The Washington times., 1924-05-03
CECILIA cooNEY THE BoBBEp HAIRED BANDIT IN TWO POSES

the columns. The cops had been
kiting around Brooklyn with fliv.
vers and motorcycles all night
long chasing us, while we were
home asleep in bed.
And, gosh! what they said about
me. Right away some wise guy
had pulled that line about l must
be a dope fiend and leader of a
band in the underworld. We had
to stop and laugh at that.
1 said, Here Ed, wait q minute
while / take q shot in the arm
and play you a tune on the slide
trombone. Pipe your little Wife.
See who / am! I'm the bcbbed-
haired bandit! I'm q dope fiend
and the leader of a band! Don't
you just love thatv' ra
But Ed didn't seem to think 1t
was so funny. I danced around the
room. Who'd have ever thought
that little Cecilia Cooney, working
In laundry at $12 a week, would
be all over the front pages of the
like that! Gee! 1 felt big!
AND l couldn't see why Ed sat SO
sore, still bent over the papers.
Confederate" Stumps Her.
Then, all Of sudden, I sort of
figured 1t out. There was hardly a
thing about him in the headlines.
and only down IN the small type
they spoke Of him once or twice as
my male companion" And once
they called him a Confederate"
Ihat seemed foolish for i thought
cOnfederateS were rebel soldiers
who fought in the civil war. Eds
only a couple of years older than
me. He was just barely old enough
to get in the navy this last war.
But I've found out since what con-
federate means.
Anyway, thought Ed war sore,
because the papers had sort of left
him out, and I started to kid him
about it.
He said:
Jaw, Celia, cut it, you don't seem
to understand what we been doing.
Look here"
And he showed me a place in the
where it said the police
had been given orders % shoot and
kill us on sight.
I said: 'Why, Ed, that's awful.
You don't think they mean it., do
you? They haven't got any right.
They wouldn't do that, would
they?"
He said: well, Celia, they have
done it-with others. l guess they
have got the right, all right"
promised l was going to tell
this whole story, ad / am trying
to DO 1t, but what happened then
isn't very nice to tell about. 1 got
sick at my stomach and vomited.
Cried Afterwards.
And afterwards 1 cried. But
don't know what had got into me,
for 1t wasn't three hours afterward,
that same day, that 1 was singing
and dancing round the house again,
ready Tor anything.
/ sit here in this cell now, and
think about it and I can't see how
l had the nerve to keep on going
after that for do you know 1t
wasn't but three days later that Ed
ana l went out and robbed Wvin.
stems drug store.
l couldn't really believe that the
police would have shot us, not
unless we started shooting first
and we were not going to shoot.
But that's only what I'm thinking
now-about maybe they wouldn't
have shot us. At the time we Just
sort of kept going without thinking
anything much about It at all.
1t was only after that terrible
National Biscuit Company hold.up,
when / heard gun go off close for
the first time-when Ed shot poor
Mazio through the door, and 1
heard him scream. and saw the
streak OF fire come out from the
end or the pistol-that l really
had been doing.
think about that now at night.
after the cell door is locked. ami
the matron comes shopping down
the little corridor "A the barred