Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-09-19

The town of Lorraine was big town
and a successful town and an important
town On the map it was not indicated by
a dot or by a circle-not by long shot. Ii
was indicated by what appeared TO be
small piece of irregUlarly shaped mos
quito netting, from which there radlated at
least half dozen railway lines This fixed
It's status from the start
But there was one thing the matter with
the town. 1t was too easy-that Was all.
Its business men, as business men. were
cautious and conservative. They would not
buy corner lots nor loan upon them with
out making the most exhaustive examlaa-
ton of the title to the land. And YET, al
most as one man, they would place good
sized wads of bills in the hands OF any
smooth-tongued stranger who claimed 10
own a mine or an oil well, or gold brick.
In other words Lorraine was the stamp
ing ground of swindlers. Singularly
enough none of these swindlers was ever
caught.
Now there were in this town of Lorraine
few hard headed old fellows who had
been swindled once or twice too often
They started in to watch. And they soon
discovered that the police department not
only winked at the little games played by
these gentee swindlers, but, further, that
the police department was itself hand in
put at work on the case, much to their de-
light, and one bright morning, when the
chief of police rose from his couch, he read
with much surprise in the Lorraine Liberty
Bell this OminouS headline.
Sharpe Shares With Swndlers."
AS the name of the chief of police hap
pened to be Sharpe, he considered the sug-
gestion to be somewhat too personal. How
ever he took the pains to read column
after column upon the subject
Hang those follows" he muttered to
himself, there amt word o. truth in
what they say. But the devil of 1t is he
finally concluded, that they can prove the
whole darn business
One hour later he handed in his resigna-
ton, drew his back pay and left town by
circuitous route. This relieved the hard
headed old fellows who had begun the in
vestigation. and while 1t robbed the papers
of the delights of a sensation, still 1t was
the easiest way out of II.
Now, In the town of Lorraine, there was
a man whose name was Peter f. Clancy.
He was said to be an honest man. He was
also a student of human nature, and none
of the swindlers who have ever come to
town had been able to come IT over him.
The hard-headed old fellows made 1T plain
to the mayor that Peter F. Clancy was the
man for the vacated place of chief of police.
The mayor, whose skirts, perhaps. were not
altogether unsullied by the Sharpe affair,
hastily acQuiesced.
He started in in the conventional way,
by talking for publication. Both the Lib
erty Bell and the Morning Glory had the
pleasure of printing long interview. In
this interview the new chief stated that
the crying shame of the town was swind-
ling, and that he proposed to stop it, and
stop it quick.
All went well for the space of two months.
No swindler dared to show his face In the
town of Lorraine.
1t was on the 25th day of May that a
Etylishly and well-dressed man stepped into
the private office of T. Toler Andrews. Mr.
Andrews was a young man who had just
come into fortune. The stranger present
ed letter Of introduction from prominent
New York man, with whom young Andrews
had some slight acquaintance. He explain
ed that he was stopping at the Belmont,
Lorraine's very SWEETEST stopping place. Mr..
Andrews became his guest at the hotel, and
played several friendly games Of cards, at
the close of which the stranger was slightly
out of pocket. Andrews was about to leave
when a messenger arrived with a Special