The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-25

Police Captain flanagan arose and
faction, as the bells of a nearby Fifth
avenue church flung over the city the
hour of o'clock.
Sunday was generally the most ac-
tive period in the week for the -
precinct, but today had seen more than
its usual quota of "drunks" and dis
orderlies." and twice the reserves had
been called Out-a razor jubilee" over
in the BLACK and Tan district" and
an amateur lynching bee. which.
strange 10 say, had been inaugurated
in the vicinity of fashionable Murray
Hill That oppressively respectable
neighborhood had been treated to the
sight of a scholarly-looking gentleman
in violent alteration with a fashion
ably dressed lady. which terminated
abruptly by the gentleman knocking
the lady to the sidewalk. He was only
saved from wearing a hempen collar,
provided by an Infatuated mob, by the
arrival of the reserves. But when the
Demonstration Carriage" the Ian
nagan himself sometimes sarcastically
Christened it, arrived there was moth
ing doing. The Origi1ators of the dis
turbance had managed to escape.
To the layman the foregoing incident
would have meant nothing more than
that our thin veneer of civilization had
been consumed in the heat of a brute's
passion, and, after deplOrfng the ret
repression of man in general, the in
Cident would have been forgotten. But
TO flanagan, born and raised behind
the scenes. It meant infinitely more.
The descriptions Of the warning par
ties tailed with two photographs
which had long been prominent in his
mental ROgues' gallery. And subse-
quent incidents proved that his MEM
DRY had not played him false. In short,
the pugilistic exhibition of the morn
ing meant that here was further proof
if further proof was needed, that one
of the cleverest gangs of western
crooks who had been carried with the
1otsam and jetsam on an eastern ebb
tide after working successfully in 9TH
er quarters of the city. had crossed the
boundary line, as rumor said they had,
and were now at last in his precinct.
The gang had many and varied
courses on their swindling menu. In
the smaller towns, when they were
forced to retire for necessary seclu-
sion, it took a modest turn, but in the
big cities il always broke out in the
fever of overlapping. New York es-
pecially, with its many pOolrooms, Of
fered big field and bigger profits.
And then the risk of prosecution wss
reduced to minimum, for since the
district attorneys edict had gone forth
against the ''phony racetracks." those
who remained open behind the laws
back and happened to get "short cir
Quilted" by the gang could not very
we'll afford to make their own crime
public by blowing around complaints.
1t was a case of diamond cut diamond
flanagan had had a mix-up with the
boss of the gang some years ago when
he was sporting roundsman's chev-
ron. It had been second-stOry work
and in the encounter he had come out
minus two of his favorite teeth and all
his morality. flanagan never forgot
a blow until he had repaid it. So far
he had made few bad debts. There
fore it was with a personal as well as
professional interest that he had
learned of the gangs moving into mis-
precinct some days back. At last it
was up to him"
flanagan had merely heard semi
officially that they were somewhere in
Nhis precinct-but where was the some
where? Already plain clothes men
were out with educated noses on the
scent. However, as flanagan charac-
teristically said, they earned their pay
they were worth one hundred scents
10 the dollar. Things had looked al
most hopeless, when suddenly, only
two short hours ago, chance had
stepped into the game ard, with one
play, given the necessary and much
desired opening.
The station house doors swung open,
and there entered a short. square man
with keen, gray eyes and a pleasant
smile. who strolled over to the desk.
flanagan stopped his impromptu
promenade.
4