‘ “actor.
,: ”finance.
«operations performed by
..1 no where
. of P 'County Detective»
‘. ; “ Philadelphia.
ANUARY, 1915, I was post office
inspector at the Philadelphia
. - . omcé. James T. Cortelyou, now
Mr of Public Safety in [that
- city, was then chief post office in-
He assigned one of-ourmen
”1100): for a notorious post office
Mr whose trail we had lost'and
M we’were anxious to keep under
The investigation led the inspector
to the old Tenderloin section of the
, m. where he tool: a room in one of
(ho-cheap lodging houses frequented
-1)! burglars, yeggmen and other
cflnilnals’ of the "hard boiled" type.
"Hi! hope was that he could strike up
.in acquaintance with some through
whom he -might learn the where-
7' abouts of the hurglal.
The inspector was kept awake a.
11136 part of the night by his sur-
roundings. Ho had made little prog—
ress toward his go.il when one night
he was distur‘nx-d by men moving
cheat in the adjoining room. Their
fakes were log and guarded and he
could not hear “hit the} were say-
ing. But sis he “as hate 1mg he
heard a culimis hi~>in_. sound that
brought him instantl} out of led and
over to the wail.
All that night lu- rcmained up. and
all the next day he waited for a
chance "to go: into the adjoining
room to" find out “hat it was all
about. But thioquiont the day the
room Was 0 mph-d at all times by
one or more of tin occupants. The
next night tho: strangv sound was
rewated. continuing for ten or fifteen
minutes at a time. The inspector
spent anothv: day trying to get
acquainted with mic of the occupants,
but without success.
Then he complained to the land-
lady that he could not sloop in the
room he was usinz. Ho'askcd for a .
'lnrgcr roomvilirrr‘tly over the one oc-
cupied by his friends mijr‘Iinim: and
got it. He spent tho ncxtvduy mak-
ing a small huh.- in the: floor. \Vitll
some one in the rmnn lwluw him at
every moment he find to \n. »:2 with
absolute silence, but ln- fin-ill} enm-
pletcd the task and was able to get
a short nap inform midnight,
At that hour lli‘ was up wi‘h his
eye lo the holn in tliu Hour. The
men set up two l'llYSUl‘lIHlS looking
tanks on thr- midi-Y wunzmv‘in‘: ii with
apparatus of _\.I.:'in-i~ LiIils. Then
they donned ll“1l\j.‘ 3:053;le mil (1::-
hr-stos glow-s and brought out a
amall sqnzirc pic.“ rif steel on “hiCh
they began oru-rnriuns. The inspec-
tor soon realize] that win: they had
“as In [lflf'kvi ulition of the oxy-
acetylene torch. ill sinziiios: outfit
he had tow-r sm'il. lint oxnctly the
same as lh!‘ 15'1”: LlFU'l for cutting
Sim-l in shimxirils final other plnnts.
Tho insrwclor .ilsn imvw from the
wnaturc (“f U?“ ili'n‘v‘ where iii-I oxpnri-
mont was taking place that it had
10 do with su'nr- illegal untr‘rnz‘lsc.
Hr- wcnt to ‘mil llptermlm-d to have
the room rniilwl The next morning.
But when he took another puep by
daylight the birds hurl flown, taking
the nmiarnlns with them.
Apparently there was nothing clso
to be done. But the inspector got
busy. Herknew most of the other
occupants of tho house. 12:.- casual
and eye-mingly careless references
and questions he learned that the
men who had been in the vacated
room had mentioned Pennsgrove. N.
3’. He reported that information to
the chief inspector. and I was de-
tniled to cover the post office at
that toWn.
At that time America had not en-
tered the world war. but the indus-
‘ trial war boom was just yet tins: into
Its stride. Pennsgrove is across the
river from the great du Pont plants
'at W'limington, Del. A huge powder
works was in process of emotion on _
the New Jersey side. around agite
where the dn'Pontonganizationhad
leading the gang had ' -
serving time in SW8 WSW
robbery hushed the plotfim
cracksmen,
The next instant, as he reached for his revolver, he felt the cold steel of a pistol muzzle in the hands of another inspector who had been sitting
in back of him
had a sm'illcr factory for some years.
Thousands of men were at work.
Thousands more were coming.r in every
month. Pennsgrove, formerly a
slcepy little farming village. was sur-
rounded by the toms bf workers for
whom there were no adcuuntc hous-
ing accommodations. It“ was in many
respects a. replica of the old frontier
town or the boom towns of early
post ofllce on the night after pay day.
in the safe. While in jail one of the
men was employed as a machinist.
Another was an electrician; They
became familiar with the value of
tho oxy~ ~acetylcne torch through tQXt
hooks and in the course of their jail
work. - ~
Following their release the two
went to Brooklyn. It was their plan
the Brooklyn police. They were held
for some days, dud later released for
lack of evidence.
