Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1896-06-19
A BICYCLE THIEF.


abroad the report that l am in Switzer-
land, not for tho benefit Of my health,
but for the purpose Of stealing bicycles,
and they added that l was an expert
thief. and, for a time at least. / had
succeeded in battling the most praise
worthy attempts Of the police of two
towns to capture me.
While this statement is naturally fat
tering to me il is nevertheless a libel,
and, in fact, IL l cared to use strong
language I might go so far as to take
the last syllable away from the word
''hbel."
The whole trouble arose through
Switzerland not having n proper lan-
guago of it's own. that billy country pre-
ferrinR to express what few thoughts it
has in a mixture of French, German and
Italian, depending On what particular
canton you happen 10 be in. They say
that tho Swiss are natural linguists.
Unfortunately they are. Any combina-
ton Of sounds you may make means
something to any Swiss to whom you
happen to DO talking, for he knows SO
many languages that you are sure to hit
one Of them, and so you convey ideas to
him that you had NJ thought of express
ing.
October weather is lovely in Switzer-
land. Most Of the visitors have then
gone, prices come down one-half, and
the air is sweet and cool, with usually
a oloudless sky.
Under these circumstances l thought
il would DO a nice thing, as the roads
were good and the scenery picturesque,
TO take a bicycle tour right around Lake
Thun, beginning at the town which
gives the lake its name. going around
the north side Of the lake to Interlaken
and returning by the south shore.
The hotel keeper told mo that il l
went up the street, turned TO the right,
went under an arcade until / came to a
tunnel, penetrated hat and emerged on
another street, turned to the left and
kept on / would come to II shop OF a
man who would let me have a bicycle
on hire by tho day or the hour. l fol-
lowed the directions as closely as posi-
BILE and Thought 1 recognized the shop
because n bicycle was leaning again.t
the wall. The owner was leaning
against the doorway, looking at the BIZ
cycle outside. Tho following converse
ton In many languages took place be-
tween us;
"Haben sic IN bicyclette a louer?' ]
opened on him with the above impartial
mixture Of German and French. 1t
seems he understood me to ask il that
was his bicycle. whereupon he replied
in four languages:
"Ynw, yaw, oui, yes, Sc.
Then, throwing in "a bit Of Italian,
led of with:
"Quanta costa la machine a la hoor,
oder per tag?'
Now, / submit that to any educated
person, on even to a university man,
this sentence said as plainly as print,
"How much do you want for this ma
chine by the hour or the day." / tried
afterward to get the magistrate to see
this, but he, not knowing Italian, SHE'D
ut the very beginning Of the phrase.
The wner Of the bicycle on oath do
clares that he thought 1 asked how
much the bicycle had cost him. He say
that he answered he paid 800 francs fol
that brute Of a machine, made IL
France, while I understood him 70 agree
to let me have it for 8 francs a day
which was cheap. l was in a hurry Il
be of and was afraid he might repen
his offer, so l said it was all right, ant
l would take it, whereupon, withou
further parley, l wheeled the bicycl
into the middle of tho road, sprang OIL
its back and was of. leaving the aston
ished man standing by his door, to-
Al--1-Na.I- - nnn.,u 40 w.tul.n ~
outcry until l had pasged beyond hi
sight at the first turning @ the road.
pedaled serenely on, little realizing
what a commotion / had left behinI
me, and the one funny thing about thi
most regrettable episode is that / spen
an exceedingly quiet, peaceful and en-
joyable day, not knowing / was pursued
making no attempt 10 elude anybod.
and yet Gliding them in what appearel
afterward TO be by subtle and craft.
lodges. The magistrate could not b
persuaded that my sitting on the We
randa Of a restaurant in the main stree
Of Lnterlaken. with the bicycle in plai
view Of everybody, was not the brace
act Of a hardened criminal, who kneN
the police would be searching for hin
in the back streets.
When the man standing against tn
doorway had recovered partly from hi
nmazement at my sudden fight ON hi
machine, he rushed to the police static
and told the authorities there a plaus,
bio foreigner had engaged him in polit
OIlendorfan conversation, and, Will
his mind was distracted in trying 10 TO
low his remarks, had seized the oppoi
tunity and also the machine and was q
that moment making his way TO th
north road toward lnterlaken.
Now, capture under these circun
stances seemed to be d%elicionsly easy
There were no branching of roads. tn
mountains were ON ono side aud the lax
on the othor, on neither side OF whic
was bicycling practicable. Therefore a
the two policemen had TO do, when the
mounted their machines, was to rid
faster than / did, and 80 overtake ms
AS / had no idea that a race was on,