The sun., 1916-01-10

II ~ SiNeT square IOOt UT ~ VI 0~oos-
lent ice could support the weight Of the
average blue clad cop without cracking
under the strain. then--to voice the dues-
tion that dIoturbed so many thousa nds
of feminine minds along the shores Of
the Van Cortlandt Park lakes all day
yestertiey--why tho ding couldn't the
same square Of Ice hold up 100 pounds
Of red checked girl?
With quite useless skates clankins
impatiently by thei~ sides. the young and
old boys and girls to a total estimated az
high as 10000 wouid-be skaters black
ened the lake shores and looked and
spoke their question toward the city's
finest. who stood stolidly out on the Ice
beside scattered signboards that read.
Skating Prohibited Not once did II
seem TO occur to any daintily ehOd girl
doomed to stay ashore that to begin with
all cops are born with natural snowshoe
feet and therefore cant break through.
Even II one of 'em could all he'd have to
do would be TO keep his shoes on and
with his night stick a. paddle canoe
his way toward shore In his catamarans.
If all tho young and old who came
from as FAR south as Staten Island and
from Irvington and beyond 20 the north.
not to mention tho thousands more from
Manhattan and The Bronx. who wanted
simultaneously 20 get aboard Van Cort-
randt Parks little lake yesterday after
noon. at least 100000 pounds would
have been added to the Ice. even suppos-
ing the average weight OF the skaters
was only 100 pounds,
Wherefore at the instance OF Park
Commissioner Thomas w. Whittle. who
was laid up Mt homo with grip but was
directing wisely from afar. efforts were
begun by Park Superintendent Hamilton.
Park Foreman Joe Scherer and their as
sistants in the early forenoon to shoe
enthusiasts In the towns new fad of the
ake proper and from the big stretch Of
swamp ice just to the south.
Park Guardian DeAed.
On tho lake, or that part Of II imme-
dately of the PARIS skate and golf
clubhouse the efforts Of the employees
were successful even before Police
Captain Matt McKeon Of the kingsbridge
station and about a score OF patrolmen
had got on the job. But on a patch OF
ice less than an acre In size separated
from the lake proper by the Putnam
division tracks fully 500 skaters were
the efforts OF distracted park guardians
TO chase them OF the ice.
And on the big stretch OF iceclad
swamp across the road to the south,
made doubly dangerous because Tib-
belts Brook flows through ii and thereby
increases the danger OF thin spots. the
crowd early had got beyond even the
;ireless labors OF the park men. A merry
mob estimated at from 1000 10 5000
III .tnv a,.I sfl,
ice. while along the shores OF the swamp
were parked from fifty to seventy Ave
automobiles when the police arrived
about II A. NJ.
Any policeman IL ready to take oath
to-day that catching. say, a broadway
ite with a broadway skate on Is one
thing. but that trying TO catch Van
Cortlandt skater shod with altogether
another kind OF skating equipment Is
something else again. Bu, the efforts
made on the swamp yesterday to clear
the ice OF skaters went to prove the
splendid physical value Of the towns
new crsze--it keeps the cops out in the
open air.
Seemingly It's a simple thing for the
arm Of the law to shoe a small---or big
boy steadily along "A stra ght line toward
the shore, but the matter IL simple I'm
theory only. For when Il seems that
the skater must Chamber upon land. rip
of his skates and heat his way to safety
he does no such thing. with the shore
only rod away the skater suddenly
does a Charlotte and while the cop Is
trying to pause IN his slide the skater Is
sailing backward out toward the middle
OF the ice field again. this figure being
completed by carefully placing the tip
Of the thumb TO the nose with the other
fingers stretched pointedly in the direc-
ton OF the COP.