Evening Star Newspaper, January 2, 1921, Page 63

xSy €of qu ks PONT see the slightest chance zsr08:&he case being reached be~ l.‘\!;'-.?hnnd-y or Friday, Mr. ~ ifus. so I'm afraid I'll-have o ask yPU'to stay in New York sev- ral [dayg Tonger.” Dunville, the istant dlsirict attorney, spoke very politely and considerately, but his erds,; weté abviously something more han seequest. “We know that your ord is good. That conversation you hvesheard between Hayden and his uperintéadent is the one link in the hain, that will convict. Without it, he has himself so covered that I don't believe Eyére is a chance of sending him where he belongs; with it, he'll fot a sentence that will keep him out bt mischief for at least ten years.” Punville rose and closed the tran- om over the door that led out from his private office, remarking that the all days were getting chilly, without peing cold enough to warrant steam eat. As he turned back to his desk, is visitor remarked: “I take it this fayden is a pretty smart hombre.” “Ke is the cleverest writer of suck- r literature in the city of New York. frhat is why we've never been able o get him. He doesn’t make a state- ment that isn’t So, or a promise that can be proved he can't carry out. nd yet he is as crooked as a cork- crew and we know it, and the finan- jal district knows it—but the suck- rs_don't. o “One of the incidents in our case, 4 Dunville, “is a little consump- ive school teacher who had $700 laid by against her old age and——" “Mr. Chace, over at the National ommunity, told me about that,” Titus aid simply. “That's how come I told m what I knew and that 1 was will- ng to be a witness if it would be any LK TACTICS, PLUS to’ hang around, although he was go- ing back to Texas tomorrow.” “You will not mention it to any- body else;” Silver sald, coldly. He counted out the promised hundred and fifty dollars. “It would be dangerous, you understand,” he added. “Su-u-re!” agreed the youth with the hard featyres.- “You kmow me, Benny. Capt. Bill Titus, that evening, hav- ing canveled his berth reservations and resigned himself to spending sev- eral more days in the city, felt lonely and bored. Immediately after dinner, which he ate in the Van Wouter griil. he went to his room and read the papers. Un- easily, them, he wandered around; looked out of the window. He felt fidgety. A sudden thought came fo him; this would be a good night to On the heels of the thought he was at his telephone, calling an acquaint- ance named Marsh, a theatrical man- ager. at his office. “Got anything on tonight, your shop closes up?” he asked. “Nothing at all, captain” Marsh replied, cheerfully. “You mentioned, one evening, that if 1 ever got a hunch I'd like to play a little draw poker, you knew a place where I could find it." “Weil, 1 know several places that are run om the level” Marsh said. “Can you come around here about half-past 102 Tl be through between then and 11. This club is only a step from here.” “Ill be there,” Bill agreed, “and thanky’ kindly. That is, I will unless I kain't find the hotel manager to get a decent-sized check cashed; and if I kain't I'll telephone.” Figuring that he needed about a thousand dollars, in case of emer- gency, Bill knew the cashier had no power to let him have so much money without the manager's O. K. A tele- phone call to the office brought the reply that the manager was expected after help.” “It surely has been. This office has been waiting for your assistance for long time. And now that we have ou"—he smiled pleasantly but em- Phasized his words—‘we can’t take ny chances of your leaving our urisdiction and losing us our cas ¢ “On. I'll stay,” Titus sald. * nows I need to get back home. but I ever ducked helping any law officers put when they called on me for help. used to_be a law officer myself, in way. But that's all a good many vears ago. Me, now, I'm just a seri- pus-minded old fellow that 'tends to is own business—the -same . being panking, real estate and oil prop- rtiee—and aims to keep out of all uckuses and such. Why, I ain’t had o shoot a man for more'n sixteen years. % Dunville thought a moment. “Do iou carry a gun—here in New York, { mean?" he suddenly asked. “No, sur. 1 got a couple, natchully. up in’ my trunk. A little automatic nd a regular pistol—thirty-eight and forty-five. But wear ‘em? Lawd, man, gun's heavy. You don't hang 'em bn_unless it's necessary.” The assistant district attorney hesi- ated. Then: “I'm going to advise bou to go armed and keep your eves ppen from now until this case comes ip. . Before you leave here I'll ar- nxhk to get you the necessiry per- ey * % % % LL'S face betrayed no especial emotion as he asked: “What's he idea? Why me?” “Malachi Hayden, if we have good ck. will go to prison for from ten ko twenty years. There is only one hing that will send him there. He vy mot know it, but perhaps he oes—or, if he doesn’t, his lawyers nay. [Meaning my evidence, and that he t take a notion——" “fou chink this Hayden would kill man?” Bill asked. No: mot personmally. But I don’t hink he would be above winking at t—with- ten to twenty years up the jver staring Lim in the face. Capt. - Titus grinned _cheerfully. ‘ou almost make staying here four days longer tban I wanted to he remarked. “Well, r fiv nteresting. ou kin give me the permit, if you fké but I don’t know as I'll put on v gun: I think more likely I'll use ood hawse sense and keep out of n hour