The morning times., 1896-12-06
TIE OLDEST DETECTIVE.
ture OF a Trusted Servant Who
Had Been Steahng for Years.


Theft of an Ovescoat Led to the Cap i
ture OF Trusted Servant Who
Had Been Steahng for Years.
The Oldest Detective had come to be |
regarded as regular customer by those
who frequented Mrs.f Joe's. They looked !
upon him much in the aame manner asthey |
did the Capitol andthe Corcoran Building, !
and the doOrkecper sup at police head
quarters. These had all been in their
respective places as far back as the
memory of man extended and there seems !
to be every prospect that they will re-
main when the present generation has !
been mentioned in the obituary column |
and then forgotten.
Everybody knew 1t was exactly O'Clock
when the y. ID. dropped in FOR MS morn
ing nip OF hot Scotch and copy of the
mail edition, which some OF the newspaper
boys were sure to have in their pocket.
Tne o. ID. had done this every morning
since long before they began work on the
Monumental least, SO Banty said, and
there was no one to dispute him.
Mrs. Joe liked the o. ID. because he
spua yarns to her boys, to which they
always pretended not To listen, but which
invariably appeared next sunday in the
papers. Mrs. Joe liked anybody who
amused her boys, and then, besides. 1t
made trade good for good story always
needs something to wash 1T down.
The o. ID. never grew offended IL some
one went to sleep in the middle of an eN-
citing tale of how he captured famous
bank burglar or noted hotel sneak. He
simply purfed hard ON the big black pipe
that always rested when not in service
behind the picture of Washington cross
ing the Delaware which hung over the
mantlepiecc. He knew very well that
there were Others VINO were listening and
scribbling notes on the edge of their cuff
when nobody was looking. The .. d. was
well up in the tricks of the reporters, and
! really felt hurt il you betrayed too much
interest.
GOOD PLACE TO TELL STORIES.
There is something about Mrs. Joe's,
| certain atmosphere you might call 1t, which
| gives q story told there flavor 1t gains
| no where else. Perhaps 1t is the people
| who go there. An open fire and pipe
and big brown stein with the froth
creeping out over the top are always
supposed to go with stUry-that Is, Il
| good story-and you get all df those things
| down there.
Or again. perhaps 1t is the time You
| really couldn't pick out a better time in
| the whole twent y-:our hours. but then, not
| many people would get up at O'Clock in
| the morning to hear story. With the
| night workers, though, it's different. 1t
is play time with them when the city is
| so still you can hear the policeman walk
| ing before he turns the corner, or the cats
fighting on the back fence in the rear of
| the square beg yond
The streets stretch out broad and white
| and deserteG-lookng as far as the eye can
see. The electric lights blink in ghostly
whiteness on the corners and dwindle away
| in long perspectiTes on either side There
is something solemn and awesome about the
night then. The buildings loom up frown-
| ingly all about; men instinctiveiy draw
closer to each other as they pass: the mys-
terry of tbe night pervades everything, and
you ponder over the whyfore OF things In
general and talk in undertoncs about life
| on the transmigratien of sonls or the latest
prize fight, ifyou happen to be going home
with the sporting editor.
All this, however, is before the cables
start and the milk wagons begin to rum
BILE and the "hot lhominy'' man comes
round. Who could tell story when such
things are up and moving and every sen-
tence is punctuatedi with blast from the
garbage mans horn.
HIS NIGHT OFF.
Banty and Hutchinson came down early
the other morning. II was Hutch's night
off. but OF course he had done nothing but
loaf around the shop all night to guy .he
Others because they had to work The
|
honor his request for pass to the theatcr,
and when Hutch had treated the door
keeper to drink and then failed to get
in it had made him sore and he had kept
right on patroniziDg the bar.
Banty had sncaked away an hour sooner
than the rules allowed in order to escape
an early copy assignment for that after
noon. The pair had appropriated the
little square table against the wall oppo
site the fireplace and from the number
OF empty dishes, 1T was evident that pay
day still lowered in the near past.
Banty had stolen the exchange file from
the LEGAL room at the office and was run
ming through lot OF Western papers and
disEustedly commenting on everything in
them, from the double loaded stories about
1.-The defeated candidate" to the latest
society items from Red Gulch. Hutch
had been irving vainly for half houl
to make six toothpicSs into a mat. He
finally gave it up as bad job and turned
his attention TO the sugar bowl as field
presenting larger possibilities for amuse
ment. For fifteen minutes he worked
patiently to fit two Jumps of sugar to-
gcther with mathematical accuracy. Then
he poured bcnedictine over them and
i touched it with the end of his cigarette
} and laughed in maudlin glee when Mrs
Joe screamed at the Pickering blue famt
J which shot up in the air and made rusl
D for the water cooler.
THE LOST ovERCoAT.
q The cigarette smoke hung thick ant
heavy above the table, and when the doc,
from the street opened the cold air swirleG
it UP to the ceiling and spun 1t alon,
against the plastcring until it finally sepa
rated into little tumbling wreaths ant
vanished. Tue o. d. closed the doc
e carefully behind him as married men dc
and then glanced toward Hutc hinsol
, sprawlcd out over the table. He smile.
at Mrs. Joe and backed up against tn
fireplace and winked knowingly over tn
top of the paper at Banty.
Hutch Off last night he said and thel
smiled again as Banty nodded. 'Lquo
will be the death of him, Mrs. joe, yo
had better give me one of those no
Scotches: it's right nipping outside thi
morning."
The o. ID. slipped his Scotches. CRITICAL
holding it up to the light from time to tim
and looking at it lovingly. Banty read o
mutteringly, now and then emphasizing hi
opinion of the stories with a remark d
rected at no one in particular. Finally h
broke out with an oath, and threw til
paper On the floor.
'Thedope-eating, ,absinthe- -frapped Frisc
reporter who wrote that screed ought t
be fired out Of the shop and given a pas
straight through " the lower regions !" h
said.
What 'tis?" echoed the o. d.
why, he's got story here that tell
how gang of swindlers We're unearthe
all because of a pin.i You see, they ha
been beating everybody and the cor
couldn't get down to pem, but one DAY
woman who was I'M the gang had lot {
papers pinned into her dress. The pape
gave the whole thing away, and he sa,
that one day while she was out walkir
the pin came loose and the papers dropp,