Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-02-04

BY l.. l.. STEVENSON
The term pocket miner doesn't
mean the same in Network as it
does in the West. Out where men
are men and rocks are hard, the
pocket miner is legitimate citizen
who digs gold out Of pockets in the
earth. In New York, the pocket min
err is one who digs bills out of pock-
cts of night club frequenters. He
doesn't do it with def fingers be-
cause police deal roughly with pick
pockets, and there is always the
chance of getting caught. He does
it by trickery. The patron who has
enjoyed a wet, wild night receives
callers at his hotel room or office
the next morning. They inform him
that the night before, he wasn't him
self. Seeing that he was good
fellow, the club had settled for a
small amount and he had told them
to call the next morning and collect
the balance. If the victim shows
signs of getting tough, they tell
him that he'll either settle or
there'll be unfavorable publicity.
Most of the victims, in the throes
of a hangover, have settled. Thus
the racketeers fourished.
Recently two walters and a clerk
called on a local gentleman. He
didn't remember much about the
night before but when asked for two
hundred dollars, he became sus-
picious. He didn't argue about the
matter, however. He merely told
his callers to come back the next
day-presumably when he would
feel better-and there would be a
settlement. The trio accepted the
invitation. The business man was
as good as his word-he met the de-
mand in full There was just one
catch-he had taken the precaution
of having a couple of detectives
slowed away on the premises in a
place where they could both see
and hear. So the walters and the
clerk were taken with their loot
right on them and at the moment
are roosting in the hoosegow. Other
pocket miners are laying off be-
cause when a victim squawks and
gets away with it, the game be-
comes too hot to handle.
Ordinarily a peace-loving citizen,
there have been numerous times
when the desire has possessed me
to drive tank or some other indie
structible car along the highways
of New York and bang into road
hogs and those motorists who hurl
insults when accidents, of their own
inviting. are missed seemingly by
miracle. Hence an incident on Will
liamsburg bridge has a peculiar
appeal. Two gentlemen in a car
were not only driving too fast but
carelessly. A passing motorist adj
vised them as to their shortcomings
and the two informed him what he
was and where he could go. The
other motorist speeded up and beat
them to the end of the bridge. There
they found traffic officer acting
as reception committee. The quiet
man they had insulted happened to
be Lewis j. Valentine, who as police
commissioner, is boss of all the
cops.
AS you know already, local mer-
chant tailor designers hold that the
Well-dressed man must possess at
least 10 suits and overcoats, the
list being: Six business suits, rid
ing suit, an informal walking suit,
a cutaway suit, a dinner suit,
host jacket, full dress suit, dress
evening topcoat, a plain blue top
coat, blue heavyweight topcoat,
a guards coat, a yachting suit and
a sport suit equipped with several
pairs of trousers. Well, counting in
the two white linen suits, one ac-
quired in Trinidad and the other in
Barbados and both several years
old, as well as a two-season-old
tropical worsted, I'm only IA shy
of the quota.
Under the energetic direction of
Park Commissioner Moses practi-
cally the entire Hudson river front,
from Seventy-second street to the
upper end Of the island, has been
transformed, or is being trans
formed. In the course of time, it
will be one long parkway. accessible
to all who care to visit it, and that
means hundreds of thousands. The
Hudson river panorama at any sea-
son is one worthy of attention. Still
it does look queer with many Of the
old landmarks missing.
Bustop housekeeping: "He's no
Clark Gable and he can't afford or
chids, but I'm for him-he sneaks
gifts to friendless old people.
g Bell Syndicate.-WNU Service.