Evening star., 1935-01-27
SUSPENSE MARKS
RECESS OF TRIAL
Hiatus Between Friday and
Monday Leaves Audi
ence Semi -Dazed.
BY ANNE GORDON sUYDAM.

REMINGTON, N. j., January 26.-
Do YOU remember. when you used to
read those penny thrillerS OF the Nick
Carter school. and just as your nero
was about to deal the villain merited
and manly thrashing you turned a
page and came across the unbelievable
words Ito be continued? Do you re-
member how impossible it seemed
that any one with a grain OF heart
and imagination could so abruptly
leave you in that tense and GREATNESS
state? Do you remember with what
baffiement you looked at those mad
dening little asterisks, and wondered
how you could possibly wait until TO-
morrow? !,
We in Pennington are remembering
those things well today, as the week
end adjournment places it mcon-
gruous hiatus between Friday and
Monday. We have left our potential
villain cringing and glaring in the
witness chair, we have been snatchsd
suddenly from our righteous hero
while vet his scalding denunciationS
were ringing in our ears, we have at
the very climax. of our emotions been
confronted with the words TO De.
continued Monday
Can't Get Back to Normalcy..
We wander around the town in a
sen1i-dazed condition, because 1t Is
almost impossible to swing back into
the ordinary pursuits and diversions
of a normal week end. We start
casual conversations which trail aim
lessly off. We speak brightly OF going
to New York for the day, or riding 10
Trenton for a movie. We achieve a
spurious gayety in an attempt to get
back to normalcy and TO freshen our
minds and nerves against tomorroWs
tension, but sooner or later We are ar
guing, declaiming, rehearsing the last
chapter of this amazing serial.
Living from day to day in the weird
atmosphere of that court room,
watching the actors who come and
90. straining to catch every word and
every impression emanating from that
room, we are attuned to such high
pitch of receptivity that We ourselves
are no longer normal.
Some reporters have dashed away
in an attempt to escape the whole
thing for a few hours. others roam the
streets for bits of local color, many
have gone to bed from utter exhaus-
ton. Flemingtonians themselves are
calmer, and enjoy with complacency
the use of their own streets and
shops. The little boys still run up and
down the town hawking papers, and
pennies with a copper impression OF
the court house stamped upon them,
and alas! men still stand on street
corners and sell to misbegotten mo-
rons small replicas of that ghastly
ladder which led to a baby's death.
These hideous symbols worn on the
lapels Of men and women are a sick
ening, disillusioning sight.
Newspaper Competition.
Abram Parker, aged 8, has started
heavy competition against bulky jour-
mails which threaten to snow us under.
His paper is known as the "Haupt-
mannville News" but last week he ne
elected crime for day when his big
gest lead was the advent of Joe Pen
ner in Pennington. Certain Fleming
ton citizens have protested against the
incontinence of newspaper people "be-
cause they don't keep regular hours"
Very few of them take us seriously,
but most of them are good natured
about our odd practices, and have
come to expect the unexpected.
Except for a few isolated incidents,
there is not much comic relief in
Pennington. The loudest laughter is
from those half-wits who crowd the
court room, and grin or guffaw for no
apparent reason. They have gotten
under Justice Trenchard's skin, and
he has promised to have them thrown
out. Reilly's chorus of mink-coated
lady friends still holds down the front
seats, dropping powder and ashes on
our copy. So-called subpoenas con-
tinue to be issued as freely as coupons,
and as the court room becomes more
and more crowded, chairs snap, elbows
crash through windows, and people
buffet and trample each other for
seats. Except for his half hour be-
meath WilentT scorching. tongue,
Hauptmann has often seemed the
calmest person in the room.
All Types Gathered.
Human nature in all its forms Is
gathered in Flemington, and some of
them are not so pretty. One woman
knits impassively through the cor