Evening star., 1924-10-26
BY JACOB sPOLANsKY.
CHAPTER. 10.

"year-round" residents OF the dunes
near Miller, Ind, first noticed man
of eccentric appearance who roamed
the beach day after day-always
alone.
Where he came from no one knew.
He simply appeared one day, and
thereafter was seen at various times
upon the beach.
He wore. a beard. He possessed a
pair of piercing eyes. And he disliked
company. He had a habit of stopping
dead in his tracks when any one ap-
preached him and following the
chance stroller with his eyes until he
had passed. He talked to no one
Needless to say, his reputation as a
man of mystery" was quickly ac-
quired
He always walked alone. poking
about into this and that pile of waste
along the beach, and as he was. in
spite of such queer ways, an inoffen-
sive fellow who minded his own busi-
ness, even If he did insist on keeping
his secret, regular inhabitants of the
dune lands let him alone and soon
came to accept his presence there as
matter of course. They also be-
came accustomed to his wandering
ways, and paid no attention to them,
even though many of his excursions
were made at night.
Mystery Increases.
After a while they found his home
"A little ramshackle hut in the
sands, far down past the last of the
Summer cottages. 1t became known
that two young girls lived with him,
one of them very pretty. One, a for
eign looking girl, was said by some
to be his wife. Report was that the
other was his sister. But no one
knew. The foreign looking girl was
eccentric. She wore few clothes, and
had the habit of romping barefoot
down the beach, running away when
anyone approached. But no one
minded this, either. On rare oc-
casions the man was seen going down
the beach accompanied by both young
women, and once or twice they were
seen together on the way to town.
Then one night a visitor was seen
going into the hermit's shack. and
Immediately new romance was
woven concerning the mystery house.
The visitor had carried a suitcase 1t
might be that this lonely resident was
moonshiner. Friendly and hopeful
attempts to verify this on the part of
duneland neighbors, however, met
with angry rebuke, whereat interest
along this line quickly disappeared.
But the rumor persisted. and in time
reached the chief of police at Gary,
and then the Federal Government.
Annrchists' Proclamation.
It was not until some time later
that other suspicious arose concern
ing this mysterious hermit who lived
with his wife and his sister beyond
the cottages. On May Is a confiden-
tfai informant employed at the print
ing ONCE at 1872 West Chicago ave-
nue. came to me with information
that some one had brought in an
anarchist proclamation to be printed"
went Immediately to see the man
ager of the place, A. Kirsh, who at
hrst refused to talk, but after a while
admitted that young Russian fellow
had brought the copy and ordered the
printing of them. He had taken the
proclamation to the general manager
of the place, John Moskoff, he said,
and Mr.. Moskon had refused to allow
the thing to be printed. At that time
the AFFAIR seemed to have little sig
nificance, for, in Chicago, some one
is always attempting to have printed
some matter of a revolutionary ma
ture. 1t was filed with other such
tips" to be investigated as soon as
time could be found. As 1t happened,
other matters of an urgent nature
filled all of the time between then
and the first Of June, and it was not
until I read of the bomb explosions
General Palmer and others that the
incident OF that anarchist proclama-
ton flashed into my mind.
In the neighborhood of each Of the
explosions had been found a procla-
nation Of anarchistic nature de-
nouncing all forms of capitalistic
government and advocating death to
the rulers.
Suspicion Directed to Hermit.
That little incident Of the printing
Office Immediately took on additional
significance and L went at once to
question again all members of the
plant. No one seemed to remember
anything about it, but one finally was
found who remembered that the copy
had been signed 1.-The Group of
this man also remembered that it was
to have been printed in both Russian
and English. The Russian who or
dered the printing spoke English fu-
entity. he said, and had bright, pierre
ing eyes. His first name was Alex,
and he lived near Gary.
Immediately the whole situation
became clear. That little Russian
who had attempted to order these
proclamations was none other than
the little hermit fellow who lived on
the beach-the fellow we had kidded
the revenue agents about as being
too clever to be caught in the act
Of bootlegging.
+. "The Group of Avengers" also
arose In another connection, for un-
der that name was functioning a
group Of anarchists who formed the