Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-16
LIVELY SCRAP ON AVENUE
Big Crowd of Civilians Comes to the
Rescue.
WAS ROT A COP IN SIGHT
"Guess I've Had Enough" Said
Valiant Blue Coat, When Crowd
Urged Him On.

He was a big. good-looking, good-na-
tured artilleryman from Fort Hunt, and
he had come up here on an electric car
by himself to look the town over. 1t was
10 o'clock last night-Saturday night-but
he had only had a few drinks. he was
not drunk. not even on the way. He SIM
ply felt friendly toward every one.
He was standing in front Of a cigar
store on the south side Of Pennsylvania
avenue between 10th and 18th streets.
looking at some pictures in the windows.
Three troopers from Fort Myer. them
selves pretty big fellows, stopped beside
him. and without any warning or prelim-
mary conversation the biggest of the
three jostled his elbow.
The big artilleryman turned around
quickly and. seeing the troopers, re-
marked. jovially:
you fellers are feelin' pretty good.
amt you?"
That's nothin' to you. Is it?" was the
surly response that greeted his sally.
Well" drawled the big man from
Fort Hunt, you needn't get up In the
air when g Teller asks you a civil ques-
ton"
where's your gang?' demanded one
Of the Fort Myer men.
Il don't need any," was the quick re-
you don't. eh?"
Landed on His Chin.
The fist Of the biggest trooper landed
viciously on the chin Of the unsuspect-
ing cannon swabber. He staggered
back for q minute, but only for q min
ute.
mo" he fairly beloved, as he lunged
forward with every bit of the weight Of
his six-foot-two body behind his good
Trooper No. toppled over on the pave
ment but as he did SO Troopers Nos.
and went at the lone artilleryman with
both fists. In less time than 1t takes to
tell 1t he had turned his attention to them.
One got couple Of terrible pol<eS in the
eye and the other nearly lost several
teeth. Then, as II to show his scorn for
his assailants, the lone fighter grabbed
these two and literally dumped them into
the gutter.
In another second the pavement in
front Of the cigar store was blocked with
khaki uniforms. They came from no.
where and each one was making for the
At first there appeared to be thirty or
more Of them, but there were really only
about ten. Still that was more than
enough for one to handle. The blue. red
striped uniform was swallowed up in the
yellowish-brown. Fists shot out from
all sides. hats new and the liveliest kind
Of q spectacle was Afforded the crowd
that had begun to gather on the out
sbArts.
No Cop in Sight.
Just as the blue uniform was about to
go down in defeat some timid creature
yelled:
Call a cop!'' =.
But the noise of the scuffle had at
tracted a crowd Of civilians from places
in the neighborhood. One Of the civilians
informed the crowd in no uncertain tones
that the police could go to b., and
started in to help the bluecoat.
1t caught like wildfire. In two minutes
thirty civilians were making the khaki
uniforms feel as If It were time to 90.
And they did 60. nearly every one of
them a good deal the worse for bruises.
And still never a cop.
When the Fort Myer troopers had dis
appeared the crowd turned its attention
to the beaten arttlleryman. He was out
Of breath and bruised UP considerably. but
otherwise none the worse for his expert
ence. He was for leaving the spot at
once.
Could Handle Three.
1T handled three of 'em all right" he
got out between gasps ''but guess that
bunch was too many for me-
The stranger who had led the crowd
to the rescue spoke up.
I'm not posing as a scrapper." said
he. but I don't stand for nothin' like
that"
''Eh. boys?." he added looking toward
the throng around him.
A chorus Of noes was the response.
Somebody called out to the lone man in
blue to come on and finish 'em. and
well stand by you"
''Ah. no. drawled the man from Fort
Hunt. II don't want to get pinched up
here"
well pay your fine said half a dozen.
Wasn't Looking for Trouble.
Much obliged, boys" replied the man
in blue, as he STROBE off down the street
II guess I've had enough to tell the
truth. Besides I'm not lool1in' for trouble,
you know
And that was all the satisfaction the
crowd got out OF him. The first police
precinct station house is only a little
over q square from the spot. but there