iater a hard-faced oung man whose very. well-cut othes were intended to disguise him a gentleman was pouring a story ¢ his mouth_into e inclined and attentive ear of Mr. Benny Silver of the highly prosperous Jaw firm of Riley, Holland, Silver & oneman. “I didn’t hear the finish of it the! d-faced young man said, “because | bunville felt a draft and shuti he transom, but up to that I heard | etty near every word. This guy rom Texas—this Titus—has sure got he goods on Hayden. Dunville told im—T heard him—that his evidence tye_missing link. Without it, he ys. Hayden gets offt. With it, he ces' a ten to twenty strentch. So come to you, and if it's worth my hile—"" Without ecomment, Mr. Silver drew t a well-filled pocketbook and laid undred-dollar bill on his desk. You can_pick that up” he sald, nd when T've listened, if it is really valuable to me as you think it is, u_understand, T'll make it a hun- jred and fifty more. That's the limit.” “All right,” the other agreed, with alr that plainly declared an hon- hard-working man could hope for ittle justice from capital in this|gam! orid. and put the bill into his ket. “You say you heard him outline that of evidenc the lawyer “What was it “Whil, this Titus is some kind of an il man, and he does business with he National Community Bank. and hey tipped Dunville to his_having his stuff on Hayden. I guess he’s got dney: anyway, he’s living at the an Wouter. “This Titus guy, he owns a piece of nd right side of some land that Hayden has his oil wells on. It's ust outside a town called Belario. ell. he happens to be in this town ne night. when Hayden is there, and Hayden goes up into his room to have heart-to-heart talk with his boss n the works—that's a bird named gley. It seems this Begley is a ond off boss, and a wise guy in the usiness. Well, Hayden and this Beg- y. they have = confidential talk up n Hayden's room in a hotel at Belario at 1s called the Central House, and Hayden’s room happens to be right xt to this Titus’ room, and the alls are thin. and Titus hears the hole talk. And there's a crack in jhe wall, and he puts his own light ut and peeks through. and he can ear it was Hayden that planted the eme.” “What scheme? “Well. it seems Hayden has put In sucker letter., or something. that ings is going 8o good down on this i1 property that he's selling stock in at they are going to start drilling centy more wells during the mext o months. And he's mot to make od. but he don't want to spend uch_mouey, because he knows, and his Begzley knows, that there ain’t o oil thers to speak of. It seems. ag this Titus tells it, the oil is all e+ on his side of the fence: the »mething-or-other don’i even run in e direction of this land of Hay- en’s. “But he's got to start twenty wells, ke he nald, so he and Begley fix up to o jt. They've got four or five drillin® zs and a lot of old second-hand pe. and Begley Is to start the twenty, e after the other. Each of ‘em is to down about fifty feet, and then ley is to stop and start another. y fixéd up an excuse about why lach one should be abandoned, in case was looked into afterward. but the ay Dunville figured it. being adle o prove that Hayden planned it all in dvance gives 'em the goods on him. or sure. All this was about twd honths ago: this Titus said he hadn't ard about it, but there wasn't no on why the whole twenty ightn't have been started by now.” that all?" Silver asked, with no ssion in either eyes or voice. t all. T told you. didn’t I, that e said e has to have Titds or se the case, o Titus is going in before 10. Titus dragged his most comfortable chair under a reading light and opened a magazine. * ok k% IT was a half hour later when Bill went to the phone and ascertained that the manager had just come in. Writing a check for a thousand dol- lars, payable to the hotel, he went down in the elevator. The lobby was well filled and a group of three men stood, apparently gossiping idly, not far from the bat- tery of elevators. They were all fac- ing the opening doors as the cages descended, but as Titus came out one of them spoke a sharp word to his companion and turned his back. Capt. Bill saw the movement, without being interested in it. and then his eyes half consciously noted a rather striking peculiarity in the appearance of the man who was now standing facing directly away from the ele- vators. His ears were unusual, being at noticeably different heights, and standing out at dissimilar angles. Neither of the others who had glanced in Titus' direction and were now again engaged in conversation was known to the captain. Both were well-groomed, citified persons. One, of SVENING, middle age, had a bald head and|CAPT.BILL TITUS, THAT EVENING, somewhat protruding eyes. The other FELT LONELY AND BORED. :;a‘a much younger, hardly more than Irty. s He was of medium height, but of a| oD tifé table; not on the floor. slim elegance that made him seem | that right, gentlemen?’ t5 tn taller; an oval-faced, olive-skinned ‘But the three kings were in the man with a natural poise of manner | four that he had in front of him,” one and good taste in dress. of the players protested. " Capt Bill did not observe amy of| “That has nothing to do with it. these things at the moment; in fact, Hoyle and Curtis both say a pOKET he hardly noticed the group at ail [ FaDd has fo have exacily Gvo cazds ' With his mind on his errand, he pass- L " = “Take the pot,” said Broome. ‘But o2 i augipent to the mEnASSrS) sceme’to me ‘a8 it that's kinda takin’ b, advantage.” The trio had moved when he res| ™ “Sure, it’s taking advantage.” Tos- turned to the elevators, and he did| telli replied, as he drew in and stack- not see them. In his room he dis-|ed the chips and returned his hun- tributed the bank notes into several | dred-dollar bill to his pocket. “All pockets, on gemeral principles, then | poker is taking advantage, unless you're he put out his light, left the hotel|playing for fun or matches = Any and strolled up 7th avenue to Marsh's | player In poker has a right to take office. At 11 o'clock he and the theat- | advantage of any mistake another rical manager walked less than a player makes, or anything Ell’ that block down a street in the forties and happens at the table. TM}!‘ !rl (h.e. e O e dignified entrance, | 8ame. Ask any regular authority where they ascended one flight of * ¥ X * Saicy anel found themselves contront-| <APT. BILL felt moderately sure e e Drotmeiccd Tostelli wouldn't have bet what Whist Club.” was close to his last dollar on three Having gone through the formality | fours against a raise before the draw_ of joining the club, Bill and Marsh|witn two cards called for, unless he took up a place where they could|y gy opeerved, before he raised Isn't b e S oo i | Broome, that a card was missing from e B ™t the pot. and jackpots|his hand. According to the rules, called for $5 apiece at their beginning | truly—but sharp! and $2.50 from each player each time| miiys had talked considerably as he they passed unopened. The table was| oo V" " ugtom of his. full. with six players. Dinyed;, Twice, already, in raising before the ATl the players were entirely sober except onl:. a good-natured looking|draw, he had remarked that there was man of forty, whose name, it appear-|only one way to play two pairs. Both ed, was Broome, and he was not 100 | times, after drawing one card, he had Intoxicated to look out for himself|been called. Once the other players Mmoderately well, although spots of [ had found him possessed of two pairs: B eleasness from time to time marred | the other time he was discovered to ot have been experimenting with a four s ""?.fl;‘;fihfimffl;fi: Bush. He had established in their = inds the fact that he sometimes few hundred dollars more or less Taised on two pairs, but that it didn’t meant nothing at all in his life. necessarily mean ho had because he Others came into the room whia | 2iq'es Bill and Marsh were watching the A% hour passed. The game did not game. Titus, happening to raise his|prove especially interesting, and Bill eyes, saw a face across the table that| was getting a trifie sleepy and more fm him as vaguely familiar.|than a trifie bored. Tostelll, playing Tts owner was leaning forward, his|shrewdly and with a gamblers in- Jorge dark eyes devouring the game, |tensity, had slowly become a small IarE e light in them of the born|winner. He was something better than bler. He was a handsome man|&hundred dollars zhead. aead There came & jackpot possessed of of about thrty, well dressed, With 10 perveraity. Five e tns vards were - : .+ |dealt without any player receiving “I guess I'll play & few hands” he|openers. Fifteen dollars apiece the six remarked. “Henry, bring me a couple | players had contributed to the center. of hundred.” It became Broomes deal, © it later another vacancy “Gimme =a fre pac of ca e md Capt. Bill slipped Into | Broome called. “Thirty hands without the seat. a pair; T'll get a frosh pack and give The hands for the next quarter of everybody a pair.” He giggled and set an hour were not remarkable, and himself to shuffiing the fresh deck, rforming the task so clumsily thal there was no especially heavy hetting, ehen me passed it 10 his right to be Bill, playing conservatively, won and)cyt the player there. with a word of lost about equally. The dark-skinned|apology, also riffled it & few times be- young man was slowly losing. fore making the cut and shoving it A gray-clad man of few words on|back. Bill's left opened & jackpot for $30,| ‘“Here we go!” Broome cried. gayly. which was the total of the chips al-|The third card he threw out fel] face Teady fa the pot, and Broome, whose | UB: it was the deuce of clubs. He dealt intoxication did not seem to wear off, {gf{;lf:?{:‘.}yh;:'fin‘d‘;fif’:,flih s raised it @ similar amount. “Up to 9 | without mishap. You, Tostelll,” he sald. “Sixty to play.” | "ot MIEeR. o 11s hana cautious- The olive-skinned man’put in sixty |1y, found two jacks and two eights. dollars without hesitation. The player on Broome's left was un- “You might play my hand on the|able to open. Tostelli, sitting next. pianola,” Titus remarked cheerfully,|counted the contents of the pot and throwing it into the discards. pushed in chips. All the others, except the opener,| ‘There's $60 in_ the downs, dropped out: he hesitated, studied his|marked. “She’s off for fifty.” hand, then pushed in the added thirty.| The next man made remarks in an He drew three cards. Broome and undertone about having good hands Tostelll called for two each. when they weren’t needed and getting “One dollar,” declared the opener. |three hearts. a spade and a diamond— Broome was pawing at his cards|no pairs—when there was a chance and chips, which had fallen together | for action, and ditched his hand with and got seemingly inextricably mixed. | some passion. B He grinned with an appreciation of| Bill affected to consider his cards his clumsiness. “Ill raise that—T1l|again, taking quite a bit of time. raise that fifty dollars.” he said. “Costs fifty dollars to draw cards, Tostelli glanced sharply at the|mister!” Tostelli cried, impatiently. gray-clad opener, who gave signs|“Are you in?” that he was getting ready to throw| “Proscrastination is the mother of his hand away when his turn came.