East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1910-02-10
WHITE HOUSE IS
THIEVES PASTURE
LIGHT FINGERED GENTRY
FIND SOME EASY PICKING
Ply Ncrarious Trade without Fear at
National Capitol-Get Very Bold
Negro Has Policeman Assist Min
To steal Sofa.

Washington, d. C.-"Cap, would
you mind holdin' that door open
while ] gets through?"
sure exclaimed the capitol po-
liceman, as he oblgingly opened the
door to its full width and held it
there The first speaker, a very dark
compleXioned colored man, repocket-
ed the soiled handkerchief with which
he had been mopping his brow, lifted
the heavy, leather couch upon his
right shoulder and passed out with a
Thank you, boss"
Three days later a clerk from one
of the committee rooms of the house
of representatives made n tour of in
vestigation of the big building in quest
of a missing leather couch. In the
course of his travels he ran upon the
policeman at the outer door.
Someone has swiped the big leath-
er couch that was in Congressman
BIS committee room" he explained.
You don't happen to remember hav-
ing seen anyone leave the building
with one, do you?"
NO replied the policeman. "Oh,
yes, l do" he hastened to correct
himself, was it a big leather affair
with a quartered oak france"
Just that kind" replied the clerk.
by George" cried the policeman.
1T must have been that colored fell
low that got me to open the door for
him. OF all the nerve! What do you
think? The fellow that lifted the
lounge had the face TO make me open
the door for him when he took it out.
I remember him well. He was a big,
black fellow. and came down the cor
ridor from the direction of your room
When he got to the door here, he put
the couch down, pulled out his hand
kerchief and mopped his face. / be-
lieve it was just that action that
threw me off my guard. If he had
hurried out in the first place l might
have stopped him and asked him
where he was going with the thing
But then. again I might not have
done anything Of the sort You cans
expect US to keep track of everything
that goes out OF this building"
THAT was a $40 couch" sadly OBJ
served the clerk as he returned to his
committee room.
As o matter of fact, dear Old Uncle
sam should consider himself f0rtu-
nate that ne ever. owns anything for
any length of time i'm the big legisla-
tive ana departmental buildings.
There are so many entrances and eX-
its. so many employees and so many
strangers going in and out; so many
articles Of furniture being moved
back and forth from one office to an
other. or from one building 10 anoth-
er. that it would be the greatest Won
der i'm the world if things were not
stolen at times. The fact that more
are not taken speaks well for the
general honesty OF the capital city.
The capitol being the largest struc-
ture in the city and one containing
the greatest variety Of movable prop
erty. It is naturally the one most fire.
quentIy worked" by the Iight-fin-
gered persons of easy conscience. Not
go very long ago young man ap-
neared at the house press gallery and
asked Superintendent Charley Mann
/ where the typewriter belong ng to one
| of the press associations was located.
/ you'll find it in the back room, "
! said Mann.
"Au right" said the young man
! "I'n take it along"
And he did. soon thereafter the
| concern owning the writing machine
discovered its loss. Uncle Sam mad
to pay the loss. He always loses.
During the last few years scores oi
,l,o French clocks in the committee
rooms of the capitol have been ROB
bed Of their metal ornaments These
we're mostly little bronze statuettes OF
real artistic merit and cost in th'
neighborhood of $50 or $40 each. we
ought to be glad that the thieves lef'
us the clocks" remarked one Of the
congressman after the third robbery OF
this sort had been reported to him
Now only American clocks of th'
severest. simplest design are purchas'
ed for the committee rooms