The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1926-07-23

gully of a crime.
The trouble was to prove 1t and
TO connect the identity of each Jack
and Jill with his or her most glaring
dereIiction In the line of "stick-up" OF
peier-blowing," second-stOry job OF
confidence game That usually Is the
trouble. TO arrest a known" Grim
ina and to prove his guilt to the
prompt satisfaction Of grand jury
are very different matters.
Accordingly. very few of the gentle
men and of the young ladies-for all
the ladies were young-who abode
behind the bars upon this fine Janu-
AIRY morning were bothered by any
considerable anxiety. For most of
them. even for the boys under twenty
ana for most of the girls. the pick
up was an old story. Any bull"
could arrest you. If he wanted TO take
the trouble; any cop could paste
something on you"-book you on q
criminal charge, that is-but to
make 1t stick" to prove it, that GER
tainly was something else again.
The bulls had not only to dig up
evidence to support each charge, but
they had to dig 1t up quick. The
British earls and barons had seen to
that way back in the year 1915 when
they chased King John on to the
swamp of Runnymede and forced him
to forbid, forever, that man or woman
be imprisoned save by due process of
legal trial and sentence.
To all but possibly one of the
gentlemen behind the bars, and be-
yond doubt to all of the ladies, the
name Of Runnymede or even of the
Magma Charta would come as COM
plete surprise; but with the most
famous fruit of the Great Charter
the writ Of habeas corpus-every one
was on terms of fondest familiarity.
Indeed they called 1t by nickname,
"Haybie." In behalf of each Of them
the inalienable right under the law
would be invoked this morning, and
each prisoner knew it, Moreover, it
would Re invocki,es-.lr~fthout his having
to do anything abeslt 1t, for the or
ranization "outside'' would see to
that.
It worked, automatically. in this
way. When at liberty and at his or
her round of usual activities, each
Jack and Jill reported, by telephone,
at certain fixed hours to one or an
other of certain ring of lawyers.
When client failed to report on
time. the lawyer marked his name.
and when second report period
passed without call the lawyer. as
sumlng that his client was arrested,
could be counted upon to appear at
the opening Of court with a writ OF
habeas corpus In hand, demanding
In voice distinctly echoing the stern
tones Of Runnymede-by what right
the court deprived man of liberty
Accordingly. composure character
tied the bearing Of the sixty-odd pris'
Oners behind the bars. During the
inaugural hours of the pickup. there
had been, to be sure. an element OF
uncertainty as to whether the extraor
binary girl Kitty Hewitt, who hat
called the cops and brought then
with her to Harper Colton's, had also
Spilled" to the cops what she knew
But quickly 1t had become clear tt
the sixty that she had contented her
self with saving the MacLaren kit
and Doctor Darand and that she wa!
keeping her mouth shut otherwise.
But she knew too much--altogeth
or too much for girl who, In an!
cause or ON behalf of any one. would
call the cops,
The incident, as whispered from
lips to ear about the cell tier OF th'
jai. ran something as follows:
I'D Pellen's skirt crossed us.
said LIPS.
(which oneT" asked ears.
"Ihe one he's after but amt got
Kit Hewitt She butts in this way
kid named Macl.aren from Tho
country COMES up with "A fat roll tt
buy some city lots. Gerve Lavvy get!
the tip and takes the kid In hand.
terve us every ear knew, was ,
gul.nan connected with a gambln;
Joint run by one Crane hut owned
by citizen with respectable
''frui" named Harper Cotton
"Now Gerve wants to b. gentle, 81
instead of pulling plain rough
trrhina the boy by riolence) NJ
leads him to Cranes joint and lett
IN ratH and table do theii duty,
she i'd loses his roll but, instead
OF going home ana being good he ha
to nose arouAd--and what does IN
do IN, Hnd eu That Harper Cotton
tx di:ie y" down money from Gram
ano ",,ns rl'- iainl SO the kid goe
fa i;arp ana says he'll expose III
unless Harp pays all the money back.
Harp gets all worked up because
nobody's supposed to know he's mix
Ing with Crane. and especially not
that he's drawing down from the
Joint because Harp got himself mar
ried while ago to a swell skirt that
never seen Crane and knew nothing
of the joint. So Harp holds the kid
and sends for Crane. Well. Crane
just naturally taps the kid on the
head but he does 1t at the swell big
house where Harp lives. and that
raises howl. Because the last thing
hrrp wants pulled in his house Is a