Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-04

city the monthly rental of which was s.
The end of January it was Custed from ITS
office for inability to pay the rental.
u X
Two newspapers in the same town not
long ago got the Tip" almost simultane-
ously that a certain old house some twenty
miles out was haunted-that ghosts walk
ed there regularly every night at II o'clock.
Nobody, so the story went. would go near
the place. and even strangers had begun to
give credence to the beliefs Of the neigh
bors in regard to it.
Ought to make good story" said two
editors almost at the same time.
Then after few minutes deliberation
and glances over the assignment books
Jones' said one, and Brown" said the
other, go and get rig and drive out there
tonight. And don't you come away until
you have seen those ghosts"
Both reporters left in high glee, one about
ten minutes behind the other on the coun-
try road. Both expected to have some fun
and had a couple of friends with them.
Jones arrived first. and went in by the
front window with his companions. They
seated themselves i'll corner Of the bare
old parlor to wait.
Without an audible sound Brown and his
friends shortly after crept in by the back
window, and likewise settled themselves in
the dining room.
1t was II o'clock. and as they smoked and
talked in the lowest of whispers midnight
drew near. At ~ both parties stood up
and Hstened both thought they heard q
sound in the other ROOM They moved
toward the door between the rooms. shiv.
ering with real fear Their jollity was all
gone. man in each party had revolver
and another a dark lantern.
Jones grabbed the door and yanked 1t
open Six men jumped like lightning
To Then Brown
sang out, in a voice hardly yet recovered
from it's shakiness:
'He-ell-o, Jones. old man.!
Us that you, Brown
Both reporters worked on evening pa
pers and they took their time driving back
to the town. Both faxed up" beautiful
ghost story for the next day.
And both papers were sued Tor damages
by the owner of the haunted house the
next week.
about as cool a piece of nerve as ever
heard of occurred in the apartment house
in which 1 live," said local newspaper
man this morning. The other evening
while dressing to go out the door bell rang.
Upon opening the door the janitor was
found standing there He asked permits
sion to use my telephone. The PERMISSION
was granted. He went to the phone and
the following remarks were overheard:
Hello, Central. Please give me No. 1
fire engine house After pause there was
a response from the other end of the line.
rs this No. / engine house? asked the
janitor. Upon receiving reply In the
affirmative, he continued: Well, this Is
the Blank apartment house. We have
fire around here. The chimney is blazing
away and 1 was afraid the building might
catch so l thought l would call you up
ahead of time
THE fremen said they would come and
the janitor hung up the phone and walked
complacently away, as nonchalantiy as II
he had done nothing out of the ordinary.
1.-The engines responded in a few moments
and soon had the blaze in the chimney
under control They found. however. that
some of the sparks had fallen down an
other chimney and there was e. smolder-
ing fire in one of the top apartments. This
was quickly put out and a serious blaze
was averted."
* X X x X
The Police Court has been used as
lettering place by many men who seem to
delight in hearing the tales Of woe told by
those who have to appear and have the
judges right matters for them. Day after
day the same faces are to be seen in the
audience and some Of the regulars are ad-
mitted inside the rail, where they monopo-
lize the chairs set apart for those who have
business there. Because of the large at
tendance of this class of spectators those
who have business in the court frequently
are unable to get seats. And 1t Is also
partly due to such people that the atmos-
phere is anything but what is desired. At
this season of the year the number of such
hangers-on usually shows an increase be-
cause it Is too cold to stand about the
streets.
One morning this week when the occu-
pants of the dock in Judge SCOTS court
numbered far less than a score. the occu-
pants of the seats outside the dock were
almost as numerous as when the dock is
crowded. They were certainly not wit
nesses nor could so many persons have
been interested in SO small a number of
prisoners The last case had been heard
and the judge remained in court. Assistant
Corporation Counsel Pugh was in no hurry
to get away and it was because these
officials remained that those in the audi
ence failed to leave They were deter
mined to remain in the warm room until
the last case had been heard.
Walking to the rail and addressing the
gathering the prosecutor said: You
gentlemen may be excused now as the heat
is going to be turned off in a few minutes"
Very reluctantly the small gathering be-
gan 10 disappear Some of them went to
the upper court and others left the build
ing. One colored woman in the room made
no effort to leave and said she had not
come there to get warm.
Il was warmer than warm when I came
here" she declared. Il had trouble in my
neighborh0od this morning with worth
less man and when he called me out of my
name he made my blood boil and faint
going to stop until / get him here and
see him behind the bars. You may not
believe me, but 1 wouldn't get cold In Rus
STA today
She went home after she made pre-
liminary move In the direction of getting
her neighbor behind the bars.
IF you could get just the fellow you