|invention.” drawled Bill. “Give me Then he went down into his pocket |time to think. Yes, I'm in. And then and produced onme bill—a hzndred.|some.” He looked around at the table Titus, not in the hand, thought it was | with a great show of frankness, “Two probably the last bill of good size he |pairs ain’t worth a hoot after the had. “Fifty better,” Tostelli declared,|draw,” he said, “but they're quite valu- sharply, and tossed in the bill, not |able before. I'm just going to raise having sufficient chips to cover. The |that 1) bet a hundred, and keep the opener dropped out. pikers out, if such there be. “All right,” Broome sald, good-na-! He pushed forward a hundred and turedly, and himself pushed forward |fifty dollars, Whether or not they ten five-dollar chips. _“Beat three|came under his definition, the remain- kings and take it” He faced his|ing players threw awey their cards, cards before him. with varying expressions of emotion. “I can't,” said Tostelli, but he did|Tostelll studied his hand briefly; his not throw his own hand away. “Mine | face expressionless. are three fours” He displayed his{ *“A hundred better than you,” was cards, spreading them out. the result of his study. Bill stayed, Broome, laughing a little, reached|firmly assured that he had spoken for the pot, but Tostelll interrupted [sooth when he said two pairs were of the movement with a sharp demand: |little value after the draw. “How many cards have you got in| “Cards and spades, if any,” called your hand?" Broome. He was holding the slippery “How many cards—" Broome |fresh deck loosely, the top card already moved them about where they lay on |slid wide of the others to go to Tostelli the green cloth, seeking to find what |when he should make his demand. Bill wasn't there. “Why—four,” he an-|could ses its pips plainly. It was the nounced after a few seconds, puzzled. | trey of hearts. . He looked about him, and down at the| “I'll play these” Tolstelll declared floor by his side. “Here’s the other!” | shortly. be exclaimed, and lifted a card from| Capt. Bill showed signs of exasper- the carpet. ation and anger. “A poker hand contains five cards,”| “I'll be cussed,” he cried, “If I ever Tostelli said, coldly. “Not four any{in my life have any luck a-tall with more than six. And they have to belnits and nice! Every time I hold 'em " he re- b ARG AR s Do S T el DALt S L SOBIUD D AT il TR S A o A B S G N 2 I Ot il A ML o l | = | Another Titus Story by J. Frank Davis L Pens ‘at the table? At least, when you're playing against those that stick strictly to the rules.” Tostelli’s face acquired a flush of high color, then paled violently: for a moment he seemed to be having intense difficulty repressing .vivid words, but Bill's eyes challenged his and he got command of himself and shrugged his shoulders. When it was evident the incident might be regarded as closed, Bill rose, wished the players a perfunctory goodnight, and received cash for his chips from the steward. Marsh had been watching the clash with ill-concealed uneasiness. “That chap Tostelli isn't a good man to have trouble with,” he said, the moment they had reached the outer air. “I wouldn’t have had a muss with him such as vou had for ten times what was in that pol.” “It wasn't what was in the pot: it was mostly a matter of principle.” Bill said, contentedly. “I'd been laying for him ‘ever since he pulled the strict rules on that good-natured feller Broome— after making his raise when he knew Broome had dropped a card. I wouldn't make that play I just made in a friendly game—that is, unless it was a mighty small one and awful friendly, where You get a feller good and then hooraw him afterward—but with nobody else in the pot but him and me— o he's a bad hombre, is he Well, he kinda looks it. What is he? Professional gambler?” “That's ‘Lightning Louie’ Tostelli. He's supposed to be the quickest shot there is anywhere. He has a gang; I swear I'll never raise on 'em again.|gunmen, you know; at least that's his never! Well, I'm in.” He selected one of his eights and the odd card to throw away, holding the pair of jacks and an eight. “Throw ’em face up!” he demanded, heatedly, of Broome. Let's have it over with. If I better ‘em, they're worth playin’. If I don’t they ain’t.” Face up fell two cards. of course, the trey of hearts. second, a queen. Titus, suddenly quiet, tipped them face downward and shuffiled them in with his other three. His features frose into immobility; a close observer might have gathered he wished he hadnt talked quite so much. “Go to it!” he remarked to Tostelll. The other seemed undecided. He counted out a hundred dollars, halved it, then halved the remainder. “Twen- ty-five,” he said. Bill swiftly appraised the remain- ibg- chips in front of his opponent. They totaled approximately a hun- dred dollars. Tostelll had at least a hundred In his pocket that he had shown; Titus would have been willing to wager that the total in his clothes was not more than a hundred and