were forbidden. Ban on King’s Picture. No resident over ten years old was allowed to be in the streets without a passport containing his photo. It was a punishable offense to exhibit portraits of the Belgian king and queen. German officers, stood at church doors to confiscate coins, worn as brooches or lockets, bearing the likeness of tlfe Belgian king. Nowiflwas allowed to be on the streets after 8 p.' m. Occasionally, when the whole town was punished for some alleged offense, every resident had to remain indoors after 6 p. m., an especial hardship for the poor in summertime. One of the sources of income to the ■German overlords was fines inflicted on persons whose watches or clocks kept Belgian time, instead of German, as ordered by the kaiser. An officer sent to inspect the convent of St. Andre, a girls’ school, reported that the sister who showed him around had a wrist watch showing Belgian time. The sister was fined $250. A Grand Place shopkeeper was Imprisoned thAe mouths for telling an officer Belgian instead of German time. With gje beginning of 1917 prices of all commoditieg soared. A pound of starch cost $2.50, an ordinary candle 60 cents, ordinary shoes sls to

STRONG FOR MASCOTS

Yank Soldiers Even “Adopt” French Youths. Doughboys'. Pets Range in Variety From Canary Birds to Donkeys. p ar lu.—The American soldier’s wellknown penchant for mascots, as exemnlified during the Inst year by the importation into France of an Innumerable variety of pets ranging from canary birds to donkeys. reached f .|ts zenith on this side of the water—and almost got him into trouble. For several months French boys were reported missing from their homes and from public orphanages, investigation disclosed that most of ranging In from ten to fifteen, were the mascots of units of American soldiers. They waro found, comfortably established

WILSON TO VISIT MOTHER’S GIRLHOOD HOME

S2O a pair, re-soling same $3. while dress goods and flannels became so expensive only the wealthy could buy. Food supplies were unsatisfactory and the Germans did nothing to alleviate them. In November, 1917, metals of all sorts, especially brass and copper, were confiscated, German soldiers going from house to house and building to building to strip away the metal. Uses Funeral for Propaganda. On February 2, 1917, some German planes dropped bombs by tpistakc on Bruges, Von Buttlar, commandant, decided the funeral of the victims could be utilized for propaganda purposes. He got a wreath and a photographer, and whilb the mourners were about the grave, made them line up, put himselt-dn the center and had the scene recorded?' On September 3, 1917, allied airmen dropped bombs at the Bassin and were fired at from St. Croix. .Shells fell in Bruges, killing a dozen people. The German officers refused to allow funeral mass notices to be posted unless the line “killed by English shells” was added. The

DEVILISH TO LAST

German Atrocities Continue to the End. Retreating Huns Show Ingenuity In Devising, Infernal Machines. Wijh the British-American Armies. —German deviltry seemed to know no bounds in the last days of fighting on the British front, after the Hindenburg line had been shattered. They attached grenades to the bodies of dead Huns left behind in the German retreat, so that when the bodies were lifted the grenades exploded, killing or bounding the bearers. o j- Austra n an stretcher bearers were killed by these grenades in attempting to remove some German dead from the field from in front of an American machine-gun position. Thereafter, no Australian would put hand on a dead German. In some cases the bodies were dragged to their ‘burial places by means of a long rope, which allowed the stretcher bearers to keep out of range of any exploding hand gffchad.es. The Americans, on the other hand, hit upon a plan of making the German prisoners bury their own dead. In one Instance, a Boche prisoner was sumhiarily shot because he refused to remove the body of one of his dead companions. An examination of the body later led to the discovery that it was mined. The German was aware of this/fact and refused to touch it. In one small town evacuated by the Germans, many of the beds were found to be mined. An American offi-

in American barracks, living with the soldiers and receiving the consideration and regalement which befits the official mascot of a company of “les Americanes.” The practice started when' a few units annexed homeless French boys who happened around their camp. But the life was too at-, tractive to be confided to the home- ‘ less, and other French youths, living , with their parents or provided for in orphanages, deserted these homes to become American soldiers’ proteges. v At one aviation instruction center ten boys were found, each supported by an aviation squadron, which,- by way of tailor-made uniforms and other means, was trying to outdo the other in caring for their mascot. Most of these boys were going to school but— they 5 were smoking cigarettes. ■ General Pershing issued an order prohibiting the “adaption” of more boys and requiring that all those being maintained aa mascots be returned to their homes. £•

