The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1896-07-08


fore starting, and even Maud seemed
only anxious for the monkeys health.
After tramping through three or four
miles of streets I experienced what at
first I regarded as unexpected good
luck. The brute came tearing round a
corner, and in second he was in the
butterfly net. I was just preparing to
return, elated that the run had been so
numerically cut short, when a crowd
also came round the corner, headed by
an angry and breathless Italian. Isoon
discovered the connection of events.
The Italian could not speak much Eng
lish, but 1 gathered that he claimed
JACKIE as his monkey, his carrissimo
monkey. The crowd, who had become
excited in the chase, and who imag-
ined that was attempting to cheat
poor, ignorant foreigner out of his only
solace in a strange land, demanded that
I should give the monkey up. The
vision of Maud's face, if the scared ami
NAL spent the night in the possession OF
an untrustworthy Italian, rose before
my eyes, and distinctively declined to
rclinquish Jacko.
SIN the course of conversation with
the crowd lost my temper and COLI
siderable portion of my clothes, and
by the time that policeman arrived l
suppose my appearance did justify him
in conveying JACKIE, the Italian and me
to the police station. There I spent a
most miserable night. My utmost en-
treaties failed to induce the police 20
send to Mrs. Tremaine to bail me out.
7 think their malevolence was prompted
by the policeman who had been so rude
ly interrupted in his tryst with the
cook.
''In the morning we appeared before
his worship. The Italian and 1 were
charged with creating a disturbance
and assaults, and breaches of the peace
and that kind of thing, and, as far as
I remember, the police threw in =
charge of drunk and disorderly against
me. His worship asked to see the mon
key, and, when they brought him in,
10 and behold! there were two Jackos.
"After some explanation the magis-
trate dismissed the charges against us
with a caution, on the ground of ex-
cusable mistake. And, indeed, it was
most excusable. Apparently the Ital-
ian had really lost his monkey, and
whether it was his monkey or Jacleo
that he had been pursuing when I en-
countered it I do not know to this day.
At all events, the police had captured
the other monkey during the night and
had shut the two up together. There
they sat. two ugly, grinning, indistin-
guishable creatures, both guilty, ac-
cording to the evidence, of aggravated
assaults on the police.
"When we were released from tn.
dock the magistrate asked us to re-
move the monkeys. The Italian and
stared at each other blankly. He knew
no more than which was his property.
Of course, it was useless to consult the
police about their identity. AS the mag
istrate pointed out, there is no pre-
sumption either in law or in fact as to
the ownership of two stray monkeys.
1 appealed to him to decide the question
himself, and he pointed out that it was
the duty of the police to restore proper
ty to it's owners. He said that he was
not Solomon, but only a police magis-
trate, and that he doubted whether even
the house of lords could throw much
light on the subject. The matter, he
thought, was eminently one to be set
tied out of court.
cat first tried to solve the difficulty
by buying out the Italians claim to
either of the monkeys, with the idea OF
sorting them afterward. But he, also,
it appeared, had romantic attachment
for his carrissimo monkey, and he de-
clined my overtures with fervent ap
peals to most of the saints on the reg
lister. The whole thing. he seemed to
think, was base attempt on the part of
a foreign brutal government to trample
on the rights of an Italian citizen and
to consign his monkey to the dungeons
of the Zoo. Then I offered him his
choice of the two, and this might have
saved all trouble if Mrs. Tremaine had
not arrived at that moment to inquire
for JACKIE and had not learned the whole
affair from communicative inspector.
Neither JACKIE nor the alleged Jacko
showed the faintest signs of recognition.
Indeed, they almost at once devoted
themselves to sanguinary fight, in
which Mrs. Tremaine interviewed with
considerable injury to herself. Then
she turned to me, and I could see from
her manneY that she considered me re-
sponsible for the whole difficulty. For
quarter of an hour had a really lively
time. Mrs. Tremaine hectored the Ital-
ian, and the Italian objurgated Mrs. Ire
maine. Neither of them understood
word that the other said, and had 10
act as interpreter and buffer.
Eventually, I made the best terms
that could. The Italian agreed, for {.
to allow us to keen both