The Washington times., 1937-08-10

the hot seat.
Get your stenographer IN and
I'll make my statement. AL night;
Confession, then. But you can put
this down to start with. l ain I
giving you any of this under what
you guys call duress. I'm giving
it to you straight. Ready? okay
MY names Bentham, Jed Ben
than. I'm 81. Married? Yeh, Ill
say I'm married! If l wasn't mar
ried, I wouldn't be here giving you
this statement. How is Judith, by
the way? Nothing but a broken
nose and a couple of black eyes?
Well, she got off lucky. When l
get mad, amt very careful. And
I was mad last night. We been
married three years.
I'm a camera man. used to
be a newspaper camera man. but
1 got laid off the Blade nine
months ago. Maybe, if I hadn't
gotten laid off, this whole thing
wouldn't have happened. But then
again maybe it would. If woman
is that kind of woman, 1t Will
come out sooner or later. Me being
broke and out of a job made 1t
come out sooner.
Judith and me got married three
years ago. We had been going
together for six months before
that. She was a stenographer
in an insurance company. She
copied a lot of briefs or whatever
the hell you call them. Shed been
doing that for two years so she
lost whatever she knew about
shorthand.
LOST JOB
Well, when we got married, l
was in the money. I had enough
saved up to furnish the apartment
and I had a good job. We got along
fine until 1 lost the job on the
Blade and lost it because Danny
Melton, head of the picture desk,
didn't like me.
Right after we married, I met
this guy Collins-Herbert Collins
his name is. He was from judith S
home town, Beldon. Beldon' S
about as big as your hat and it's
in the upper right hand corner OF
the state. Well, Judith happened
to meet him down at the stores
when she was buying stuff for din
ner. You know how it is IN the
village.
It turned out that he had a lit
tie apartment down there not very
far from us, so she invited him
over to dinner. I liked him. He
seemed a nice guy and pretty good
looking, He was doing something
in the advertising business. He
didn't say just what. Copy writing
or copy reading or something like
that.
Later, I found out the reason
why he didn't say anything about
it. He was out of job. He had
lost his about two weeks before
Judith met him that day.
Keep your clothes on! I'm tell
ing you this story of my own free
will and accord. You're not put
ting the pressure on me. So I'm
telling it in my own way or amt
telling it at all.
He told Judith about it first. She
came across him somewhere one
afternoon and she asked him what
he was doing away from the office
at that time of the day. So he
broke down and told her. And she
told me.
REGULAR GUY
I mentioned before, didn't I, that
I liked the guy? In the two weeks
I'd known him, 1 found him regu-
lar so when Judith told me about
him being out of job, told her
to ask him over to dinner that
night. After dinner, while Judith
was busting off the dishes in that
two-by-four kitchenette Of ours,
said to him:
Look, Herb. Judith told me you
we're out of a job. Now I don't
know you so well and it's none of
my business, but how are you fixed
for dough?"
He began to laugh kind of bitter
II amt fixed" he says. "As a
matter of fact, I'm being tossed
out of my apartment in the morn
ing unless 1 dig up last months
rent-and I amt digging up last
months rent. I amt even digging
UP tomorrows breakfast money.
Didn't you notice how heavy ate
tonight?"
He wasn't Squawking, you under.
stand. He took it like a guy ought
to take hard luck, as though it was
a kind of lousy practical Joke on
him. So loaned him 20 bucks.
Honest. thought the guy would
break down and kiss me. I never
saw anybody so grateful in my
life. He Swore he'd never forget
this favor I'd done him and he
would pay me just as soon as he
could scrape the money together.
Judith was glad, too.
That 20 bucks must have been
his luck piece. Because the next
morning, when he'd laid some
dough on the line on account with
his landlord. he walked out and
straight into a job with the Judd
Advertising Agency up in the
Chrysler Building.
He told us about it that night.
Hurried down to the apartment to
do it. He said that if it wasn't