The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-06-09
The
Wetchell Job

Outy COuiu III all new
er have been solved in any other way
than through his peculiar method of
hypnotism, was what is known in po-
lice circles as THE Wetchell job" The
truths of this unique crime as brought
out by him are as follows:
In large, barnlike old house of
three stories, of brick painted yellow,
sitting in a yard of its own, surround
ed by high board fences, amidst new
tenement buildings filed with an ele-
nent utterly incongruous with its air
of old-fashioned responsibility. lived
Miss Wetchell. She chung to the an
ctent homestead as to her one friend on
earth, to the everlasting disturbance
or the clamorous neighbors who, in
their congested quarters, resented in
six languages the occupation of a whole
house of fourteen rooms by one person,
and that one an elderly, single female
of oily manners and a good income,
who pretended TO be what she was not.
For this woman. by her smile, which
was ostentatiously gentle; by her voice,
which was ostentatiously tender. and
by her oStentatiOus acts of kindness,
which consisted In feeding stray cats
and allowing the children of the tene-
ments to play in her great back yard
one hour a week.-Mrs. woman. by all
these signs advertised herself as a per-
son of good nature and benevOlence,
when she was very far from being that.
II did not require many days of obser-
walton on the part of any one of the
interested observers to force the con-
clusion on them that all this, while
done by the lady with a view of exalt-
ing her reputation, was in reality the
expression of cowardice. In fact, this
benevolent woman was afraid She
wished to conciliate these rude ones;
she wished to be on good terms with
her neighbOrs for fear of them. Too
misery, they said. to sell her property
at the low price which it was now
worth. on account of its location. so
near the heart of the slums, she held
on with grim comparable to that of
death alone, fawning and smiling low
ingly when she felt only dread and
hate, in order to save the few dollars
she would be obliged TO sacrifice from
her plenty in selling out and going to
more congenial quarters. The bases
of this opinion were many. spread over
a large area of observation by the on
lockers, who were Shrewder than she
thought, but one of these bases f1ared
out like a beacon light from among all
the others and was observable, perhaps,
once a day for every twenty-four hours
of the year.
1t was the distinction she made be-
tween the value of men and that of
cats. and upon this distinction as she
made it rests the story of her strange
misfortune.
Up the street toward this lady. who
was sweeping the steps of her domicile
IN the morning. man advanced. He
was not nice appearing person. His
Clothes were greasy and ragged, his
nose was blooded. his gait was halt, as
II there were sores on his heels, and
his skin was exceedingly dirty, and
grown over with thick. black hairs He
saw the busy sweeper all at once, and
Immediately began his preparations.
These consisted in a smoothing down
of the heavy beard, a pull at the brim
Of his old SLOUGH hat. A Strengthening
Of the shoulders, I siding movement
OF the body. and deprecatcry eve. He
Coughed, and with his hand on the gate
post spoke:
Hmm! LAZY. cd yer help a poor
man that lighted fer yer In the WARP
She turned upon him like a tigress
She was not handsome. and the distor-
ton of her coarse features. the barring
of her strong yellow teeth. and her sud-
den raging at him, took him completely
aback.
Your she Kissed. You. man six
feet tall, and healthy, asking help, You
ought TO be ashamed of yourself, Why
don't you go to work? There is plenty
TO do. You are lazy. Don't YOU dare
ask me for assistance. you-you-ughp'
In a fever of virtuous wrath she gave
an extra swish of her broom, STAMPED
Der foot. throw n last indignant glance
toward the abashed mendicant. flew
into the house and slammed the door.
Hobus leaned on the fence YEARLY.
He had not been in the war. and he
wondered if she. by some occult power
known only TO the higher classes. had
found him out in his lie. Was that the
reason why she was so fierce? He be-
lieVed so. He did not know how it was.
but the world was down on him. The
whole world! He looked I'D at the
house wonderingly, smoothing his
beard with trembling hand. and tried
10 think. Where should he go next?
He was hungry, he was wretched he
was impotent, and he could not see
that all this was his fault 1t appeared
10 him that he had been born so-hun-
cry and wretched and incapab BILE. and
never could be anything else
Listlessly he moved away across the
street to the scant shade of a straeglv
tree, and considered. Presently another
man, with the soil of several states ON
his person. hardly distinguished in an
pearance from Hobus himself. Though
ne was smaller and younger, and his
beard was OF a fortnight's growth only.
slouched around the corner. examined
the Wetchell house moment, and then
crept into the yard. Hobus began TO
grin, and, hobbling hurriedly to a posi
ton of advantage behind the great
square fence post, pricked up his ears
TO listen.
Lady" said the young tramp TO
Miss Wetchell when she had answered
his ring, could you please feed a poor
man that was in the Spanish war and
got broke down fightin' fer yer?"
Hobus shook his head solemnlv as he /
heard this form of address, so closely /
resembling his own. In the mouth of |
another it took on a new meaning II /
seemed like attempting to establish a 1
right to aims rather than a hid for /
charity and kindness. and Hobus. with /
out understanding the philosophy of the
case, felt intuitively that it was a |
wrong move. Condescension is Z. neces-
sary concomiJant Of charity with MANY 4
givers, and to remove the possibility
of their enjoying that comfortable emo /
ton by asking help of them as a right. /
not as favor. is unwise. He resolved |
TO remodel his own formula after this. /
In the meantime he shook with wild /
Nn