The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-09-24
Little Cabbages >,c1ns"~ Priest
BY CLELLAN PRIEST

Copyright: 1887: by Clellan Priest.)
A SMALL TRADESMAN FINDS
A UNIQUE WAY TO GET
RID OF A BIG RACKETEER
IN TWO PARTs-PART ONE
LID Gregory tossed restlessly on
his hard bed over the little
store where he had spent 40
~ years Of his placid life. There
were strangely disturbing shad-
ows in the room, half lighted by the
constantly Pickering street lamp out
side Its one window.
Hours had passed since Machnado,
gang boss and self-styled president OF
the self-named South End Merchants
Protective association, had stamped out
OF the shop, vowing he would bother
no more with the wizened little man,
tradesmen along. the street, and still
the storekeeper could not sleep. Again
and again in his mind he reviewed
his brief interview with the big rack
eteer. He had been defiant then, now
he was simply afraid.
He stiffened suddenly at the faint
click of the latch on the door below.
Long used to the familiar night noises
of the rickety old building, the slight
of squeaks and muffled rattles grated
on his ears like a discord in a hymn.
Gregory knew, as well as if he had
been downstairs, when the street door
swung slowly inward just enough to
let slim body through. He knew,
when worn floor board creaked ever
SO slightly, that his stealthy visitor was
the same board yielded a thousand
times before beneath his own slight
weight.
To be sure, there was little enough
in the cash register, but that little was
a lot to Gregory.
More easily than would be expected
of a man Of his age, he slipped out
OF bed and tiptoed. to the head of the
back; stairs. There he knelt and peered
vainly down into the blackness
Quietly Gregory reached around into
the vegetable bin under his pantry
shelf. His thin fingers closed over a
cabbage little one that had been a
donation from his neighbor, the market
man. With painstaking care he bal
anced it at the top, of the long slanting
flight, lined with the accumulated odds
and ends of man who has a preju-
dice against throwing anything away,
and gently tipped it over the edge.
Instinctively, and wisely, he drew
back.
The cabbage pumped lightly on the
first step down, rolled on, gaining mo-
mentum, and skipped a narrow step,
Pumping loudly as it hit and rolled
off for longer and louder drop.
Before it struck a third time a crack
ing staccato of shots broke loose, and
bullets peppered the top of the stairs.
And the little cabbage bumped stead
lily along each plump a degree louder
than the preceding one.
Gregory sensed the moment of hes
itation below. He also heard, what the
other did not hear, the distant sound
of the running feet of the patrolman
on the beat.
There was something ominous in the
slow, thudding descent of that cabbage,
something quite beyond the compre-
hension OF the thief who had just emp
tied his gun in the general direction
of nothing at all in pitch darkness.
Suddenly the tense silence was split
by a Shattering report, a reSoundlng
crack that made Gregory Jump invol-
unfairly and sent the intruder spinning
on his heel and out of the store in
full flight.
At the door he collided with a plump
ly putting officer of the law. They
clinched, but the patrolman was winded
and the youth slipped through his
hands and raced away around the
The patrolman gathered himself to-
eether and plunged into the dark shop,
half expecting to stumble upon the
body of the little storekeeper.
He was murmuring a brief prayer
when the lights came on suddenly,
binding him, and when he recovered
he found Gregory calmly. sweeping up
the tinkling fragments OF an old hght
bulb beneath the stairs.
"FIow do you do, Mr.. Magulre, SAID
Gregory. I'm glad to see. you.
"From the noise Of the sho S'1ag
yg you're lSi5y to be able to see me- "n@'
"Machnado's gang. He was IN yes
terday and said he was sick Of bother
ing me. So tonight he sends one OF
his sneak thieves. He went quicker
With some difficulty, Mcguire sue
ceeded in extracting the story OF the
nt SThe eH Be more to help the next
time" predicted the patrolman;
"Iil be here" responded Gregory,
stooping to pick up a glittering object
in the shadows behind the door, and
STRENGTHENING up with g thin gold
watch which he held to his ear.
"still going" he commenced; ,r ,,o,,r
trouble" suggested the ever-practical
Mcguire.
But Gregory was too intent upon his
Examination Of the watch to reply. He
snapped open the back s1 Of o. the sm Gase'
black haired girl in her early tWenties.
The patrolman, peering over ms
shoulder, studied the picture WIN
powers Of observation that had not
been dimmed by his % years on the
That's one Of the Ciciliano girls
or I don't know the family face" ne
said at last. -, ..
sneak thief to carry around with him."
"You never can TELL" observed Ma
euire, deity removing the photograph
from the inside Of the case and Slip
ping it inside his pocket, you never
"Go back upstairs and go to bed,'
he advised. "You won't be bothered