War’s End Brings Wave of Crime to Seattle

Seattle, Wash.—The end—of the war is bringing a wave of crime throughout the country, especially in this city, according to Chief of Police Joel Warren of Seattle. He says guryjijtn apd hundreds of other crlminaTk who have befti working in the’ shipyards and other essentia! war industries to avoid going to war are leaving their worlj for the easier life. The chief says the recent outbreak of crime here has verified Ills prediction made months ago that the end of the war would be followed by many infractions of the laws.

Belgians refused and the notices were torn down. Two Germans constructed bombproof cellars accommodating 200 to 1,000 persons each. While excavating they came upon 8,000 hidden bottles of wine belonging to M. Ganshof. The wine was taken without payment. The bomb-proofs were for Germans and people In small houses without cellars had to~ take their chances at night, although they could use the "public refuges’* in daytime.

cer, tired and worn by hard fighting, sought rest on a lounge in a room previously occupied by a-German officer. The lounge blew up and he was instantly killed. Another officer picked up a pair of field glasses, left by the Germans, and was adjusting the focus when the glasses exploded in his hands and blew away part of his face. The Huns had become adept in the nefarious business of making infernal machines, mines and time fuses, and tKere was scarcely an area where the electrical and engineering experts of the allies did not find some new form of their fiendish ingenuity.

EMULATES HORATIUS OF OLD

Chaplain Holds the Bridge as Bravely as Did Captain. Cleveland, O. —“Horatius at the Bridge” had nothing on Rev. James-M. Hanley of Cleveland, chaplain of a regiment in France. According to stories drifting back from the front, the chaplain was wounded while holding a bridge the Huns sought to take. As it is related here by friends of the former priest, a captain and a few soldiers were detailed to hold the bridge against heavy odds. The captain said it couldn’t be done without more men. “Why, I can hold that bridge with a club,” Hanley is said to have declared. “Then do it,” the captain answered as he hurried off for re-enforcements. The soldiers, inspired by the action of the chaplain, rallied around him and held the contested bridge until the captain returned with more men and made the bridge safe, ~

World’s Biggest Whistle Can Be Heard 12 Miles

Pittsburgh, Pa. —What is said •to be the largest whistle in the world has been placed on one the smokestacks of the Home-’ stead Steel works. The whistle, 200 feet above the ground, is five feet bong and one foot ip diameter and is connected with a three-inch steam pipe. It requires 150 pounds of steam to blow the whistle, which can be heard 12 miles.

Kisses at $35 Per.

Macon. Ga.—A. C. Freeman paid $35 for a kiss from Miss Hallie Manning and declared the dsculptlon was worth it Freeman apd an army officer bld for the kissing privilege and’the price was given to, the Limited Wa|L_ Work fund.

Fine teeth usually make broAd frina.

THE DOLT

By ARLINE A. MACDONALD.

