The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-01-30
A Detective
Scheme
BY JOHN GALLAGHER. j..

Many are tue devices OF the detectives
or plain clothes men. as they are call
ed, to trap those they are after ant
land them In Jail. One would snppos'
that hiding in crowded community
would be easy compared with the coun
try, where everybody knows every
body elses business and any one un
accounted for attracts attention. But
the police say that IL they can get
crook they are after into the munich
pal net they are sure to land him-thal
Is, II they pounce upon him so suddenly
that he can't have time to slip through
their fingers.
/ The underworld has its society" as
well as the upper world. though 1t is
far more transient. As to dancing, as
the Turkey trot song goes. Every
body's doing It," The social bottom
has its soirees as well as the social top.
One evening young man entered
dance h0u In Philadelphia where
''toughs" and their girls met He look
ed tougher than any other man in the
room. A stovepipe hat was mashed
down over his eyes. under which were
a pair of bleared eyes. flaming red
nose and stubble beard. He was
very agile and put on good deal OF
style. which was comical in such de-
graded person. Marching up to one Of
the women. he made crooked bow
and crooked his arm at her. She took
1t and strutted of with him, putting
on all the airs of the upper ten thou
sand.
Look at EN-"
"What illigance!'
Where did the bIoke come from?"
"And the Teddy she'd make pea.
cock ashamed Of itself!"
The music struck up. and the dance
began. The couple who had attracted
the attention of the company continued
to hold 1t by their remarkable antics
In the dance. The gentleman seemed
made Of rubber. and the lady didn't
seem to care as to showing her ankles
Now and again the former jumped
three or four feet from the floor. and
every time he gave whoop. And aft
er every jump OF the man the woman
would jump higher and whoop louder.
The dance over. they separated and
danced with others. but later In the
evening the man approached the won.
an again. jumped In the air before her, |
made more profound bow than be |
fore, and they sailed away together /
In round dance, spinning like tee !
totum. They evidently enjoyed the I
amusement they created. and In order
to increase ii they began to bump cou
pies they passed. This feature was
more successful with the onlookers
than any other.
But very soon the bumps they gave
began to come hack to them with In n
terest. One couple after another ran
into them and presently began to run
into one another. The humping be
came not only general. but increased
In force. Then the bumpers began tc
FIRE up.
In less than half an hour after this
swell couple started the innocent pleas
antry OF knocking dancers off theii
pins the assembly resolved itself into
/ free fight. There were bowling and
swearing and whooping. and no mar
made more noise than the stranger and
10 woman more than the strangers
girl The proprietor jumped on table
md yelled at the top of his voice:
What do you want to bring down
he police on the house for? Shut upr
He might as well have tried to still
! tempest with penny trumpet II
vas biff. biff. biz, with here a growl,
here yell, a screech from some wo ii
nan occasionally sounding shrill above
he uproar like the wind bowling
through the rigging of ship.
Presently two policemen rushed into
he room. One of them cast his eye
yer the assembly and. seeing the imi
ator Of swelldom sparring with a red
eaded man. scar on his left cheek,
rent up to him and arrested him. As
e pushed his prisoner along the lat
ar said TO him:
Got 'em blocked below"
"Yes. Who's herey"
Cant tell Take in the lot and sift
I'M out"
There was wild rush for the door,
ut dozen policemen stood In the
'ay. Then some of the men went to
he windows. but the hall was on the
bird story of a building and nothing
atween 1t and the ground There was
skylight, and some tried 10 get out
J to the roof. but there were no means
getting up to IT, The clang of pa.
oil wagons sounded below, and one
: one the recent reve.ers were taken !.
'wn past une OF policemen. put into
agons and driven TO the station.
Among the others were the hilarious 4
ranger and the girl who had helped u
m amuse the company. The police
an who had arrested them said some
ing to the officer at the desk. and
ey were led into another room. wher,
ey stripped of their outer clothing
ID both appeared as men.
They were plain clothes men who had
en- sent to the dance 10 create a dis
rbance. giving the police cause to =
Ike In the assembly. expecting that X
me notorious crooks wanted for W
Ime would be found in the general
nj NumarouS criminals mara fakan