The Washington times., 1922-09-03

Is supposed to dwell alone, fiction
Is sometimes substituted when the
truth might not be recognized.
For fiction is plausible and read
fly accepted, while truth is often
impossible to believe.
So II you go down to the munich.
pal court records in Philadelphia,
you will find line reading:
Florence Gray; twenty-five
years old; assault and battery:
Judge Brown; paroled."
And that is fiction-legal fiction,
perhaps, but fiction for all that.
For Florence Gray is not twenty
two years old. She is Just eight
months old: eight months to the
day nearly.
Yes, she was paroled after COIL
viction for assault and battery. but
she didn't commit the crime.
"Whistling Jack" Mcconnell of the
Iron Gang in the Quaker City was
really guilty. He was twenty-five,
. 1.-THE chap, made up Of whale
bone and whip-cord. the leader of
that pack Of embryonic yeggmen
that had kept the police cursing
for two years. And now Florence
Gray, eight months old, is taking
the gaff for him.
TWO PERSONS IN ONE.
Judge Brown will tell you that
Florence and Jack are one and the
same person, that Jacks real name
Is Florence and that the girl fooled
some Of the sharpest eyes and ken
est wits in America for nearly two
decades before her sex and Identity
were discovered.
That's mere fiction, because no
one would believe the truth, which
is that for sixteen years "Whistling
Jack" Mcconnell roamed the coun.
try, doing a mans work. drawing
mans pay, fighting a mans fights
and taking a mans punishment In
man-fashion. "Whistling Jack" was
arrested on that assault charge
eight months ago. and then. when
the police made him strip and
bathe-well, Jack faded into moth
ingness then. and It was Florence
Gray who faced the court next day
and obtained a suspension Of SEN
tence on parole.
PICTURESQUE PRISONER.
In peg-top trousers. pinch-back
coat, purple.lined, elkskin shoes of
white saddle with brown, Flor
ence, who had been Jack for six
teen years. faced the court. The
grin that showed the uneven teeth
was Jacks, and so were the sun
scorched hair, the quick blue eyes,
the calloused hands, the frecklel,
reckless face.
But Judge Brown had heard the
report, and he consented to put the
prisoner on probation only on con-
dition that the masculine raiment
be DOTTED forever. that the cropped
hair be allowed to lengthen, and,
in short, that "whistling Jack"
Mcconnell cease to exist.
The prisoner agreed. readily,
though the words Of acquisition
came in the harsh, grating accents
Of Jack of old. Jack was non-ex-
istent already, now that Florence
had been discovered after sixteen
years--and by the police, too.
A MILDLY blouse. a short blue
skirt. stockings Of silk and all the
other articles Of feminine raiment
were brought to the cell and
donned. distastefully, reluctantly,
rebelliously. and where whist
ling Jack" had walked into Jail,
Florence Gray walked out in the
night, furtively. with hands that
sought for coat pockets that were
not there, with feet that step
ped free and wide and awkward
ly in the skirts.
A NORMAL GIRL.
They kept the secret closely
through the months, while Flor.
ence's department was under OBJ
servation and she was compelled
to report to the probation officer
periodically. And she proved to
be wholly normal, in every phys
ical and mental aspect only she
could not get Job. In disgust.
the girl complained:
whats the sense Of trying to
20 through with this thing7 A
girl can't earn a decent living
in this town without a lot of
training and education and ex-
perience and recommendations
just got to do something and I
can't get work.
"Why, I went TO the Ware Con.
tracing Company and asked for
job driving a truck. just q
little one horse truck and they
gave me the laugh and the air.