The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-07-31
STORIES FROM THE STREET
Queer Tale of a Young Man Who Fired
His Factory and Died of Remorsa.
Policemen yield Up" by Burglsrs-Beer-
Drinkersand the Gold Cure-Had Dated the
Petilion--lt Was Not the Ice Wagon.

factory. He was in business trouble; his
creditors would close down on HIM in a few
days. The amount of his insurance would
save him. He walked into his factory, to
the second floor. and lighted match on the
seat of his trousers, as be had seen the
laborer do. he did not make the same use
of il, however. In short time there was
an alarm of fire. The building was de-
stroyed. This led him out OF his
business trouble. but into another
one. One of the employees OF the
factory was not seen after the fire.
They raked over the ashes. but not bone
or a button was To be found. Every body
SAID that the fire was too hot; Billy had
been burned into ashes. Here was dark
cloud on the life of this young man. and
ne did not survive the struggle very long.
People said it was quick CONSUMPTION.
Shortly after the funeral Billy turned up.
People asked him why he LETT so soon after
the ire. He said that he had borrowed
some money of the boOk-keeper q few days
before, and he knew the ire had thrown
him out of job. Without saying any thing
about it he went to place where he could
get work. The wife of the young man was
a good deal interested in Biliy's return, but
il was too late.
"How did you get hold of all this" was
asked of the Judge. About the young tel
low watching the laborer and walking into
the factory, and ali thati"
well, you see." said the Judge, 81 mar
rled his widow, and women will talk"
+
THE last cases to 60 to the gold cures for
treatment for the alcoholic habit" re-
marked gentleman, "are the beer-drick-
ers. in fact, il is very seldom that q man
addicted to the beer habit 10 ever cured,
or ever undertakes to be cured. His de-
graduation Is even greater than that of the
whisky dnnker, because it takes SO much
more of the stuff to supply the alcoholic
craving. i believe it puts it's brand upon
him more plainly than whisky, his eyes are
blearier. his nose redder. his cheeks f1abbier.
he walks about on these hot days
the sun brings the beer stencil
TO the surface so that passers-by
give him wide berth. But recently there
ards. the most persistent guzzleTs this city
has ever known; fellows who. early In the
morning. have been seen time and again
walking along Washington street with an
old ffuit-can. into which they drained the
last drops from the kegs piled up on the
sidewalk. You could hardly recognize
these men now. There has been q complete
transformation. i met one of them yester-
day. who, for O dozen years, bas been o
marked character along Delaware street,
In the neigh borhood Of the courthouse.
His complexion is clear. his step steady,
the shakiness has departed from his hands,
he wears good clothes and is making liv-
ing legitimately. 1t is q most notable case
of reform. The other is a man who did not
go to a gold cure. He awoke one day thor
oughly convinced of the fact that he was
drunkard. No one supposed that he had q
remnant of will power left. He said to
himself: Pm not going to drink another
drop That was three months ago, and he
has not. He Is not the person one would
select as a hero. but TO do what he has done.
TO cure himself by thus exercising his will
IN he hrnh nat
1t is an old incident in police affairs, but
Is worth putting in print. 1t happened
years ago. when Captain Blank was ON off,
Ger under the old Metropolitan system.
Late one night he met the two patrolmen
on North Noble street. and soon saw three
men sitting or louDging in the shadow of
the corner grocery near by. Robberies and
burglafies had been frequent. 1t was
clearly the duty of the officers to investi-
gate the intentions aud character of the
stranger trio.
handed the Captain in severe official in
quiry.
Nothing particular was the reply.
Nv here do you liver
Don't know as that's any OF your bust
We'll. consider your5elf under arrest.
Patrolman Stuckey call the patrol wagon"
No use to do that" rane out the words,
and when the officers looked again each
was looking down the muzzle of big re-
yolyer. Throw ND your hands," was or
dered. No time was lost IN doing So Des-
peradoes of this sort hold q ''coDper's"
life at pins fee: Captain Blanks cane
was in his hand and pointed upward.
Hold your band up higher" was COM
handed. The officers stretched up on tip
toe. The suspense was terrifying. Patrol
man Stucky had visions of home and broke
the silence by calling out, Don't shoot me,
for Gods sake, Pm q man OF family"
Neither side felt like laughing al the lu-
dicrOus situation, as it now appears
When commanded to do so, the officers
tip-toed across the street with hands still
in air. Then suddenly the robbers turned
and ran, and had disappeared from view
before the. policemen recovered from their
trepidatIon. i
A pretty North-end woman, whose belle
of the kitchen suddenly gave notice and
quit the domain, found that her family
were still under the painful necessity of
having meals three times day. She was
unable to supply the place of the former
lacy In charge immediately, so she, being
accomplished In the culinary line, under
took the position herself. The day was
one of those torrid ones which swept the
country, and while her cellar is cool enough
TO keep milk and vegetables from spoiilng,
she theught this day she would have some
ice. Between baking. ling and stewing
she made frequent trips TO the
window 10 If she might
be so fortunate as to get sig ht of an Ice
wagon she could hail before dinner time.
1t happens that she 10 very near-sig GIFTED.
At a quarter past u. when all her neigh
bors seemed 10 be coming home to dinner,
she spied q wagon across the street ami she
hurried out to get her Ice. She called, ''Oh,
icenan. can you spare me o quarters worth
OF lee to-dayP A fat man. w no looked like
a German accustomed to good eating and
drinking, looked at her. but made no
answer. Thinking he might be O tritie deaf
she raised her voice and saluted him sec
ond time. To this he returned reply, pro-
foundly bowling "Oh, lady. haf holdings
gut hat holdings gut. | hat pad. L hat
no ice." 1t was the dead animal wagon.
=
The death of Judge Robinson, who was q
close friend of the late Judge New. recalls
that the latter's unbalanced mental con-
dition. to which his suicide was due, had
manifested itself TO attaches of the State
house for ceveral months previous to his
death. He imagined he could hear voices
IN his room, and sent for employees in care
of the building several times to come to
his room and explain why it was. They
would invariably be unable to hear what
Judge New said was plainly audible 10 him.
Finally, Tia Griffin, the custodian, learned
of the difficulty, and responded to the
Judges call himself. He could hear moth
ing, but In order 10 relieve the Judges
mind he said: