New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-29
BORED BOYS STIR
UP RIPPER SCARE
Glee Banishes Ennui as
Frightened Mothers
Corral Children

Doleful is the lot of the tired busi-
ness man, who, freed temporarily
from the thrall Of employment. sees
nothing ahead Of his excitement-crav-
ing personality but another day oil
toll on the morrow. For him, at least,
there remains the musical comedy
For Louis Biffer no such allurements
offered themselves.
On the doorstep of his home. at 63s
East 18th Street, Louis paused mo-
ment to yawn. He looked up and down
the street with a disillusioned and
surfeited eye. Next door, at 636, sat
Max Frechtel, also deep in the tolls
Of boredom. The usual business Of the
usual-looking street went on IN It's
usual fashion. Since he could re-
member, Louis had longed for some
wild event to vitslize this dreart
neighbours od. Now, from the pinnacle
of nine years of peaceful existence. ne
had almost given up hope. Louis
yawned again.
Excitement-At Last
In the doorway opposite, Mrs. Gus
sic Stern halted to inspect the con-
tents of her letter box before pro
ceeding upstairs to prepare supper for
her four small children. Hers was
familiar and unromantic figure, and
Louis watched her torpidly for a mo-
ment. Then suddenly he checked
yawn at It's period of fullest expan'
sion, and stood erect, watching the
matronly form of Mrs. Stern as she
turned the knob and entered the tene'
ment. Upon her and upon her letter
box had suddenly descended the aura
of dark and terrific romance.
A moment later Louis, no longer
weary, went next door to consult Mr.
Frechtel, also nine years old, who sal
with bored and hopeless expression
upon his doorstep.
An hour later romance and impending
tragedy surged through East 1871
! Street.
The shrieks of Mrs. Stern started the
! turmoil. She stood once more before
her letter box. In her hand she held q
bit of yellow paper, while at the top OF
her voice she shouted the names of hei
children in rapid succession.
"'Ware Ripper" Is Cry
Other mothers paused for a moment
and then went their way, lifting ur
their voices in loud appeal as they
went. In ten minutes dozen matrons
were earnestly paging their offspring
from one end OF the block to the other
As soon as a child was found he was
clutched firmly. taken upstairs and
locked in a room, with his mother
standing guard over him. For Jack the
Ripper" was abroad in the land.
The yellow paper bore a fearsome
impression of a skull and crossbones
and the following grisly message IN the
uniformed hand one usually associates
with the insane:
Beware your child will be killed at
p. M"
il was now almost 5. Mothers re-
doubled their search and their clamor.
The presence of half a dozen police.
men brought back some semblance OF
order. Two guarded the door of the
Stern apartment all that night. BE-
hind it Mrs. Stern paced restlessly,
with her four offspring locked IN the
bedroom.
All this transpired on Thursday.
Yesterday detectives who had been
studying the ripper" warning came TO
the conclusion that it had been written
on school paper, and began canvass
of the children of the neighborhood.
Real Arrests--Real Thrills
Such excitement as he had never
dreamed Of fell upon the head Of Louis
Bifer, lately indolent and bored. Two
real detectives arrested him. Max
Frechtel also realized that a life Of
quiet has its advantages when he was
taken
Detectives say that Louis admitted
the authorship of the missive, and Max
confessed to its insertion in the Stern
letter box.
Peace once more reigned in East
18th Street yesterday. The supposed
Jack the Ripper" and his assistant
rested, far from opportunities for
further excitement, paroled in the Gus
tody Of their parents, charged with
juvenile delinquency.