Bisbee daily review., 1916-12-24

Wilkens sleeps stood open little way and I caught the glim of fiashlight near where she keeps her jewel case. ' showed my hand just inside the door and pushed the light button. And there we WAS face to face with a couple of the most surprised and toughest lookin' crooks that 1 ever met up with. Miss Wilkens was lyin' there in the bed sleepin' like a baby" Them two housebreakin' agents of Legar's was as full of fight as cou- pie of Kilkenny cats. They whipped out their guns, and one of them fieshed me in the shoulder, while the other fetched Joe a crack over the head that put him to sleep for minute. By the time Miss Wilkens had got her eyes open an let out a scared screech they was through the winder and climbin' down the latticework."
 "Wait minute, Jenkins" Captain Bracket interrupted. ''Your story may be very interesting, but what has this part of it got to do with the LaugnlnS MASK.
 q was just comin' to that" his sub ordinate replied in a somewhat az grieved tone. "We got out the front door just as the thugs was maxim tracks for a racin' car they had hid den off to one side of the road. Old man Parker tried to stop 'em, but he got a wallop on the jaw that knocked him stiff. They jumps into the car and sends her off with the self-starter. We thought they was gone all right. when that automobile stops up with q jerk that pretty near put them motor bardits over the glass front. We was Johnny on the spot then. an we col Jared OUT men in hurry. An say. what do you think put the kibOsh on that joy ride getaway|
 ''The thing that brought them crooks to a standstill was rope as thick as my arm, with one end tied to the rear axle of the automobile and the other end made fast to big tree. The wheels was buZzin' round but they wasn't gettin' nowhere. An the man who rigged up the cOntrap ton for stoppin' those crooks mus have been that Laughin' Mask ye're after. We found those jailbirds had pretty bad records an the commish said I was likely to get some good news in a couple of days. Perhaps this feller with the mask ain't as bad as you think, chief"
 "Why doesn't he come out into the open. then, and explain these charges standin' against him, instead of sneakin' around like a masked safe blower?" he demanded with consid- erable heat
 ''I didn't know you wanted me tO begin backwards" he said in ruffled tones. "Tve got somethin' worth talEin' about all right, if you'll give me a chance to tell it."
 "Please tell us everything that hap pened, Jenkins" Margery interposed
 Well, it certainly was some scrap. Miss Golden" answered the thief catcher, addressing himself exclusive ly to the diplomatic girl. "an' the strangest part of the whole thing hap pened after 1 got the bracelets on them crooks and left Joe to watch them, while I went up to the house to see if anything was missin'."
 Just as I reached the house." he quickly resumed, 'the moon broke through the clouds an l stood lookin' , into the garden, for I had q hunch that One-armed desperado might be hangin' around to superintend that job his men tried to pull off. Then. all at once, seen Miss Wilkens. dressed in a kind of lace wrapper. standin' like a ghost down at the fur ther end of the garden. An she wasn't alone by long shot. Talkin' 10 her, free and easy SIS if he'd known her all his life, was that daredevil, Laughin' Mask. I felt sort of obliged to him for tippin' me off about Le- gar's second-story workers, but I knew you was anxious to have q little talk with him, so I commences to sneak up on them night providers like an old Tom would go after a couple of sparrowS. I had covered about half the distance when that masked Romeo grabs Miss Wilkens in his arms an commences to kiss her like a happy bridegroom. An she keeps comin' right back for more. was that surprised l must have let my foot down heavy. for they broke apart and be goes through the hedge like q shot. When I comes up on the run there was only Miss Wilkens an' when I told her she was harborin' a man wanted by the law, she froze me up with naughty stare.
 "'lou must have been driuLip'. of hcer,' she says. T just came out for a minute to calm my nerves after all that excitement an the only person I've seen is an extremely rude police man
 'I doO't believe word of the last part of your story," Margcry cried in a voice pcrilously close to tears. 'I don't believe the Laughing Mask was promenading about that garden with Il strange youug woman at uidaigh;. 70
 wen settfe that when fhe lime comes said the poiircs captnin "hut