Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-23

All New Workers are divided into two
classes. The first class consists or those
who get caught. The second, of those who
don't.
On the East Side there resided a gentle
man whose real name was Mr.. Shifty Shift.
He had many other names, but this name
suited him above all others. Mr.. Shifty
Shift belonged to the elect individuals who
do not get caught.
The police department knew all about
him: especially is this true of old Boneset
Smith. the departments right-hand man.
And then. again, they knew nothing about
him. Morally they were certain that, al
though outwardly Shifty Shift was whited
sepulcher, within he was full of dead men
bones. Officially Boneset Smith and the
department knew absolutely nothing about
Mr. Shifty Shift.
You can't prove nothin." Mr.. Shifty
Shift would remark; mot against me, at
least
And they could not. They had tried it
many many times, and had never sue
ceeded.
Shifty was a strong-arm man par excel
lence And his gang followed suit. Th1s
gang had been chosen wisely and well from
among the stronger ana at the Same 'Aihe
more astute gentry of the East Side.
whats the USE" Shifty had said, OF
havin' a good strong arm if you amt got
brains TO DdCk Ii. Let HE nave hNh
about me-" would say Shifty Shift. uncon-
sciously quoting from a fairly well-knoWn
fist, 'let me have men about me WIN
a strong arm and a good close mouth, ana
a considerable amount of old boss sense,
and I'll match them and me against any
police department on the face of the earth
Accordingly. the Shifty Shift gang was
the admiration of the under world, the Ter
ror of the upper crust.
But between the Shifty Shift gang and
the police department there was no com
promise. The department had been fooled
too often, and there was war on that was
war to the teeth.
I'm get you, Shifty." old Boneset Smith
of the department would say. III get you
last if L can't get you first
shfty laughed aug say He 0iea he out TeP ro
of bills, flched probably from his latest VIC
tim Say, what'u you bet? l bet you
don't, now. Not you. Nor yet the cmef.
Nor all of you put together. See II you
do
Now and then. and here and there, human
nature hanks back to savagery. James T.
Blenisinsop was millionaire, but, at the
same time, he was a barbarian. he was
mad clear through. He had been bearing
a certain commodity. Everybody knows
now just what he tried to do with Great
American. And another gentiemanly oeaIer
-Havisham by name-had succeeded IN Dull
ing it. The means by which he accomplish
ed this seemed in the eyes of Blenkinsop,
the bear, to be little short of breach OF
trust.
Blenkinsop, the bear, believed in the doc
trine of getting back his creed was an
eye for an eye, and tooth for tooth.
And as Mr.. Havisham had succeeded In
cutting Mr.. Blenkinsop's eye teeth, and In
discolor!ng his financial eye, Mr.. Blenk1n-
SOP In a rage, determined that the eyes
of Mr.. Havisham and his teeth. also, should
! suffer In a very real and physical sense.
It was in this wise that Mr.. Shifty Shift
came ultimately to consider one OF the
greatest problems ever presented to his
astute and versatile intellect. How, when
and where Is the safest time, place and
method to knock out one millionaire at the
particular request of another? This was the
how much is it WORTH Having settled the
first the answer thereto being entirely sat
isfactory. Shifty Shift addressed himself
to the other, and finally succeeded in arriv-
ing at a satisfactory conclusion. And the
result was this;
In the first place, Shifty concluded to
leave the gang out of this thing. In the
second place, in view of the strenuous eff
forts Of the New York police department,
he concluded to turn the trick elsewhere
than in the great metropolis. Circumstances
favored him, for Mr. Henry P. Havisham
had handsome country place just across
the river, where he spent good deal of his
time.
A week later the countryside was cleo
trified by the report of a dastardly assault
upon the Great American bull, Mr. Henry
p Havisham. 1t seems that Mr.. Havisham
had started out alone on an early spring
day to whip trout stream on his land
He had not come back A search was
made, and he was found unconscious by
the roadside, hidden by the brush and I'M
dergrUwth. The chief of police of Monroe,
the little Jersey town where Mr.. Havisham
lived started in Immediately to investigate.
He discovered, first, that Mr.. Havisham,
fortunately. was not seriously injured. He
discovered also that a farmer jogging along
in the distance had n bIlrlV looking m
dividual cross the road and disappear. Sew
eral other men had noticed a stranger about
the town-a man of burly makeup and
muscular appearance. The chief secured
description of this man. and found out later
that he was seen swinging aboard a New
York train short time after the assault.
Mr.. HaVisham was daZed for several
days, but finally was able to describe the
man who felled him. And the description
of the man who felled him was consistent
with the general appearance of Mr.. Shifty
Shift.
The chief of police of the small town of