The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-08-01

ark jeWelry store, looking at tae
display. had his wallet removed from,
the split-tail pocket of his coat by
my fast-running. imitation pick
pocket. 1t was in the middle of the
day. and the Newark streets were
filled with people The pickpocket
made his work of swiping the leather
very coarse, so that whole bunch
of passersby couldn't help but see
him i'm the act. and then ne took to
his moccasins, the men and boys who
had seen him snagging the wallet
taking after him with all their might
and yelling 'Pickpocket!' and Stop
tnief.' and all that sort of thing. 1t
made the bulliest and most natural
picture of a hue and cry that ever
saw My pickpocket knew the
route thoroughly from having gone
over it in rehearsals. and the film
making pictures were planted all
along the route. AS my imitation
pickpocket was such a swell runner
he kept at an even distance of about
a hundred feet or so in front of the
gang of pursuers. Before three
blocks of the route had been covered
the pursuers numbered hundreds of
men and boys, and every one of them
actually believed that he was chasing
q sure enough pickpocket
when the runner finally reached
that he was exhausted there to let
the crowd close in on him and nail
him-and this was right in front of
where the final machine had been
placed to get the windup of the
chase-he finished the job up in great
shape. He pulled off realistic
stumble right in front of the machine
and about thirty of the pursuing men
and boys out in front of the crowd
fell on top of him, and then couple
of COPS we had engaged to rescue the
phony pickpOcket at this stage of it
slammed in and got him to his feet
in no time, pretending to yank him
off in the direction of the calaboose,
While the machine snapped the wind
up. When the chasers got wise to it
that the thing was only counterfeit
nil
and that they'd run at top speed for
about three quarters of a mile just
to help the bogus good thing along
for us. they were a sick looking crowd
sure enough But all hands have got
to serve some useful purpose in the
world. even the slaminskis
Occasionally the meddlers get
themselves into trouble. OF course,
they're generally actuated by the
right idea when they busy and start
doesn't get us anything, and some
times it doesn't help them, either
: Early in June at place on the
Shrewsbury river in New Jersey, |
arranged to have little girl fall out
of the stern of a skiff into the water
and pretend to be struggling around
in the current, while a Newfoundland
dog, thoroughly trained at this stuff.
catching sight of the child from the
shore sprang in and:f grabbed her by
her top clothes and dragged her ashore
dripping and realistic l rehearsed
the dog and the child in this act
good many times, SOS to get just the
right kind of kinks into the perform
ance. When they were botn letter.
perfect in their parts l had the ma
chimes planted and gave the word for
the swapping to begin.
well, the little girl fell out of the
anchored skiff all right. and the big
Newfoundland piped her off from the
beach and swan out to her. when
something happened. A young fellow
on the shore who didn't understand
what was coming off, saw the little
che-ild fall out of the boat. and ne
ripped off mis- coat and struck into the
water after her at the same time the
dog did. He accepted our yeils,
which We're meant to have him sheer
off and behave himself. as cries of
encouragement He reached the lit
tie girl-who had been taught how 10
swim, by the way, though the water