The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-10-07
DIDN'T KNOW GREEN.
Chief StahI Makes an Amusing Mis-
take in Identity

Is Chief Stahl's eyesight getting
poor, or is he losing that Sherlock
Holmes cunning which has character
ozed his administration of the city po-
lice?
Something must be the matter. The
day after the Skat club was raided,
and Chief Stahl had his encounter
with Judge u. t. Hazen of the district
court Chief Stahl told some of his
friends that one of the persons that
he caught rubbing up against the
Skat club bar was William Green
councilman from the Third ward.
Chief Stahl was not a bit slow about
passing out this information. 1t came
to be quite generally whispered about
the city hall, and people were laugh
ing about it. Some of the Wolf-Mc-
CuIlom crowd who fought Green for
election, were delighted They said:
What did we tell you? We said
that this man Green was no friend OF
prohibition. We told you that we were
the real thing and that he was a gross
Imitation, and you wouldn't believe it.
Now see the fix he has got himself
into"
1t was even reported that Mr.. Stahl
had decided te show up" Mr.. Green,
and subpoena him as a witness against
the Skat club. The story kept getting
blacker with villainy the longer it was
exposed to the air.
Finally Chief Stahl dropped into
Mayor BergundthaIs Office, and i'm
parted to him the startling information
that he had caught William Green in
Il don't believe it, said the mayor
promptly. You must be mistaken
81 couldn't possibly be mistaken .
said Chief Stahl- Why, Mayor,
talked to him myself. 1t couldn't be
anybody else
Still Mayor Bergundthal was not
ut isn't a bit like Green" he said.
''He does not frequent such places. 1
don't see how it can possibly be
true"
This positive position on the part
of the mayor seemed to shake Chief
Stahis faith in his own senses. He
decided that he would settle the mat
ter. He didn't simply go to Mr.. Green
and ask him if he was there. No.
indeed. That would have been very
coarse work for shrewd manipulation
of criminals like Mr. Stahl. He called
at Mr.. Green's store and called him
of into a corner.
Mr.. Green" he said in his most
beguiling tones, do you remember
just what was said in that little diff
Guilty I had with Judge Hazen down
at the Skat club the other night?'
repeated Mr.. Green with a puzzled
Look on his face why, I wasn't
You weren'tl' calculated the chief.
SSSVell, that certainly beats me.
thought I talked with you 1 wonder
who in the mischief it was that 1 did
talk to? I called Mr.. Green and he
seemed to take it all right"
Mr. Green informed Chief Stahl
that he had never been in the Skat
club rooms, but that he didn't know
there would be any special disgrace in
it if he had.
It is very funny chief of police
who can not recognize. in a clear
light, the chairman of the council
committee on police affairs. This is
the relation which exists between Stahl
and Green.
The question which is now agitat-
ing Chief Stahl is who it was he
talked to under the impression that
he was talking to Green. Some thought
1T was Davis, the butcher, but Davis
has an alilsi- He is not a member
of the Sks5s club. Others accused P.
IA. Southee. but Souther is not a mem
Der either. .Iee nRaR who really was