Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-12-05
A HARD LUCK STORY

AlC 10 AcSOlNeu UPON tWO bnlnRS, namely.
THAT he will never again, under any
circumstances whatever, visit the city of
New York.
2-That he will never again drink any
thing stronger than sweet cider.
For these excellent and sufficient rea.
sons" he explains. in voice tremulous
with wrath. humiliation and penitence. ION
the day after the horse show In New York
opened started over there to look at the
er-oh. yes. the horses: believe they have
some horses at the New York horse show.
Il had to stick to my desk. cleaning up q
lot of work. until within fifteen minutes OF
any luncheon. I made the train by whis-
kerr as these racing people say. and soon
after | got my traps settled around my
chair started for the buffet car to get q
sandwich and bottle of apOllinaris. mean
ing to dine after I reached New York.
We'll. found lot OF local Indians out
there in the buffet car, all of them bound.
too, for the horse show. Not having, as I
say. taken any luncheon. 1 could foresee
trouble II sat in with that crowd and I
tried to edge out Of sight before they saw
me. But 1t was no use. They grabbed me.
They were just about to drink q toast to a
friend of ours who was being married that
day In Philadelphia. I said that mine
would be vichy and milk. They said that
that would be pretty cold MISUNDERSTANDING
vichy and milk to the marital happiness Of
an old pal. There was no tanning them. I
tried to give them the no luncheon excuse,
but they derided that as being childish
do the ordering-no didn't exactly have
to- but was asinine enough to look at it
that way.
well. we toasted the married couple
quite few times. At Baltimore an anna
teur violinist of high repute over there, and
good fellow. got aboard. He had his fid-
die with him. We all knew him. The gang
dragged him into the buffet car. and. after
some more tOasting, they made him get out
his instrument and play things.
Il won't dwell upon this buffet car end Of
the story. It's painful. Those ruff1ans, you
see: had all had their luncheons. and I
hadn't. So that by the time the train
pulled into Jersey City 1 was just a teenchy
bit spiked, and knew 1t. The heat of the
buffet car, and all that, you know. / stood
at the front of the ferry boat in crossing
the river to get the cool air, but 1t wasn't
much use.
''Ail of the fellows were going to the same
hotel on Broadway, and so we went uptown
on the 9th avenue L. When we reached
platform whom / knew. I stood for a
minute and talked with him. while the other
fellows went on to the hotel, only square
or SO away So that was detached men,
Der of the party when started down the L
steps. / had that common, onnery. good
natured feeling that follows an afternoon
On buffet car, and l was far from being
acute.
cat the bottom of the L steps a rolliek-
ing. sharp-facad chap noticed me labOrfng
with the burden of my heavy grip.
Let's carry the luggage for you, pal.
he said. taking the bag from my hand. Not
going far. are your
Yes, / was idiotic enough to hand him
the bag. He went ahead of me after ask
ing me the name of my hotel. and stopped
for half minute to buy some evening pa
pers at the foot of the SD street L stairs.
When turned around the sharp-faced chap
with my bag was gone. OF course he was
gone. had been a plain everyday come
on. and I knew it, 1 crossed over to the
hotel to see if, by any chance. the fellow
actually had taken my grip there. I don't
need to say that he hadn't
There was nothing very valuable in the
grip-only clothes-but / was sore about
having tossed it away so fOohshly. So,
without looking up the other fellows to
have them guy me about it, I got into. a
cab and went to the Goth street police sta
tion-the Tenderloin station-to complain Of
the way my bag had been separated from
me.
BLAMED if the man on duty at the desk
there would listen to me! He only smiled
over the desk at me in an indulgent, patron
izing sort Of way. and he said:
"'Oh, I guess wen Just take care Of you
for a while old mantle internal familiari-
ty of the cheyroned copper. But that
wasn't the worst of it-not by good deal.
He nodded to the doorman. and the door
man led me to the detention room, and may
l never see another sunset over the Viz
ginia hills If 1 didn't, find myself locked up
there as an individual incapable OF caring
for himself
'fWell I spent four hours trying to get my
friends at the hotel to the station. but the
reports came back to me every time that
they couldn't be found. They had gone on
from the hotel to dine somewhere else, you
see, and after that they went to the horse
show and there was absolutely no getting
into communication with them. sent out
about IS worth of messages to New YORK
- 4l.,1,~a he fn6-
all out for the evening. I offered to leave
all sorts of currency collateral, but the desk
sergeant only smiled amiably at me and
replied: .., on.,, r,+ .on.,.a -
y'r wad If we turned Y loose-better take it
easy, an you'll go out In tn mornin'.
Nothin' gon' t. happen t you. This amt
no court case. We're just takin' care O.
you SOS you won't be rolled FIR y'r bundle,
and that was all there was about 1t. I had
to lie on couch in that detention room all
night and fume and cogitate damage suits
for millions of dollars against the city OF
New York The detention room was COM
Portable enough, but was laboring under
such sense of outrage that I couldn't see
"At dawn those Comanches who had got
me into the scrape on the buffet car came
tearing along to the station In cabs, and
they danced around my detention room
couch. while the sergeant stood grtnning by.
for ten minutes. treating me as q horrible
on the awful evils Of the bowl. Then / went
with them to the hotel, and slept for sixteen
straight hours. spent three or four even
ings at the horse show, and then came
back to Washington. Some of those fellows
had already got back and spread the report
that had run amuck on Broadway, with a
bolo in each hand and a machete in my
teeth and that eight large beefy policemen
had been compelled to sit on me to hold me
down on my way to the station in the pa
troll wagon.
yesterday afternoon couple Of Wash
fngton detectives. friends of mine, strolled
into my office with serious countenanees.
"'Too bad, old man. one of them said to
me. and. of course, you understand how we
hate to do 1t. But these things happen,
you know. Afraid well have to take you
along with us. We haven't any idea that
you did it. you know, but you can explain
your end of 1T to Major Sylvester
81 couldn't penetrate their internal gray
ity and became alarmed. They said that
a jewelry robbery had occurred in an At
lantic City hotel a couple of days before,
and that the robbery had been traced to
man occupying certain room in the hotel.
The suspect had escaped so hurriedly that
he had left his valise behind him. The
valise bore my name and Washington adj
dress, written on a slip pasted inside the
bag.
'sThose two detectives kept it up until.