Philadelphia. Presumably they‘fiwera
more'successful there, for soon “they
had bought and tested the cutting
outfit; Also they had llned‘up three
confederate; whose sole job was to
‘ act as guards
As a result of our investigation
Then they went to.
wry-acetylene outfit in their travel.-
lng bags. would have‘resuloed only
. 1n spoiling their man. We could not
_he sure of a. conviction under the
circumstances withoutmore definite
evidence. ~
Accordingly the decision was made
to let the gang go ahead and then
to catch: them in the not Some
weeks earlier a. previous attempt had
protected. The postmaster was taken
into our confidence. In order to pre-
tent any possibility of a 31. I he was
instructed to take the registered
package of mail containing the pay-
roll to his home. He hid it under a
. mattress. '
Some time before midnight We sta-
finned ourselves around the post of-
fice. I was in a. house directly across
The Bear
By GEORGE L. BROWN.
“ HE half has never been
told." concerning wild ani-
mal surgery in the Adiron-
dacks. Even most of the people in
the Adirondacks know little 0‘ the
wild ani-
:Il§als upon themselves when neces-
sity requires speedy action to the
and that life may b3 prolongrd.
.111 some rare cases at: cnrlon has
been specially Cillll‘d to such an
occurrence. For instance, the self-
-mnutations by muskrats caught in
there wasn't water
ugh to drown them have been
mm- to the writer for over forty
years. When a boy I caught hun-
dreds of muskrats along the Boquet
fiver and in different ponds located
In this section In those days (the
inter '705 and early ‘805l muskrats
“neatly "footed themselves"——-
that is gnawed off their leg just
above the jaws of the trap. and
m away to their haunts. A few
Mt! later a three footed muskrat
m “come back. " and it was sur-
‘ ‘ how well healed the wound
1 69,111 a few weeks' time, if
mad been amputated near the
y 9- farmer has noted
with a broken leg and ob-
hfltuthe-nnima} has "licked"
"filth-hair mi came of:
occult. The call: would
VVho VVas
lie quietly in one place and, of course,
grow poor, but in a few days would
get up and commence to feed around
and after a. while get about pretty
well. showing a little lameness but
frisky for even a. three legged calf".
Dogs and cats' with broken or
otherwise injured .legs, cure them-
selves by the simplellcldng process.
Deer perform "similar feats .as
often 55 necessity requires. Several.
mended. breaks in deer legs have
come under the personal observation
of the writer during the last half
century. ‘Three-legged raccoons as
fat as lambs are caught frequently.
Last but not least. the black bear,
and “Bud" VBlackbiitd of Black
Brook. The animal was caught “91.1
up: on one of the hind leis, and» the
trap being an .' unusually large,
strong and heavy one. the leg was
badly broken H. C.. Ricketson; a
baker of Platpsburgh, had long been
desirous of having a. liver hear at his.
place. McKenzie
knew this, and accordingly got their
prize down to the. village “of Ausable
Forks "alive. and notified Rieketson
to come and get his bruinship. So
Ricketson made his my to‘Ausable
Forks and after considerable maneu-
vering got bruln into his “bread
auto“ and staned~for Plattsburgh.
"the animal that. has ‘held his Own . The beardid not take palflt- ““31,” t0
and everybody else-fls " is a. past mas—
ter at surgery. me- blank bear often
“foots” himself or herself when
caught in a trap. I know of! two in-
stances where a black bear caught
in a. large trap went up a leaning
tree and placing the trap between a.
strong limb and the body of the tree
swung out and dropped, trusting
that the weight of his body would
result in release from the trap. In
these cases, however, bruit). has been
found dead, having committed sm-
clde by hanging. Yet it is rare that
a. bear make? such a. mistake. a: 119-
is by nature unusually shrewd.
One- of the most remarkable canon
of bruln’ a successful self
m ..
tions materialized recently, puts
bear was caught in a trap
lam A. McKenzie»!!!
riding in an automobile, but finally
landed in Piatuburgh. by ’which
time the broken leg was fotmdi'to» be
considerably swollen. So the best
veterinary in the Green mountain
State was called from Burlington.
Bruin by this time had become
pretty ugly and objected strongly to
the administering of an anwsthedc»
until at length the Burlington vet-
'erlnary allqwed that he was a. home
doctor and not a bear doctor and
gave up the job. .
The sltuatlm was getting worse
,and worse apparently, and Blake!-
son decided to kill the bear; Haw-
ever. the next incl-hing ashe quietly
4 approached the Wired apartment h’e '
paced that
and Blackbird -
beat. by a process knoWn only to
bears. had cut off or pulled out,
shaved as it weregulthe fin-from
the injuredleg nbova and around
the joint where thealeg was broken.
The cleaned space was a firm
about an inch Wide completely en—
circling the joint.
