The evening times., 1896-10-14
TO HAVE sPAsMs
Mitchell Wood Is a Clever and
BesOlied COlOred "Vag."
STARTLED CAPITOL CROWDS
He Fell Down in tI.e ROtunda and
Sympathy Was at Once Excited.
and a Policeman Recognized the
Fellow as IA Chronic Mendicant.

A co!ored man, in tattered clothes ere
| ated a sceue in the rotunda of tie Capitol
yesterday afternoon. He ambled into the
| great circular apartment under the dome
| and after shifting uneasily from place To
| place finally took UP his position in the very
| center OF the rotun la
| The mausta Egere as though he wasunter
| the influence OF liquor and attracted the at
| tention of Capitol Policeman Joyce. A few
moments later the shabby fellow tumhled
| to the tiled floor He writhed and tumbied,
apparentIy in the paroxysm Of violent
| spasm.
He was removed to the outer air and
| placed i'll Il recumbent position under the
statue Of Columbus holding the globe aloft,
on the east portico. In the meantime Po-
liceman Joyce telephoned to Lieut.. Kelly's
| station for the patrol wagon
Pretty soon the wagon hove in sight,
the bIg bay hcrse being driven in gailop
by Driver Pat Fitzgerald. In the vehicle
| was Policeman Mansfield, who hurried up
the marble steps to where the man was
lying surrounded by a curiouscrowd. Mans
field glanced at the man, Then his face
overspread with grin.
PLAYED AN OLD TRICK.
The man is sick,'' said the Capitol
cop
Not at all replied the experienced
Mansfield He is shamming. This is an
| old trick OF his Had you waited until he
recovered from the feigned spasin, he would
have passed his hat around and taken up
a collection for whisky money TO keep up
his jag"
70, .I..n mr. 70 fit fipu1 Police
man Mansfield gave him hearty shake,
accompanied by the command.
Come, Wood. get Up out CT this, and go
to the station-housc. Your spasm game
won't go here, and you're drunk"
Mansfield knew his man. His name is
Mitchell Wood, and he has served many
terms for vagrancy in tie chain gang As
lie slowly rose upon his feet he said:
What is yer goin' ter charge me wid,
Mistah Mansfield"
"Vagrancy, plain, everyday vagrancy
YuI are an up-to-date, middle-of-tberoad
vag, and Judge Kimball won't do thing
10 you when You go before him."
After he had been booked at No. 8 as
Mitchell Wood, colored, fifty-three years
of age. and a yagraDt. Mansfield told him
he was going to put him in the coldest
cell in the station. as the frigidity would
be good Tor his fits.
Deed l don't care eff yer puts me in a
ice house an l freeze ter deth," said the
man. as he was led back to the prison.
The police say Mitchell Wood has orked
the spasm dodge for several years and
has made living by it, besides keeping
himself supplied with money for gin.
PROFITABLE SCHEME.
His method of making bogus spasms pay
is to have n confederate with him. and sud
denly fall with an assumed fit on crowded
thoroughfare. or at some public place where
a number OF people were assembled. As
he apparently recovered. his chum would
suggest that the poor fellow is peuniless
and hungry. and collectioI-s the result.
Woods former pal, Jim Green, is dead.
He also had a lengthy police record. Green
set himself up as the champion gin-drinker
i'll South Washington. One night after he
and Wood had enjoyed profitable day.
having collected pennies, nickels and dimes
from audiences that witnessed five or six
spectacular spasns. Green and Wood en-
tered an alley barber shop in the north west
section, and on a wager the former at
tempted to get outside of quart OF cheap
ptIlOu VI live hiihutts
He lost both the bet and his life. The
liquor quickly overcame him, and in an un-
| conscious state he was hurried 10 Freed
mans Hospital, where he was treated for
alcoholism. Green never recovered con-
| sciousness, and died in drunken stupor,
his bloated remains being placed in an un-
marked grave in potter's field.
Now Mitchell Wood has to work the
'spasm game single-handed He shaved off
his long, unkempt whiskers some time ago
as disguise, but the police of all the pre-
cincts know him, and his shaky dodge for
| deludiDg the kind-hearted. When arrested
yesterday he was pretty well filled with
liquor.
DISMISSED THE CASE.
In the police court this morning Mitchell
Wood was arraigned before Judge Kim.
ball. The lengthy vagrancy charge wa,
read to him by Clerk Potts, and Bailiff
Kendig sang out:
"You are charged with being vagrant;
| guilty or not guilty."
Guilty" promptly answered the pris-
oner, who knew his record was against him
Then followed an unusual happening
Judge Kimball dismissed the case, notwith-
standing Woods plea of guilty. Capitol
| Policeman Joyce testified as to the de-
| PENDANTS actions in the Capitol yesterday.
'Do you know this man" asked TIN
| court
| The Capitol special replied that he did
| not. The charge of vagrancy had been
| placed against him at the instigatiou OF
| the Sixth precinct police, who are well
acquainted with Wood and his drunken
methods. But by an oversight noue ol
the patrolmen from that precinct We're ip
court to testify against him.
| "You only saw him intoxicated yester
| day. One case of drunkenness does not
| constitute vagrancy. Case dismissed"
Uses Powder.
| "Didn't you tell me that Miss Design wa
an artist"