fifty. - A grand total of two hundred dred - and fifty or less, the loss of which might leave him stone broke. “I'll raise you- # he said, slowly, arranging his chips in little stacks. I'll raise you, on what I've got here now, about——" He took a nerve- harrowing length of time to come to a conclusion, while he counted out hij chips, with Fostelll’s eyes on the litt! stacks as he pushed them forward. “Oh, three hundred.” EEE Bll.l. had raised before the draw and had taken two cards, so the two_pairs to which he had so glibly referred were an improbability. He had mentioned “nits and nice” with scorn—and “nits and nice’ are deuces and treys wherever Americans follow the national indoor sport. Presum- ably, then, he had, before the draw, either three deuces or three tfeys— and the chance that they were deuces would have been materially lessened by the fact that one deuce had already been accidentally exposed during the deal, even if, by pure coicidence, Tos- tell's hand had not also happened to contain another of them. Titus sat quietly and looked into Tostelll’'s eyes, with no more expres- sion in his own than a graven image. The other considered at length, then rapped sharply on the table. “You're a lucky player!” he growled, ill naturedly. ‘‘These are the open- ers.” He showed an ace-high dla- mond flush. Bill tossed his hand away, face downward, and gathered in the pot. “I reckon I'll be going,” he remarked; “it's getting near my bedtime and I guess I'm about even. You kin deal me out this next hand.” He began to stack his chips by colors, preparatory to_cashing them. ‘Broome, who had been watching the play with inebriated intensity, broke one of the rules of the game. “I_know I oughtn't to do it” he chuckled, “but I haven't seen four of a kind for so long I've just got to.” He turned Bill's hand face up. “Well, I'll et Tostelli's eyes, baleful, rose from the pair of jacks and three non-es- sential cards that Broome's action had revealed to Bill's face. “You must have known that trey was coming,” he said. “Shorely,” Titus agreed, mildly. “The dealer, there, he happened to ex- pose it.” “What kind of poker do you call that?” At the tone and implication, both insulting, Bill's face lost its smile. “Regular poker,” he said, softly; hi: eyes, unwinking, staring into Tos- telli’s. “Regular poker, according to the regular authorities.. Don’t they all agree a player is justified in tak- ing advantage of anything that hap- The first, The reputation. Of course, he hasn’'t got caught at it, or he wouldn’t be maving around the Bright Light district with the entree into sporting clubs.” “That's shorely interesting. ~Well, I'll turn downtown here and go to bed, Bill said. “Much obliged for a pleasant evening. He remembered now where he had seen Tostelli's face before; it had been earlier that evening, in the lobby of the Van, Woutér. And the gunman had been talking with two other men, one of whom, who had turned his back, had queer, uneven ears. Then Tolstelli had come’ into the apartments of the Brotherhood Whist Club a few mo- ments behind him. In his room he opened a trunk and ot out an automatic pistol, with am- Ellnll;m“lj’I lpi‘s‘nl)tok::d to lll;: mechan- m of the to bang. e ¥R about this time, from a sta- tion, Luigl_Tostolli, known, el‘py and down New York as “Lightning ‘Louie,” was calling Mr. Benny Silver of the law firm of Riley, Holland, Silver & Stoneman. “I've been looking over that prospect you want to make the sale plo}' he said, after a carefully worded conver- sation had convinced each of the other’s Identity. “If it's worth a commission of five thousand, I'll take it on.” “All right,” Mr. Silver acceded. “That goes. When—er—when will the sales- man g0 up against him?” ersonally, the Jawyer had never be- fore heard just the note in Tostelli's voice that-marked his answer. "_rnmorrow night,” he said. “But it lvln} going to be any helper's j I'm going to make this sale myself. Capt. Titus, having found little to amuse him all day and being irked by confinement and lack of company, went out to a late dinner. He saw Tostelll in the main en- trance. It was only a glimpse and the man had passed out of sight, but the ex-Ranger's eyes were ke Up to this moment lhefiexln had not planned what he shotld do if an emergency arose: he acted now on the spur of sudden determination. He went swiftly down Broadway and turrded unhesitatingly into the first cross street he came to, which was inadequately lighted and prac- tically deserted. He did not look be- hind him openly, but, on the excuse of adjusting a -shoe-lace, he contrived a glance back that showed him the gunman coming around the corner, keeping well in toward the building. A second later, a taxicab turned into the street and passed Tostelli, coming very slowly. ‘Tostelll stopped and slipped back into a doorway. The taxicab passed T!‘I‘“:I.