After the completion of the opera-
tion the expression onl‘the face of the
bear was one of satisfaction and at
last. reports the militias 110mg
well. his only medicine being ail-little
saliva. applied as often as needed by
his own tongue. .
Natural history experts Would
term this operation a. simple exem-
“ phflcatlon of animal Instinct and
stoutly disclaim the presence of<that
Quality of reasoning known as intel—
. Beanie. But would not such argu-
ment only illustrate? the llxnltafion's
of human intelligence.
What brain process was it that .
dictated to the bear the ringer that the
amputation could be best effected-
at the joint. mave.mmrxbava
the break? . ,What milled thE‘béBI'
to know that an: mmmiwfihfle '
On the
NEW YORK, Saturday.
‘OWXin lower Manhattan. in
the street that has a river
at one enQL a. graveyard at
the other. and .the , heart of. the
world's finances in the middle.
themusandbearsoftheswck
Exalnmge trim each other and shear
the gentle lamb with stocks and
bonds. and memnes the bulls and
the bears «acid the lambs its down
together, 38;! there is peace. Fur—
tpd'v‘uihdawn. at the point where
Bayard sfréet crosses the Bowery
and has to twist orally to avoid col-
mg with. the museum alarm ap-
preach offline mm W: than
hills and Mn 924323-le m
a
clothing the nmm:munon we
em. ‘ ‘ '
get, and if they cannot get it they
will persuade you to take something
else.
The trader there »must compete
not only with the other traders who
shout their wares in everything
from broken English to the multi- _
tudinous dialects of the Near East;
he'niust compete also with the roar
of the Third avenue elevated. the
clatter of the flat wheeled trolleys,
the clans and humor; of heavy laden
trucks bulging over the cobble-
estones and the shrill’elping of the
newsboy who would lead the unwary
:to: believe that every edition is :an
”The trader'of‘fiie Little Stock'jlx-
. chaise carries ev-erything he has
1:6: sale on his: back. There is Moe
skvimky, for immune. For thirty-
nine of the forty years that the
msmk Exchange has been one
”.0! m institutions:- of the Bowery
Months: became of the institutions
or the Like mock Exchange.
{shoes tied together by
Wired. about his sleek,
been made to rob the -post office at
3/ Pennsgrove. on. file night after pay
3day. The place fwas a fair mark for
and it was up to the
if inspectors to show that it was fully
Street of the Bowety
~tothemacheckisqnly so
the street. From :56 r
I could see the 3qu2: b
back of the gel icr‘)
served as the post a:
the large. .old fashiom r1
a'comer of the room.
guarded the rear and .
W a side‘ meet, from M
rreach front or bark r
hurry, according as :3
needed.
~ It was‘shortly after 1 -'
[our of the five men v
main» street and haltcl
the post office door. Tr.
gone‘up the bricl»:
stood in front of tit-e
other went to the . , ...
a signal from the
~He passed it alon:
the store front. T‘iev
their weight oeuit»:
and managed .
Two of the
remaining on
the two insida .
up their north 32:21
reaching for a :x_..
flame. Both
Stan-3:31,:
horse
metit a
head an
2V9 so: :1‘
9
. mm who
placed =12:
twee-n i’
.1.) — »-
\‘il‘n-rs im Ik me
At 3
iii-int
his revclv
a pistol an
other inspector who ..
just back of him. 4 ‘
The oxygen-acetylene (ow-
e.\ \hil wit now in {he post 0;
sneui at V. ashington.
i li‘ u
squeaky harmonicas, his
filled with jewelry, and his .
it'll-
tered derby sunnountal i; .:»- mam)
.hats as he can make sun; in.
He is‘probably the ha»: until—as»
catch—can merchant in «a 0";‘lIIIIg
With his person uni’r» '3. «:I
his stock he can m -_-
air try-on. make sl ..
his teeth, keep one
man, the other on 13.».- "3
street which offers ..
treat, and pursue a
both feet. He speaks - ‘ f“:
sort of English, and can _» 3' wirll a
with a lift of the W3
shrug of the shoulder. . WW1
. But the exchange sum? ' O’Hk
into. the street. and fir
possession of the cornfir
turned into a free- Jul—nil
v, . .vh
bull and by:- catching- MW e” ‘1 L“
f "1
his own lamb. And m 1‘0 1t "‘ ‘
‘ day by grace of the Puliué L‘T‘m
trailer“ :‘I inn};
ment. .25 sidewalk T:—
. everytlnng and guaranteeing . u N
thing, but giving no one his mum,
back. .: -
They'Will guarantee that a m1
'mond'ispert‘ect and proxe to 3011
that theiflaw which is peifully
visible is something wrong Mm
' your eyes. and they will sell mi 2;
violin for $2 and assure you llixtl
18 a WhineZSttadivarius. But the:
cannot .sell you anything if We
leave your money at home, being}
mmedbrmm so
mwxotmgomke-
Norwalk Chronicler