Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 112, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 September 1904 — HOW TO SCARE FOOTPADS. [ARTICLE]

HOW TO SCARE FOOTPADS.

Just Clink a Silver Half Dollar Against a Button. A friend of mine tells me how he once fooled a couple of footpads. He was going home at a late hour of night when he noticed a man walking in the same direction a few rods ahead of him. His suspicion was excited by the fact that the man had not been there a moment before, and that there was no house ln k that block for him to have come from. He concluded that the man must have come from behind a tree. This suspicion was increased to something like certainty when he suddenly discovered that another man was walking behind him. As they approached the middle of the open block —an excellent place for a hold-up—the man In front walked more slowly while the one behind quickened his pace. My friend was pretty thoroughly frightened by the conviction that they were closing In on him with criminal intent. His first thought was to seek safety in flight, but pride on the one hand and fear of being caught by them on the other prevented him from doing this. Then, in his extremity, a brilliant idea struck him. He was utterly unarmed, having not so much'as a pocketknife about him, but he took a silver half-dollar from bis pocket, tapped It twice in quick succession on one of bls bone cont-buttons, producing a sound similar to the cocking of a pistol, and, turning suddenly, pointed his finger at the man behind him, saying: “I’ll give you one minute to get out of range.” The man Instantly took to his heels, shouting as he did so: “Run, Bill! He’s got a gun.” The fact that the other man immediately ran away in an opposite direction convinced my friend that he had made no mistake in guessing them to be footpads.—-Brooklyn Eagle. A politician roosts on the fence because there are voters on both sides of it. Truth is certainly stranger than fiction to many