“ldifir“w\l:d up toward the curb ahead of m, but did n to a standstill. wh R cape * k% % BXLL snapped about on his heel, swearing frankly, expressively and loudly. “Well, of all the yapping fools!” he sputtered, abviously refer- ring obscurely to himself. Hg started rapidly back toward Broadway, tap- ping the outside of his coat in’the vicinity of his breast pockets and muttering reproaches on any man who would leave important papers lying on a restaurant table. Titus gave no sign whatever that he was conscious of the man in the alcove, although he could see him and, more important, could see both his hands—empty. He went hurrying on, talking to himself—somewhat as one might talk who had been drinking a little too freely—ard his hands kept up their play over his pockets, as though he were loathe to believe that he really had lost his papers. Heo saw, as he came within three strides of Tostelli, that the gunmam's right hand was creeping toward the side pocket of his coat. “Did_1 put it in this pocket, or was THE SUNDAY SYAR, JANUARY 2, 1921-PART 4 “Or. did I—— Get 'em up? Quick! Both of 'em! Abreast of Tostelli and not three feet ! distant, his hand, patting the left upper pocket ‘of his vest, had suddenly swung, in a swift arc toward the gunman, grip- ping the pistol that had ieaped from the arm holster. Its barrel bored forci- bly into the pit of Tostelli's stomach. according to the technique of the south- west in such cases. Automatically, in the instant of attack, the gurprised gun- man’s hands sprang out from his sides. In that same crowded instant, Titus: had him by the right wrist and had hauled him to the sidewalk and swung | him"around, so that he was a shield be- | tween the Texan and the taxicab.! Keep that left one up!” he gritted. | “Higher ! = Over Tostell's shoulder, Bill saw a startied face peer through the side win- dow of the taxicab and instantly disap- | pear. The taxicab got under way to! depart. i Bill shifted his pistol with incredible speed to a point under Tostelli's left arm, and fired two shots, one a quick | echo of the other, into the street. and had the gun back against Tostelil be- fore the gunman had realized what was | happening. { There were shoutings behind him, and two policemen, summoned by the shots, came pounding from Broadway. “This man was laying to shoot me. Bill snapped at them before they couid grasp any details of the scrimmage. “Grab him and go into his pockets. He's got a gun in the right-hand one, | and probably in the other, too. When You've taken them off him I'll give you mine. I've got a permit in my pocket | to carry it. 1 fired those shots you heard, to get you here. I'll explain il] jall at the station. Go through him. Hurry ! There was a ring of authority in Capt. Bill's voice, and, while one po- liceman warily watched Titus for signs of treachery. the other pro- duced two automatics from Tostelli’s clothes. Bill promptly handed over his_own. By now a crowd was jostling and exclaiming and another policeman came pushing his way through. “This man is a gunman,” Bill said. “There is at least one more in that taxi that you kin See just turning into 6th avenue. If you go after it| in a hurry you'll get it. They've| probably got false numbers on and are figuring on changing them in the first dark block, hut they kin be identified fairly woll by two flat rear tires. 1 figure 1 happened to hit both those tires with those two shots I fired.” The mewly arrived officer. com- mandeering a private automobiie back at the corner, streaked emstward in pursuit. The crowd, pouring from Broadway. was getting thick, and more police- men came. A lieutenant Shouldered his_way through authoritatively. “What was the shooting, Heffer- nan?" he demanded. “This old guy was shootin’ to give the alarm, sir,” the policemen Who had arrived first replied. “It seems Tostelli, here, went after a gun and he beat him to it. He had Tostelli covered.and was holdin’ him when 1 come.” “Beat Louie Tostelli to it!" the leutenant exclaimed, incredulously. “You say he—" “Yes, sir. He says Tostelli was get- tin’ ready to croak him. So Eisen- wald and me frisked him first thing, and he had two gats—both loaded. The tumultous rattling clang of the approaching patrol wagon began to split the crowd. "So. we've got you at last, Light- ning,” the lieutenant sneered, at the still silent Tostelll. “And got you good. We were bound to sooner or later, you know."” | i i i 1 read some- wile ago that wile life in small towns and on the farm w in many ways de- sirable, still and all a person that lives in a big city, like N. Y. for ins has many chances to improve their mind which is not enjoyei by th rural population in spite of the chau- tauquas and strolling players that visits the outlaying districts giving performances of King Lear, Mutt and Jeff and ete. but it was also IKE SOMEBODY HIM DRESSING XMAS TURKEY WAS FLAVORED WITH GARLIC OR BAY RU’L” that they was a whole lot of ci dwellers that don’t never take ad- vantage W2 their opportuni spend their time and money on Arbunkle and Marion Gish when they might be grabing off Arts or the aquarium and ete. Well at first 1 thought how lucl I was to live in a suburb of M 3 city where they's nothing worth wile, you might say, that a person can't get there in a hr. but on 2d ky < “For the love of Peter!” cried Bill, netulantly. “Stop calling him ‘Light- ning.’” I come from a country where I've seen quite a lot of men handy with pistols, thataway, and. believe me, boys, comparatively speaking, he ain’t!” (Copyright, 1921.) Origin of Throwmg Shoes at Newlyweds Tmmwmc' the old shoe was mot always confined to weddings, though the custom nowadays has come to be associated entirely with the going away of bridal couples. Authorities differ concerning the origin of the practice as well as of the exact meaning attached to it, but’ there seems to be a general opinion that it has to do with some very ancient ceremony or rite in connec- tion with the