The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1920-05-07
By Octavus Roy Cohen

River Street reminds one of River
side Drive-it is unlike that fash
iorable thoroughfare 1t is dark and
POORLY paved, and fanked on either
SIDE by somber rows of squalid, red
brick tenements. At each corner a
suffering arc-light battles noisly to
dissemble the Stygian gloom, but with
faint success.
| n the middle of the street, on the
right, a noisome alley, empties into
the main thoroughfare. At the inter-
section of alley and street the city
has placed an old-fashioned gas-lamp;
hut the denizens of River Street can
not remember when historic lamp has
burned, and so it is that the meeting
point of street and alley is naturally
dark; and on this particular night
went itself several better.
The waylaying trio knew the one
weakness of the rockies gastronomic
department. Inevitable as shore-leave
his first stop was at All Wong's for
dish of succulent chop suey, that
Chinese dish which is not at all
Chinese and never eaten by China
man, and therefore of great appeal 70
the occidental palate There were
two routes from the navy yard to All
Wong s-one to the end of Rive
Street and around three tortuous
blocks; the other, and the only direct
way, lay up River Street to the alley
and through that alley to the gilt-and-
red porals of All Wongs. So they
waited in the darkets spot in the dark
alley for their man.
The slim figure clad in dress blues.
swung lightly up River Street, paused
uncertainty at the mouth of the alley,
and swung by that route toward All
Wong's. The three in the fastness OF
the alley darkness flattened them
selves against the wall, grinning in
anticipatory glee.
Here he comes now" whispered
the cook.
"Sure?" questioned the master-at-
arms in a subilant whisper.
"The last man." nodded the cook
affirmatively. Its him all right"
The figure approached the appointed
spot unexpectedly. The muscles CT
the conspirators tensed. Cookie gave
the signal
Now" he shireked in a high fall
setto. Grab him!"
The lone figure jerked up with an
exclamation of surprise. He leaped
backward until his shoulders were
against the wall on the opposite side
of the alley. He laughed shrilly. The
attackers closed in.
The master-at-arms dived viciously
for the legs; a regular football tackle,
at which he was expert, being an
On the team of the U. S. S. Spring
field The prospective victim side
stepped ninbly, circled with surpris-
ing agility, and a big fist crashed
with trained precisio nagainst the side
of the cooks jaw.
The cook paused uncertainty, the
look of utter surprise which flashed
to his face being wasted in the i'm
pcnetrable blackness. Meanwhile the
mester-at-arms had tackled-with lit
tie success-the red-brick wall. The
cock sagged in the middle and drop
ped like an empty flour sack. Blake
closed in, whooping like madman.
paste 'im!" he yelled. He aim
gonna let us take him"
The master-at-arms scrambled to
his feet paused in dazed uncertainty
fer a second, yisualized the figure Of
their antagonist in the bloom, and
started bravely for him. He had n0l
witnessed the blow that felled the
cock
The dancing figure of the man in
dress-blues sped down the alley for
perhaps a score of yards, the master
alarms and the redoubtable Blake in
close pursuit. OF sudden he turned.
He first caught the master-at-arms
fairly in the midriff, full weight of
bone and muscle, expertly directed
behind it. The stricken man was
conscious for a fleeting instant
conscious of the fear that the fist in
tended travelling through his stomach
until it snapped the backbone. He
grunted in pain and sank slowly to
the bosom of Mother Earth-clothed
as it was with dirty cobblestones.
Blake was both valiant man and
good boxer. He squared off and the
two men spared briefly. Blake step
ned in to have his head snapped back
by a straight left jab. He tried it
again only to have the performance
repeated. Blake began to realize that
the man oppSsite-whatever else he
might be-was certainly trained
boxer. And the jabs hurt. Only the
man on the receiving end of the jab
fusillade knows how much they hurt.
Blake proceeded with greater eau
tion-but he proceeded The other
sprang in with lightning-like quick
ness; the left jabbed Blake's heaa