Evening star., 1937-03-20

was man standing behind the wo-
man, hand clenching knife and
poised for a stab. The woman was
somewhat alarmed when shown the
prints, but soon recovered her COM
posure. "Pridge" said he is without
explanation other than the possibility
that the film was supplied by factory
which did business with spiritualistic
mediums, and that he had accidentally
been sent film already exposed for
the purpose Of mystifying the clients
OF fraudulent clairvoyants.
Funniest among Perkins expert
ences as a newspaper photographer
derived from an assignment to cover
the finals Of an oratorical contest
conducted by his employer newspaper.
The competition was to be held in
Leesburg, Va, and "Cy" was told to
see that an automobile was provided
to transport the judges thither. The
conveyance, it was suggested, should
be of size and appearance suitable
to the dignity Of the distinguished
Judses-something in tune, so to speak,
with the Importance of the contest.
The offer Of a contest Official to
supply such vehicle was accepted
before 1t was known that her auto
mobile was singularly lacking in the
desired traits. An old flivver, it looked
like a museum piece. Nevertheless,
Perkins and the judges set forth there
In. Eleven miles from Leesburg the
ancient contraption broke down and
| commenced to burn.
Time was growing short Perkins
| slgnaled the first vehicle going along
| the highway toward his destination
laundry truck. The judges, whose
senses OF humor surpassed their dig
nifty, piled in the back and were
driven to the contest auditorium, en-
throned on heaps Of dirty clothes.
A MONG assignments which Perkins
found impossible were those to
photograph darkness" in a coat
closet at a public school and to get
particular individual in a red devils
costume during an annual Halloween
celebration. The first obviously was
impossible because you can't take any
picture without some light and If you
use light you don't have darkness.
The second was impossible because
Halloween crowds annually include
at least 1893 red devils" each virtu-
ally indistinguishable from the others.
Photographers occasionally get
beat up by persons they try to photo
graph. Camera casualties are high.
Pridgeon was attacked by no less
a parsonage than Joseph Letter, the
wheat king, and on Letters wedding
day. When Letter and his bride
arrived at the restaurant where they
were to have their wedding breakfast
after the ceremony, the multi-million-
aire, a powerful, towering fellow, saw
PTidgeon In the crowd on the side
walk. Stepping out Of his car, he
strode up to him, smashed the camera
to bits and plunged q boulder sized
fist into the photographers stomach.
Pridgeon went out" Although not
seriously injured, he could not return
to work for two weeks. The Letters
subsequently paid for the camera and
made cash settlement on the photog-
rapher.
pERkINS was assaulted by q WASH
ington policeman, \ prohibition
enforcement officer, who had been
accused Of bootlegging. His attacker
broke the camera, but the picture had
been obtained. The next day Perkins
was ordered to photograph the man
again. As the two drew toward each
other, the defendant called out, you
know what happened yesterday"
II can't help it," Cy called back,
"I've been told to get your picture.
II you'll let me take It, I'll not bother
you any more"
The ex-policeman finally listened
to reason and agreed to pose.
Gus" Chinn of The Star staff was
whacked on the hand by rifle butt
welded by a Montgomery County
policeman and his camera was de-
stroyed, but this experience, Gus says,
was mild compared with the time he
| was locked in a Zoo cage with an
orang-utan. In playful mood, the ape
cornered Gus" and dropped on him
from above, twining its strong and
hairy legs about the photographers
neck. Gus had no way of knowing
that the animal was not trying to
slay him. He escaped unharmed, but
his knees ratified like castanets for
days to come, and when he received
an offer to repeat the performance
for the movies, he delivered an en-
phatic mol"