Evening Star Newspaper, June 3, 1923, Page 81

‘THE “ SUNDAY STAR, WASHI “Golf Champings,” From One Day’s Experience of Japanese Schoolboy BY WALLACE IRWIN. To Editor — , who are like Babe Ru'th, a child we love for her winning ways. EAREST SIR:—Last Satdy pm. Hon. C. W. Quackmire, to whose wife I am engaged washing dishes, srrive to kitchen looking very es- tranged. He was walking in 2 sacks resembling Scottish oatmieal and he had on some stockings. too. and his vest looked quite scenatlo. “Togo,” he require with financial expression, “would you liké to be & little cad and carry my bagg while I 8o to Golf?" “That will be a long way to go." T negotiate geographically. “With all my education I have only learned of 2 Golfs in America. One are called the Golf of Mexico and the other the Golf of St. Lawrance.” Golf are not any sea annimle l'ke you mention,” he dib. “It are a game h America stole from Scotland.” It stolen from Scotland,” I nego- tiate, “T am sure the Scotch must have worn it out.” “Pussibly,” he narrate. “But in Canada it stjll remain Scotch because that drink are not yet {llegal there. 1 know because I remained in Mont- real one week of joy, putting high- balls into 19th hole. After that I got such a feeling of sisterhood for Can- ada that rothing but a mortgage can keep me from living there. Yes, in- deedly!!! And when I left that sweet Montreal 1 took ore lifelong friend home with me. His name was Fhillup.” g “Phillup which?" T ask to know. “Phillup the Flask,” he say with some sobs & tear-drops. “But come, let us go before my Strong SOrTOw throws me out. Folla me to Golf Club, Togo, and I will show you some strokes that Hon. Spalding has not yet learned how to do." Mr. Editor, you should have come along to see what 1 carried on my weak back all way to St. Agony's Golf Club. It were like a leather stove- pipe filled with curlo garden tools. Some of them look like they was made to gather seeds from pineapple trees. Yet others resemble the kind of stove pokers which Aztecs use to fool snakes with. I enjoy great confusion, thinking how things gets into that strange candition *xx RETTY soonly one swollen gentle- man incroach out from Club with a white swetter. “Hell-O Bill! curtsey. “Hell-O Ike,” rejoint “How's your game?" “I have notified the Health,” suggest Hon. Ike. “How very bull"” holla Hon. Quackmire. “Then we can be equal playmates. My game is only admired by buzzards.” Speaking In this dead language both playmates stroll down to ball grounds where cansiderable other gentlemen were batting with clubs. While awaiting for them to finish knocking he holla without any Hon. Boss. Board of their highballs Hon. Bill say to Hon. Tke: “How sad I am to think that Eng- land has beaten America again. Ro- tan and Olmet were not sifficiently good generals.” “At where dld this alarming baftle took place?” I require historically. “In the city of Deal” report Hon. Bill. “Howeverly, it were a square Deal ‘America should have more Geo Washingtons,” I snagger. ‘“Other- visely, how can we save N. Y., Chi- cago and Nebraska from being occu- pled by British army. History is so peculiary America has been defeated by England yet I did not kuow there v report 12 Golfing gentle- men standing in circles. “Cannot you see the Man Driving?" . I look but could not Instead of that I observe a Golf going to bat with a very insane stick. He uprose his arms and suddenly he make fol- | lowing loud sound: holla distinctually. ‘That gentieman are cheeting. He holla 4, and yet hs have only hit the ball 3 times!" “Look here, fella” narrate one smallish Golf, coming up in his swift | short pants, “Are you here to be a cad or to talk about {t? If 0 you are ruled off tho coarse. I are Presi- dent of the Green Committee.” “I did not vote for'you.” This from me with expresston of fried repartee. And yet he could not assimilate the words I spoke of. * % *x % RETTY soonly Hon. Bill and Hon Ike commence to play ball. At first shoot I could see that my Boss were most superior player of those 2. Hon