(Copyright. 1W», by Mecluie ’ Syndicate.) . 1 If Richard Doe had not been a peor dolt he would never have been a good soldier. At least, so Richard himself exr, pressed it In a letter that Abe Walton,' the town clerk, received back home from “somewhere in-France.’*" ” The young soldier had been the recipient of a number of congratulatory missives consequent upon a published account of his acts of heroism and daring on the western front. And the youth had read them modestly and Lad penned a solitary reply to Abe Walton at Kensington, knowing that Abe would take it in turn to the respective villagers. And Abe did. Now young Doe had never borne an enviable name in <he village. Tall and handsome, he regularly joined the “hangers on” about the general store, working at nothing, and giving but , little promise of ever doing anything else. He made a fit subject for the gossips, of which there were many. Nevertheless, Richard Doe was alwaya conscious that he possessed certain latent qualities which ought to be made patent. They needed only a time “Of tiTaTtobring but~fheir grTf and pli- ~ ability. And the time came, and Ruth Walton was responsible for It. Ruth Was the only daughter of Abe Walton, *and a teacher in the village "school. She was a tall, slender girl, scarcely out of her teens, whose face was one of those quite as striking for its character as its beauty. She admired Doe, liked him for his sympathetic understanding of his fellow "human beings, his sense of the dramatic, his untrammeiedWlow" of words, which were the best perquisites of his friendship for a girl in her profession. Once he had reproved her for overdancing and had brusquely turned from Tom Whitney’s proffered cigarette case. It was at the supper table that Ruth had said: “Dick lacks the ‘pep’ that characterizes the-modern young man. He does not smoke, he does not dance. He’s too handsome to work. He’s a dolt.” One day, in desperation, Doe decided that he would force the attention of the-village upon his taleirt. He whiskered something into the ear ot Abe Walton, who had already given the youth a big corner in his own heart. The next morning he dropped quitly out of the village and the tongues of the gossips wagged furiously. Mrs. H , who never meddled with anyone’s affairs, reminded the neighbors that a year before she "had said that Richard Doe would disappear some day and would turn up later in a penitentiary. “As for Abe Walton,’’ she declared, “he has yielded his energy to the hypnotic Influence of tiiat loafer scalawag.” It was true that Doe’s departure gave Abe more energy. He quickly got a contract from a New York journalist for the erection of a pretentious stucco mansion on the knoll adjoining his own homestead. Time passed quickly at Kensington. June came and the robins piped their sweetest lay, and the odor of the rose and the honeysuckle stole through screened chamber windows. At the close of a balmy afternoon Ruth Walton sat alone in her own boudoir reading a war storywhich, appeared in .the newspaper. Suddenly she remembered that there was a dance that' evening in the pavlMon.She arose, rubbed her face, which seemed drawn and bloodless, and hastened below to prepare the evening meal. - v The dance had never seemed so pretty and overcrowded. Nell Whitney, in a flurry of excitement, made some complimentary remarks about Ruth’s dress. “Richard Doe is here,” she. said. “And oh. isn’t it dreadful, Ruth,” she gasped, “his left arm' has been shot off.'” This was too much for Ruth. In the ' stupor which almost held her brain in thrall she heard a faint “Where’*. Ruth?” as she tottered to the road that led to Kensington knoll. Her hands wavered; her knees shook at footsteps she knew only too well. 1 “Go! Go back, Richard 1” she screamed. “Forgive me. I can’t hear to look at you. Ypur armshe gasped. “It Isn’t as bad as you think, Ruth,” catching her arm and trying to comfort her. “See"’ ' ’ Deliberately he unbuttoned his frock, disclosing a whole arm suspended in a •ling. “Force pf habit,” he laughed as he buttoned his chat this time with Jhe arm outside. His joviality lapsed** her* to a steady calm. A thrill of pleasure surmounted her being as once again he took her hand. A fresh June zephyr swept the fragrant. pine across the knoll, where, sitting against the open sky, a stately mansion bathed in a flood of .silvery moonlight, A "It’s yours, Ruth. I did it for you,” he whispered. A solitary tear of Joy stood on the, cheek of the girl, who Md Jier face on the breast of the man who some months before she. had consigned to the scrap heap of character failures. Gently he lifted her Mad. pushed back her loose tresses from her faca and reverently kissed her. * Somewhere among the deeper shadows of a lilac bush a pair of eyesf overstrained and anxious, Mt up with eirtldIsh delight, and a middy face broadened into one protracted- smile. “Looks like there’ll be a wonderful big time in Kensington some said| Abe Walton. -■ - ■■■