The Indianapolis journal., 1902-09-07
CTRANGE FOLK
~ QUEER THINGS
STRINCER, LATE OF SCOT
LAND YARD.


stringer has been in retirement for half
dozen years OF so on a substantial pension
Ee confesses that he has been fortunate In
his time In the securing Of rewards, and
that he iiss been very handsomely remun-
Grated by occasional private persons who
have owed something to his services. HIS
savings are invested in small house prop
erty, and he does his own collecting, be-
cause IL affords him light and agreeable
occupation. and, after a life OF hard work.
he would find a complete idleness intoier-
able. He is bachelor. and a widowed sis
ter keeps house for him. He keeps beau
tifully trim garden. with little glass In H.
and he has record for cucumbers of which
he is apparently prouder than OF any OF the
great cases in which he has been success
fully engaged. He left the force with the
rank of Inspector. carrying with him the
friendship Of his equals. the respect OF his
superiors, and the warm esteem OF his sub
ordinates. Should you meet him casually
you would no more guess at the extraordi-
nary nature OF his past career than you
would imagine him TO be an emperor.
man OF small stature-I do not know what
standard he had to satisfy when he joined,
but II certainly was not that Of the Metro
politan police--subdued and reticent in
manner and speech. without any special
suggestion of any special astuteness or
force of character. quite an unnoticeable
man In fact. at whom you would not be
tempted 10 look second time. Yet insignih-
can't as he looks. he has spun the rope for
eight blood-stained criminals. and has sent
scores and scores to penal servitude. He
has carried his life in his hand for years
together. There have been two or three
plots for his assassination. In his active
days he was particularly dreaded and hated
by the Irfsh-American Anarchists. He lived
amongst them for year In Chicago, as
member of their crazy brotherhood and
you may gather from that fact an idea OF
the iron nerve of the unpretentious man, to
whom many an hour Of that service might
have brought death without instant's
warning.
am not likely to forget the occasion Of
our first meeting, for it does not often hap
pen that two men are introduced to each
other in circumstances more dramatic.
was at that time reporter on great pro-
vincia1 daily. 1t was my first engagement
on the press. and my duties were of the
most subordinate kind. Amongst other
things / had to make a tour of the hospi-
tails every night to inquire after accident
cases. and my round brought me back to
the office about midnight. Sometimes II re-
suited in a paragraph. oftener the draw was
blank, but in any case / reported myself TO
the subeditor before going home. On the
night on which first met Strfnger l had
couple of cases to report and II was 1
o'clock I'm the morning when / stood to
button my overcoat against the drizzle
which met me at the exit from the office.
Our front was on the principal street of the
city--it did not call itself a city In those
days. by the way-but our night entrance
opened on a slum. and my homeward way
led through it. The night was as silent as
the grave. and was cropping in my pockets
for pipe and pouch as 1 walked slowly,
when on q sudden. an appalling shrek tore
the air hundred yards away, and then
came another and another and another.
There was a sound of racing feet, and
heard a brash of curses uttered in a pant
ing, drunken voice. The shrieking voice was
a woman's-the cursing voice a mans.
There was something so dreadfully urgent
in the call that I ran like mad towards 10.
The voices came swiftly on to meet me.
was within less than wicket's length of
the flying woman when she tripped and
fell. Her pursuer was so close behind her.
that he almost overran her. He aimed one
tremendous blow at her and missed. The
brute had raised the bludgeon he carried
and was ready for a swinging blow which
could not have failed TO take effect this
time. when a figure flashed by me as If I
had been standing still-for I was incum-
bered by a heavy ulster which buttoned al
most tc the feet-and as the weapon swung
the man went down before as clean a
right-hander as 1 ever saw delivered in my
;. The rescuer went over with the would
be murderer, and I was in time to help him
TO his feet. He had brace OF handouts in
his hand and he had used them as a
knuckle-duster when he struck. The drunk
en- man lay still and the woman shrieked
and shrieked. The rescuer and turned the
beast over on his back in the muddy road,
and thought at first that he was killed.
There was a crowd in almost no time. A po-
liceman IN uniform came up and turned his
bulls eye on the mans face. He and the
rescaer exchanged a word or two. the man
I'm uniform sounded a whistle, another man
in uniform appeared, and was dispatched
for an ambulance. and the crowd fingered
with babel of question and surmise. My
foot struck against the weapon the wom-
ans assailant had carried, and / picked II
up. II was as murderous an implement as
you could fancy. being nothing less than
the tapering end OF an old-fashioned ma
hogany bedpost. 1t had been sawn off about
yard from the top. Two feet of 1t tapered
smoothly. and then IL ran into ornamental
rings and knots. and IL ended in an oblong
six inches In length and three in thickness
I had no knowledge Of the police in those
days-thcugh in the course of many years
of journalistic experience. 1 have since at
times been intimately associated with them
ard I noticed as a novelty the extraordi-
nary professional sang froid. The man who
had come up in the nick of time to save a
life was no more flurried or excited than II
he had strolled up casual spectator OF
a Punch and Judy show. 1t took him a min
ute to set his wind back. but whilst he was
still painting he slipped the brace OF hand
cuffs back into his pocket. and fell into an
attitude OF quiet waiting as II all interest
had evaporated from the affair so far as he
was concerned. The change from the fe-
rocity OF the lightning charge of his tc
this impassivity was Overwhelming to my
inexperience- He did not look in the least
like the man TO do what he had done. or in
the least like the man IN Ia so annaz,noi,