transfer of property, woman being regarded as such among the nations where the custom of such a ceremony is first found. There is also the possibility of its [ referring to the time when the bride- § groom carried off the bride ‘by force, though this seems less likely. It was in the sense of confirming a sale or exchange that the Jews understood the remoyal and giving of a shoe or sandal. When the kins- man of Boaz consented to waive his claim upon the parcel of land which Naomi would sell, in favor of Boaz, he “drew off his shoe.” for “this was e testimony in Israel” In a different sense the removal of a shoe marks the winding up of | negotiations among the laws and or- dinances given in the book of Deu- teronomy, where the widow, who is refused marriage by her husband's] thus asserting her independence and | heaping upon him the blame for fail- ure to comply with the law. ‘When the Emperor Wiadimir pro- posed marriage to the daughter of Reginald, she refused him with the words: “I will not take off my shoe to the son of a slave.” In Anglo-Saxon marriages the bride's father delivered her shoe to the bridegroom, who touched her on the head with it in token of his authority. The idea of luck is the principal thought associated with it always in these later times, especially luck in making journeys. Ben Jonson wrote Hurl after me a shoe, T'll be merry whatever I'll do. Heywood says: And bome again hitherward quick as a bee, Now for good luck, cast an old shoe at me. ‘While Tennyson tells us: For this thou shalt from all things seek, Marrow of mirth and laughter, And wheresoe’er thou move, good luck 8ball throw ler old shoe after. Undoubtedly it is the remnant of something which came from the Egyp- tians or some other ancient nation wjth. which the Jews came in_ con- tact though investigation shows that it was never confined to any one race. There are some interesting points in regard to the practice which have usually been overlooked in treating the subject. For example, the priests and worshipers at the shrines of the Roman Cybele, the Grecian Ops, the Canaanitish Ashtaroth and the Egyp- tian Isis wege compelled to remove their sandals. The shoes and sandals of the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Jews were ornamented with horns, crescents and other representations of the moon while at marriage ceremonies the custom of casting the shoe was, and is now, combined with the throwing of flowers angl various kinds of grain, These symbols and offerings seem to indicate the propitiation of a god, probably the deity who presides over productiveness. I Smatterers. «THE late Jacob Schift.” sild a banker, “was a progressive and a social reformer, but he hatedythe pinks, or parlor bolsheviks, and, above all; he hated your real bomb-throwing reds. “Mr. Schiff believed that the cure for the reds lay not in deportation, but in education. As he once said: ‘A red is & chap who hasn't read it inside?” Bill .demanded of himself. enough.'” ardner Goes In for Accumulating a Culture © By Ring W. Lardner. true | IF | to partake of athlet little culture and “refinements for themself at the | Public Library or the museum of Fine asn’t tattooed. At that Bartley done pretty good for a fighter named Bart- ley. but the bout was slow, and some of the birds in the 27.50 seuts begin wishing that they had put in another | dollar and bought a ton of coal | * * % % The 3d. event was a fight between 2 descendants of sunny Africa which suppose you might call it a riot of One of them. Kid Norfolk, had a whole lot more color and done pretty near all the rioting. When he come in | the ring he had on a night cap though they was no chance ot his oppt. b.g - 1 |1 color. Bul Tate rocking anybody to slecp Norfolk scemed 1o realize this when he set down in his corner. He had his monogram K. N. embroidered on { trunks. _Mr. Humphreys igtroducy him as Kid Norfolk from Baltimore. which added a touch of mystery. Big Bill Tate is Dempsey's sparring partner in every day lite which 1 have often wondered whether 1 would rather have that job or a tumor. Big Bill fights on the side for rest and relief. but he didn’t get neither from Norfol! Big stands about 6 ft. 7 in his socked ft. and Norfolk ain't no bigger tie but he's even more of & . He kept pokeing Bill in the . though you couldn’t see how he s 4 ever reached up there. They said be- fore the Toledo Dempsey couldn’t reach Willard neither. Nor- folk’s favorite punch however was a straight left that lit anywheres be- low the belt and about the only way Bill could of protected himself from a licking was to wear ghin guards | _Bill might of claimed a foul § or times but when you got a all day job like Dempsey’s sparring partner what is a kick in the shins more or less. Bill didn’t show nothing, and before the bout had went far the crowd was,. calling him Big Bum instead of Big Bill. Big Bum is a crowd's pet name for anybody over § ft. tall that tried Don’t 1 know? " Referee Houkop which sounds like he had drank his ginger ale too fast i refereed the main event of the even ing which it won't be nessary for me to describe, as it has all ready been wrote up by better men than I am or Gungha Din either. Mr. Humphreys announced before the bout that the o ¢ | winner was to receive a diamond belt the gift of Tex Rickard. So Arthur made the remark that he couldn't* think of nothing handier to have around the house and he wished he