The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-15
\ TOM HUGHES STORY.
me Author of Tom Brown" In n
London Street Adventure.


used to drop in about $50 O'Clock (at
'he chambers where he was reading for
u'e par), some three-quarters of an hour
oeIore the other pupils, in order to have
qulet read to myself. This sort of read
ins was quite new to me- | don't know
,ioW IL was with men in other sets, but at
s0noUi ana college l hardly ever looked at
N'iiy paper except to read some speech
VI reading member in a great debate.
anu my newspaper reading was confined
cIieily TO the chronicles of boat races
VIlchet matches, pedestrianism and (for
1 I'm must QUIZ prize fights in Bells
Ire ana | know that the same amount
/ ol reading satisfied most of the men with
whom llVed, and they included not only
muse OF my standing who were devoted to
a'nIet4c exercises, but many quiet reading
men WIN a strong turn for all other sorts
| OF literature. l am merely stating facts
mere and not trying to account for them;
out L suppose the reason of this is that
men requ re to be started into actual
] WORKING life themselves before they care
/ 10 see how others are living and what
they are working at. Be this as it may, |
reaa me Tines daily, and one of the
I nrSt ana strongest Impressions its perusal
made on me was the cause of the adven-
ture l am going to relate. Scarcely a dav
| passed but read of some brutal attack
/ upon policemen by a lot of Irish laborers
1 OF thieves or costermongers, in which the
assailants had used the most cowardlv
means to disable the officer, either kicking,
or blung or throwing great stones at short
Instances, or some other equally ruffianly
Trick, which outraged all my public school
notions of fair play; and so, as my turn is
/ entirely practical one, l made a memo
/ rahdum in quiet corner of my mind to
I go IN like man and help the first police
man came across in the streets who had
more than one man on his hands. | hope
mat there was not wholly wanting in me
desire to uphold the law, and help its
ofhcers in the discharge of their duties,
! but certainly my resolve was chiefly
grounded on the love of fair play, and
the hatred of any weapon except the two
/ hsts when there was one man only on
each side of difference.
Trying to Help a "Crusher."
1t was not long before 1 had an oppor
tunity of carrying out my resolution. l
/ was asked out to dinner one October even
ing at Gas o'clock. and. as I had a great
| dislike of being late, had dressed by 6, and
was quietly strolling toward the west,
along the back streets which run between
! Soho Square and Regent street. Suddenly
l came upon a mob of some forty boys
and men, and, | am sorry to say a few
.
of great excitement There was evidently
a furious scuffle going on in the center,
and on all hands l heard cries of Go it,
Joey!' Give it the b. crusherv' Kick
him on the knee!' and other equally select
; pieces of advice. In moment it flashed
across me that one of my unknown friends
of the force was in conflict with and try
/ ing to incarcerate a breaker of the laws,
and a glance told me that he was not like
] n opt ia n IN b1 "
one man on his hands if no one stood by
him for the next five minutes. Casting
one regretful thought on my best blacks
and immaculate Waistcoat I went hurting
/ into the press aud in a second was in the
middle of it, There, sure enough, was
! policeman in close grapple with a little
man whose like l had never seen before.
He was all over the same color-a dirty
brown; hair, skin, clothes consisting of
ragged packet and trousers of sackcloth)
/ and shoes were of the same hue, and mis-
battered hat and basket. which lay on
heap of street sweepings cose by, were
of a piece with the rest of the outer man.
He was much smaller than his opponent,
but had the advantage of having both
hands free while the policeman couldn't
let go his grip on the sackcloth collar, and
/ had only one hand to ward off blows and
pinion the arms of the vigorous joey
as the mob called the little man in their
vooiferations Besides, the fury in the lit
tle mans eye and the determined way in
which he fought showed that he was more
than a match for the policeman, who
didn't seem half in earnest. Just as got
close to them a successful back crook OF
"Joev's" made the policeman totter and
/ after stagger or Two to try and right
himself down went both on the pavement,
tbe policeman still holding on. and over
and over they rolled in the dusty kennel.
"Now's your time, joey shouted the
crowd. stick your knees into him; marx
him for lifen'. Kick him from benlnd,
hoI-sr, shouted another sympathizer, and
~ crowd thickened around the writing
/ r,,op 90 that the advice might have been
/ followed In another second. NOV Tor H.
/ thoueht l. and ! sprang at the feltoW near
/ eet To the PROSTATE man, tai, gaunt ng-
,,re in an old, shabby black coat selzeu
! Rim bv the collar and swung MIN rouhu
! against the mob. ,.,oo,,,
STAND back. you cowardly blacks
.,,,,rdsr, 7 shouted. There's only one TO
enc. LET 'em have it out. If he bites, po-
siceman, use your staff
In the Thick of 1t.
For a moment the crowd was taken
abeck at an interference which was pialn-
lv contrary to precedent ana cleai spa
80 formed around the combatants anu
-, came a volley of abuse at me, when
needn't repeat, as | have already given
dnntIgh of the style used on such occa-
Sous Luckily, there were no loose stones
abont or a more decisive volley might
baye followed, but the crowd began TO
rress in again, and it was all couid 90
nv turning my back 90 the coinpataIts'
no. We're now against the rails and snow
NO decided front to keep a small place
niear FOR the next half-minute was
o o,iso enough not to strike blow until
fomnd II quite necessary, and before 1t
aan,e IN that the mob sundered, ana Two
o'har nolicemen arrived on the field OF ac,
tton with slaves out. One of them joined
NE and the other turned to Joey, ana
now the face Of things quite changed anu
tba mob retreated two or three YARDS
prt Inc capture was not accomplished.
"fnav" nothing daunted at the odds winch
me tate of war had cast against him'
,Iloreiv altered his tactics, and turning on
tie baclx kicked and struck out with UNI
diminished vigor one policeman held an
orm and gripped his collar at imminent
ISL the other was trying to secure MS
iaore "Turn him over on his race ana
,hen hen only kick the ground,
suegested, and incurred there