Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-09-10
'ound the captain in his office.
Ne BIuffed Il Out.

How about that murder story
Capt." he said. with easy assurance
The captain looked at him in aston
ishment.
What murder story" he clustered,
Jaw, come OF, Cap" retorted the
cub. 1--WE know all about that. The
other fellows have all got 1t. You
aren't going to let me get scooped are
you?"
So the captain, resigning himself to
the inevitable, actually did give the
cub the story Of a whooping big MUIR
der. which actually had happened that
night in the Attrill street district and
which the police actually had been try
ing to suppress, and the cub went Dack
to his Office and with the assistance Of
crime DISORDERS who were older and
wiser than he. smeared his beautiful
murder story all over the first page OF
Gave Them 4 Shook.
When the night bunch were leaving
headquarters at daybreak, one or the
older men, who had been in on the hoax
murder story" out at Attrill street.
II certainly did. Big story all right
1 got 1t on the first page. Were it is
and he bought a paper at newsstand
and showed 1t to the merry TESTERS
The outburst of language which fol-
lowed this revelation was horrible.
The oldest cub ever knew was
little German. fat and more than forty
who had broken into the night police
game, somehow, after he had resigned
as hopeless the task Of supporting HIM
self, a wife and twelve children, as a
minister Of the gospel. How on eartn
he ever was able to make both ends
meet on cubs salary was a mystery
lie retained a good deal Of his minis
terial dignity, did not attempt to dis
guise the fact that the free and easy
language used by the newspaper boys
panied him extremely. and go. on the
whole, he was not very popular.
When big story broke, no one took
the trouble to enlighten him and he
was scooped 80 often that it got on his
nerves, In fact, during his working
hours he was continually bordering on
a state of hysteria, fearful lest some
thing was happening that he knew
nothing. about and which he would
know nothing about until 1T was print
ed. o."
Chasing . Burglar Story.
Early one morning the tip came into
detective headquarters that two police
men from west side station had been
shot and killed by burglars. There was
still time to catch the last edition II
the scene of the shooting near Ashland
avenue could be reached In a hurry, and
a dozen newspaper men ran at top
speed out of headquarters to the cab
stand at the south side Of the city hall.
Jumped in the waiting vehicles and
shouted to the sleepy cabmen to get
move on them.
The excitment woke up the German,
who had been sleeping soundly in
chair, and he started to his feet in time
to see the last Of the scurrying report
ers vanish through the doorway. He
followed, saw them jumping into the
cabs and heard the tumble of rapid
fire instructions to the drivers as they
were driven away In the darkness.
Comething big had happened-but
what was 1t all about? A sudden reali-
cation of the hopelessness Of his own
situation made him frantic. N
He jumped into the only cab remain
"where to. boss?" asked the cabby.
ZACH, Gott!" shouted the little Ger
man, In a frenzy. Take me ANY
WHERE!" .ty,4 .,s.r i. ~. z
-- Pancakes Hard Luck.
When Karl Pancake left for the
Pacific coast about a, year ago, he had
won recognition as one of the best
crime reporters in Chicago. Many years
before, PAN" had begun newspaper
work as a cub for the City Press Asso-
citation, assigned to the Hyde Park po-
lice district. The first few weeks Of
the new work were hard shedding. Early
one morning, when Pan" was leaving
the Hyde Park station, Inspector Nick
Hunt, commanding officer of the dis
trict, who had noticed the young cub
about the station and thought he SEEM
ed respondent, called him into his Of
fee. s..
well, young man, how are you get
ting along?" he questioned.
ITS rather hard to say" replied Pam
cake, doubtfully. Last week got
scooped ten times and this week only
eight. What do you think, inspector"