was Dempsey. * % x ¥ Mr. Brennan got a belt in the 12t} | rd. but they wasn't no diamonds in it lonly stars, and then Mr. Demps: | stood up in the middle of the ring t “MR. BRENNAN GOT A BELT IN THE TWELFTH ROUND, BUT THE) WASN'T NO DIAMOND: S ON IT, ONLY STARS.” thoughts it come to me that I seldom never profited by my location and as far as acquiring elegants and Polish and etc., I might as well be receiving teller on a garbage wagon in Rum- ford Corners. So I made a resolution leaf and went right to the phone and called up Tex tickets to the surviving brothers, is directed to “come , Dempsey-Brennan fight, and as of unto him in the presence of the elders. | coarse they was only a very few of and loose his shoe from off his feet,” | my readers that was able to be there I may as well try and tell them a to turn over a new Rickard and got little about it so as they can be ob- taining culture might say. * ¥ ¥ ¥ These educational evenings is gen- erally always held in Madison Square where they also devote a Garden, whole wk. every yr. to the six-day bicycle race between ten or twelve teams of Belgium, Cuckoo and other birds, than which they ‘s no more in- spireing sight unlest its the Philadel- phia Athletics. Well on this night I and a friend of mine, named Arthur reached the Garden a % after § but they was all ready several 1000 other diletants there ahead of us. Our tickets said working press so we as- sumed a rakish expression and stuck a pencil behind our ear and was showed to a ring side seat With no questions asked. Erudite N. Y. was out in mess in- cludeing many fashionably drest members of the demi-mondaine ac- companied by their escorts in head waiters regalia. All and all the scene was one that made a lasting im- pression on the cye and nostrils. We hadn't hardly had time to locate the different aromas however. when a man named Joe Humphreys clumb up in the ring and begin announceing where the St. Agnus guild was going to meet and etc. and the gentlemen is kindly requested to refrain from smokeing which seemed to be a signal for everybody to throw away their costly cigars and light a fresh one. They say Mr. Humphreys has been makeing announcements from the prize ting for thirty yrs. without the English language ever getting a draw with him. The first bout of the evening was between 2 representatives of sunmy Finmark named Marty Farrell and Frank McGuire. Marty had his gloves perfumed and Frank couldn’t keep his nose off them. The old snoot lasted the full 6 rds. but it looked like somebody would half to tell him if the dressing for his Xmas turkey was flavored with garlic or bay rum. Mr. Humphreys next introduced Bartley Madden and Charley Weinert, the Adonis of Newark. But maybe Mr. Humphreys said that so as Char- Jey wouldn't feel out of place along- side of Bartley whose natura} charms Was added to by the elegant handi- work of some old master amongst tat- tooists. The ornaments was confined to his arms before the bout started but after 10 rds. of it they wasn't hardly, no part of his carcass that second hand you get his. Mr. Humphreys give it to him, and he took it with a elegant bow a good deal like Willard's bow when he entered the ring at Toledo. ‘That bow of Willard's was the 1st. inkling anybody had that they was something the matter with the big fellow. Well Mr. Dempsey made his bow but the presentations wasn't over yet. The crowd got up all of a sudden and - give him a elegant shower bouquet of raspberries. All and all, I felt like it was an evening well spent and from now on I am going to try and go somewheres once a wk. and improve my mind and if 1 feel like I can spare any of the culture I pick up I will pass it on. RING W. LARDNER. Long's Island, Dec. 31. The Slow Mill. DO. S. RAVENEL, a southern coal operator, was discussing the Eng- lish coal strike. “The English government,” he said, “had right on its side when it refused to increase wages unless there should be an increase of output. “You see, every time wag>s went up - before—and they had gone ap of late pretty often—output had gons down. Indeed, if output keeps cn going down in England, it will be like the milter's- mill. “A miller, yoo know, had an old- fashioned mill which ground the wheat - into flour very slowly. A progressive - young farmer—one of these new sty farmers, who use tractor plows and long amber cigarette tubes--watched the mill for a while one afternova and then said to the millag: “*By heck, T could eat that flonr . faster than your old mill grinds it out." Yep. said the miller, chuckling, - ‘vep, but how long could ve keep on catin’ of it, boy? = “The young farmer yawned, ““Till T starved,’ he sui John’s Comeback. TUDGE GARY was discussing mar- ! riage. “Many a maeriage which began as a pure love match” he said. “devel- ops into an eternal wrangle. Haven't you seen marriages wherein the con- tracting parties do nothing but argue- ]and fight and contradict each other iover trifies from daylight till dark? “I remember dining once with such- a menage. When the soup came om - they started an argument about the ~ price of the parlor carpet or some. . isuch ridiculous matter, and the serv- {ing of the fruit saw this argument &t its height. r “Then the wife interrupted, herself, - to say to her husband, plaintively: “‘I don’t know what would happen.-» - John, if you ever agreed with me on any topic.’ ““Id be wrong,’ said John. ; Ta be wrong.'* .