Evening star., 1901-04-20

they're paid to perform / will. Don't you
fergit that. That's the second safe stolen
over there in your precinct. If you amt
careful they'll be swipin' your station house.
You get next, that's all. This policeman
wasn't neglectin' his duty. 'Smissed.'
Knows Their Duties
Devery is such an expert in the duties of
policemen of every rank from that of pa
trolman up that he can't be bamboozled y
patrolman was up for having permitted a
robbery to occur on his Broadway beat.
Me beats too big" whined the police
man. 1T can't be covered by wan mon. 1t
oUghter be split in two
Don't you tell me that" roared Devery,
shaking his finger at the cop. Il pounded
that beat twenty years ago myself, an a
policeman with eyes in his head can see
from one end to TIL other of it. No gun
ever got away with a nickel's worth while
l hammered that walk. Don't you try no
| cock-anbull stories Like that on me. Fiji
teen days pay"
A couple of weeks ago a neat-looking lit
tie woman with a sadly discolored eye ap-
peared complainant against a policeman
who had abused her. The policeman be-
longed to the maSher type. He had bor-
rowed several hundred dollars from the
woman and then invited her to take out a
quarter section in the lower regions. The
woman went to him to see if she couldn't
get some of her savings back, and the cop
punched her mercilessly and then arrested
her for dlsorderly conduct. The true story
came out in the police court. and the magis
| trate roasted the policeman and preferred
charges against him.
The battered little woman handed Devery
| a packet of love letters the cop had
written to her. Devery glanced over them
| and his huge face famed with anger. 1t
| was some moments before he could trust
| himself to speak to the cop.
II see,' he said, finally. You got tired.
| You'd had yer fun an gone yer distance,
an you were tired. You tell her t come
| an meet you, an when she asks fr what
| you've taken from her you punch her on
TIL jaw an pinch her f'r disorderly con-
duct. You've took from her everything she
had, an this is TIL way you pay her back.
Now with actual ferocity, I'm goin' t
fine you TIL limit-thirty days pay. An
| if you ever lay hand on this little woman
agin or ever come before me ag in f'r any
cause, just you look out, that's all"'
Up the Second Time.
Well, this same cop did come before Dew
cry just one week from that day. 1t
seems that a discouraged old Hebrew on
his beat had taken a big dose of carbolic
acid with suicidal intent, and several of
his grown children had rushed to the po-
lceman and begged him to ring up an am
bulance.
law, don't bother me-" the cop replied
to their entreaties. Let him go to h-l!'
The result was that it a long time
before an ambulance could be summoned,
and the old man died, whereas his life
might have been saved.
Devery was almost speechless with wrath
when the cop came up before him again
on this charge. But he held himself in
long enough to say:
You're tn feller that I give thirty days
to week ago f'r punchin an then arrest
in woman you'd robbed. amt you?'
She lied to you,' replied the cop sulkily.
Don't you tell me that roared Dew
cry. Il know better l believe her. an
not you An look a-here, half n hour after
leavin' this court room l seen you, dressed
up like dude, gettn' on a Fulton street
car with another woman, didn't I?''
The cop stood mute.
You loaferv Devery fairly Missed.
You're as good as broke!'
And broke that cop was the very next
day. despite his pull of which he had
been in the habit of boasting for years.
Hates Dead Beats.
Next to the no-account policemen who
habitually shirk duty, Devery hates the
dead beats on the force. Them fellers,''
he calls them. that git tn peoples change
an food an booze an joolery an every
| thing they can git tn people t give up on
tn stre'th O. their shapes an their brass
buttons He is absolutely mercless to
cops of this stripe. But he is without
bowels Of compassion for habitual offenders
of any stripe.
Say" he growled at a cop who was up
last week for a raw case of neglect of duty
on post "ain't you tired? Why don't you
quit? Why don't you pass it up? They
amt no room f'r born-tired cops in this
town nowadays. You won't do. I'm goin'
t. have you bounced"
well, 1 guess I'll hand in me badge"
replied the cop, and he did
Won't Have 1t.
Another thing that Devery utterly de-
clines to stand for is personal animus on
the part of one bluecoat against another.
A couple of weeks ago roundsman up in
the Bronx borough appeared against pa
trolman whom he charged with being off
post The patrolman, who was a young
fellow and new on the force, admitted that
he'd been off post, and the affair seemed
to be all settled in Devery's mind, when
the roundsman thought to curry favor by
saying:
off post, but he was way off in tn next
precinct. an tn excuse he give me was
that he'd been t a hotel t git some fresh
eggs. Fresh eggs from hotel
Devery rounded on the roundsman like
a tiger.
"Umph!' he growled. "Knockin'. eh?
Rammin' it in, amt cher? That don't go!
J. was jes' goin' t fine this officer five days
pay. Officer, your case is dismissed. Now
to the roundsman don't you ever try that
ag'in with me. You cut out yer knockin'
or somethin's liable t. happen T. YOU
And for all his severity-which, neverthe-
-, - pNiA'S 81 sehiu u'ai III itS erect
upon the New York police force that less
than third the number of cops now ap-
pear weekly before Devery as appeared be-
fore the old board Of police commissioners
there is a soft side to this huge trial
judge. 1t exhibited itself a couple of weeks
ago when veteran policeman on the force
stood before Devery charged with violating
some trivial rule. Devery appeared to for
get the charge in the contemplation of the
veterans many service stripes and his gray
hair.
Say, you,' said he to the old-timer.
come an see me on y'r day off I'll try
an git you day detail where it's easier.
Let tn young fellers pound th' pavement"
In view Of all of which it NAV be re-
peated that there surely are worse than
Devery. CI, q
/" Hard to Find.
From Puck.
Diogenes-"1 was called up by a party at