The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-15
Epistles to St. PAU.

Down in Iowa there Is one of those lit1le
telephone lines that is run by a small local
syndicate to give{ connection between neigh
boring towns" said-Bert Freely. "The syndi-
cate put the line up and the natives use ii
when they want ~, but there Is no money in
1t, and the line is in awful shape. The prin-
cpal stockholder In the line is also the line
man. and the. central girl and the whole
thing generally. A stranger visiting those
parts was driving along the line of the COM
pany, and he noticed that the poles were fall
ing about and the wire slack in places
that it almost touched the ground. At one
point in particular it was very low. and for
about a hundred feet or so there was piece
of barbed wire off fence cut into the line.
When the stranger got into town and met the
manager of the line he asked him about it.
'''What do you1want that length of barbed
wire in your line for?'
q" oh. yes, remember yawned the man
ager. yes. we put that in to keep the pesky
kids from swinging on the line
When the tip went out Sunday that there
was man who was chump enough to jump
off Wabasha street bridge and that he would
bring it off about A o'clock, Judge Flanagan
got the hint early in the game. He saw
George Henry across the street by the p ST.
Jim Nugent could not be far away. of course.
and he soon had the news. The three of the m
concluded that the tip was a good one and
the others were at once told by Nugent that
the only real way to see a man jump off the
bridge was to get down below it. That was
the only way he ever watched men jump
off the bridge, particularly the Wabasha street
bridge. Dick looked at him. for he generally
"coppers'' Jim's Ideas, but the proposition
looked all right, and they let Nugent lead
them down under the bridge after nice long
walk of about two miles in the hot sun. They
stayed there until o'clock and they tbs con-
ciuded that they had got the worst of 1t. and
proceeded to walk back up to Wahasha. The
only way to get under the bridge is to
jump down, or walk around by Eagle
street. or go ,the other way down
by Jackson. They were all pretty hot and
sore at each other when they got up to the
corner of Third and Wabasha, at about 5:27.
They looked over on the bridge and saw the
crowd of excited people. They stepped over
there.
whats up?" asked Nugent of an ac-
quaintance. s's
Fellow just jumped off the BRIDGE said
the acquaintance, again craning his neck oN er
the rail. Henry and F1annigan had thought
instanter: 1t was Nugents idea that beat
them out of it. They. turned around. and
with accord aimed a kick at Nugent.
Ibid you hear about the suicide down
stairs?" asked the messenger boy of thir-
teen-story daily of the city editor few
nights ago. asst
No" replied the major. carelessly cult 'ng
a few unguarded references out of the police
reporters copy. where was it"
Jumped from the ninth floor down the
light WE'LL" replied the office boy, whose
breath was coming in short pants that he had
acquired by purposelyl running up three
flights. q III
The major marshaled his staff on the rail-
ing outside and peered down into the dimly
lighted area. There was no gathering Of
uniformed officers, no rumble of patrol or
morgue wagons not even momentary agl-
tation on the part of the elevator man.
Suddenly the sharp eyes of one accustomed
to the light discovered in the corner OF the
light well on the ground floor dark OBJ
ject.
1t was the dead body!
A rat, scurrying around the tiled cor
ridors, had lost his bearings and plunged
'steen stories to his death.
And the Office boy had had his joke.
A local cycle club has arranged the fol-
lowing code for cycle conversation, and its
members have been making some funny ms
takes lately trying to learn it:
Four rings: May 7 ride with your .
Two rings: eyes"
Three rings: 1No.'' = 4,rs-e sjs
Two rings. followed by two more rings:
Follow me- 90
One ring: Later"
Hand ION right hip: 81 am tired of my
companion"
Head down, leaning over handle bars: "Be
careful; we are watched" or Il am en-
gagged
Jumping from wheel and examining same:
'Yod may speak to me- or Lets fall be-
hind
Continuous ringing: sect out of the roai.'
They have all learned the last.
The Philistiae.