Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-01
JOHN DAVIS, ALIAS ALA BABA
BUT JOHN WAS BESET BY MORE
THAN FORTY THIEVES.
Hear This Heartrending Tale OF
Moonshine Alley-But Judge Null
lowry Sent Him Down.

When a man charges single-handed
upon a bunch of desperadoes. cut-throats.
thieves, hold-up men, Stck-up men.
strong-arm men sledge-hammer men-all
kinds of wicked men-and shoots revol-
yer into the crowd at the imminent risk
of his own life
When property is being destroyed. when
the city is in danger, when the dust of
Moonshine alley is being raised. when
| folks are being scared out of their wits.
| when mems hearts turn weak and faint
and virtue and truth lie at the mercy of
ruffians-
When a fellow gets pinched and lies all
| night in cell-say. he has to tell the
judge something, anyhow.
So thought John Davis. vino was hauled
ANONYMOUSLY to the Police Court yester-
day. along with lot of other innocent
men and women. Innocence; oh. inno-
| cence-the inevitable end of innocence
seems to be right down in front of Judge
MullOwny.
Of Course, He's Peaceful.
1t seems that John Davis. who is the
most peaceable man ever seen except when
he meets up with the army of vice and
crime, started out to clean up the entire
city and leave it in state of spotless
purity, and give the undertakers terri
BILE lot to do.
He was walking along Moonshine alley
eve been in Moonshne alley? Delightful
place-when a. large man; oh, terrific
man: a man as big as-well. as big as
anything, judge, yo' honah. hit at him.
Not small hit. but a terrific. crashing,
landslide of hit; the kind of a hit that
drives a thrty-foot pile four feet into the
ground.
v,,l>1 i cxo md h1,o nd toll ya
thing like that?
Not John Davis. Not he! He turned on
that man with the quickest retort imagin-
able
He said, quickly:
How dare you. sir. strike at defense-
less man like that?'
But the Bold Thing merely leered at
Davis and told him. gruffly:
Get out O this alley
Then it was that Davis brought all his
Wits into play. Proudly pulling himself
to his full height. he cooked his head to
one side and then delivered himself of
this gem of originality:
Get out yourself!'
There was no use arguing with Davis,
so the Bold Thing started to batter down
a stable door.
Gracious. he was thief!
And he had accomplices.
What Fearful Straits!
Davis detective sense was aroused to
that fact by seeing about hundred of
them rushing down the alley, up the
alley, over fences. from behind telegraph
poles-from the very stones they came.
Leaping to the earth as if they had been
sown as dragons teeth by a magic hand.
rising to the surface fully armed, with
belts of cartridges and holsters simply
crowded with revolvers. Never was
kniphf nf old 90 hoSo
They pitched into Davis and hit him
and shot him and cut him with every
weapon known to the entire world He
must have seen the modus operandi of
every known brand of firearm and in
fernal machine that ever came out of an
arsenal. When the gunpowder gave out
they resorted to large rocks and slung
shots. hickory sticks and long prodding
backward Or forward. according to the
position of the adversary. 18th fighting
off the blows and cursing his enemies
Davis got tired. 1t was firing. wasn't it?
One of them took mean advantage of
him and climbing to the roof of a shed.
dropped something on him. He paused
long enough to look at it. and, examining
it, he found it was cord of wood.
Honest, Now, Judge!
Now, Davis did not like to see a man do
that. so he tried to find place where he
could not see it done again. but his foes
were too many. He was finally forced to
Oh. how he shot.
Honest. now. judge
Take him down for sixty days
1t is hard to convince Judge Mullow-
ny. but if he had been there he could
have seen for himself.