Tke knock his marble very straight- forward, but he made a sinful mis- take. Hon. Ball fell onto nice green grass which might get spofled. But Hon. Bill were more sly with his skill. Getting pretty powerful, by golly, he stroked Hon. Ball on head S0 that I* made Natl. League curva- tures which would fool anybody while it flop down amidst’ rocks where nohody could catch it. “Congratulation!” report Hon. Ike. “I have played with you six (6) years vet dld not know you could do that “I learn a new stroke every y renig Hon. Boss while he scromble down to Hon. Ball with Rocky Moun- taln expression, Pretty soonly he wave his thumb at me. - “O cad,” he narrate hoysely, and |when 1 approach up, he snarrel, 1blick ! |* “Niblick* are a Jewish name for | something.” 1 snuggest. “But I do | not understand that religion. “What religion have you, if any?’ sk to know. | am a member of the | Heathen Church.” I tell. *“Foo bad.” he glub. *“I hoped you were a Christian so you could get shocked from what I will now eay. Stand sltghtly to 1 side. I am going | to address the banl.” While pounding Hon. Ball with en- larged Jewish club he adress it as | following . | 1—Spectes of poisoned worm. 2—Tom cat from Poland. 3—Is this Hell? There was quite a lot more, etc., but I was dishabled to keep score. At lastly Hon. Ball got knocked sense- less and fell amidst sweet dandy-cup flowers and other poetickle vegetables where it set there looking quite pale. “Hand me my mud-iron!" he growell First grasses & roots splll up in the air. More swipes. Hon. Ball look carelus. “Togo,” he yowell, “if you do not stop whistling There Is Smile in Every Sunstroke I shall take club and smite your head.” ‘ould you hit it?" I ask to know. “Hand me my masher!” he derange. “This are a masher lle after all.” 1do so. More swipes by him. When nextly I got grass out of my eye I could observe Hon. Ball making =« high sore with landscape flying after him. Protty soonly it come down in small dry lake where it look very neat amidst sand. “That will be nice place to shoot from,” I negotiate. “Others have been killed for saying that,” he dib. X * * k% ND so onward. Hon. C. W. Quack- mire were very hard to make joyful. With every chop of club he mone & grone. Quite frequently hp k to know why he had been bornm, vet I could not think any good excuse. When Hon. Ball jump over cliff or croll up tree Hon. Boss say prayers. I got to sipposing that he were not making pretty good score. Yet such were truthless. By time he reach 4th hole he had 68 while Hon. Ike only got 18. And yet he were not satisfled. “Who ever did invent this dammed- up Game?" he require at 13th hole. “Mary Queen of Scotch,” I snuggest. “Too bad they did not use a Niblick in chopping her head,” he report with savagery. Yet after all that Hon. Boss come back to Club with very proud number on his score card. 212. Could any- body be unhappy with so much? I axpected all members to shook his hand. But Hon. Quackmire are very modest gentleman who do not boost himself. He remove pants & other ete. while wash-up. In lock-away room. While all his friends set around, taking gayishly about bogles, stogies and other curios found on the bunker hills, Hon. Boss merely smoked. In far away corner of room I could observe ore other gentleman saying nothing pretty quletly. He look very funeral while folks walk up and shooked bls hand. “Why everybody so sadly hand- shake that lonesome gentleman? I ask one caddish boy near to me. “He got 71,” narrate this small cad. “Too sorry!" I grone. ‘“Yet he may learn to get more if he practice sif- fictently.’ “What you say is so true it gives me & pain,” report he. Therefore I go home with Hon. Boss, who walk along with disjointed expression pecullar to American man who have had a good days sport and are looking for some nice place to dfe. Hoping you are the same Yours truly HASHIMURA TOGO. (Copyright, 1923, Tnited States and Great Britain, by North American Newspaper Al- I do so. Swipes by him. Several Tience. ) Old Reliable Draws the Line Between | Quality BY HARRIS DICKSON. DORS of greasy cookery came percolating through every crack of the Hot Cat Eating House as Old Reliable hustled to Its door, diggink both hands into his pockets, for it was 2 cold day in Vicksburg. His coat might have wrapped twice around him and buttoned In the back; it once had fitted the bulkier Col. Spottiswoode. Fluttering now upon Zack's skimpy figure, the garment seemed more of & convulsion than a fit. Fits or con- vulsions, however, mattered not when his nose sensed the seductions of fry- ing catfish. Turning the doorknob he paused to sniff, to grin, to anticipate and to enter. 4 First he eyed Aunt Fapnle, who floated amidst a heavenly cloud of incense, bending over her skillet while she flofped the thin pink slices. And it tickled Zack upon his front tooth to consider that he'd soon be chomping such juicy morsels. With a mouth hankering for catfish he plotted no arguments and hatched no debates. Disputation was not the joy he craved: vet no sooner had he stepped within the eating house than Unc Eli Mundy passed a remark which pestered him. Corp. Elf Mundy-and Brother Sandy Spriggs were Grand Army republi- cans, drawing their pensions, draw- ing their breath, and argufying be- slde the Hot Cat stove, where Zack heard Ell glorify the name of & pros- perous white man and assert: “I tell you he's wuth a million dol- lars. Shet up, Elf!" Zack strode for- ward. “I dom't care ef dat feller's wuth a thousan' dollars, he ain’t wuth nothin’ to me. Po’ white trash! Po’ white trash!™ “Don’t he live in a fine house?” 4 bristled up. “Ain’t he got plenty ney? An' two autymobiles?” “It don't slgnify what he got,” Zack maintained. “I'm talkin’ 'bout what he is. Dat feller’s so scrubby, ef he was a hoss his fetlocks would drag de groun' An’ ef he ain’t po' white trash den he oughter take down his sign; ‘cause de good Lord don't put wrong marks on His packages. ok ok % 'WHERE else would Old Reliable haive been 8o outspoken. But here, in this sable sanctuary, blacks could discuss the white problem as freely 2s the paler race were forever jowling over the negro problem. And Zack's internal barometer never lied to him about white folks. By Instinct he sized them up more accurately than they judged each others by their logic. Any shrewd adventurer migh§ come to Vick burg and deceive Col. Spottiswoode; yet if that stranger lacked a certain :rm of life old Zack promptly got his hum- Der. “Pay 'tention to me, Unc EI.” Zack insisted. “I kin pick quality folks in de dark, wid bofe hands tied behind me. Dis feller which you brags about, he acks powerful nice befo’ de big bugs, cause dat’s de side his bread is buttered on. But he don't comsider It's wuth while to fool & niggeri so I sees.plum Folks and Poor White Trash through him, same as a pane o’ glass. “Huh! De fust day he ever hit Vicksburg I noticed him perticular at Christ Church picnic, showin' oft befront de ladies, an’ spoutin’ a heap o' language. ‘Here, ole man,’ he hollers to me, ‘serve Miss Janie some lemonade! When I fotch dat lemon- ade he takes out fo' bits and holds it twixt his fingers so de ladies could ‘twarnt no Boston half dollar—-" “What's a Boston half dollar?’ queried the ignorant Sandy Spriggs. “Dat signifies a nickel, 'cordin’ to! dese sleepin’ car porters. Dey say Boston drummers gives 'em. Anyway, dis feller held it up ontil de ladies made sure ‘twarnt naty nickel, den filps it me same as a button, oratin’ right nolsy, ‘Keep de change, ole man.’ ‘Huh! Dese po’ white trash always seeks to make a nigger feel like a nigger. Now dere’s Cap'n Pepper— Cunnel calls him *Cap'n Hotstuff— done spent his money, #h’ lost it be- sides; but when Cap'n Hotstuff do sump'n for you," by do It complete. “HE JES' TURN'T AROUN’ AN’ LOOKED OUTER DE WINDER 'WHILST I POURED MY DRINK.” Last night I goes to Cap'n Hotstuff's; house wid a note from Cunnel, an’ beln’ it was so cold de Cap'n 'spress hisself jesso, ‘Zack, don't you want a little drink? “Co'se I snickered at such a tomfool question, an’' Cap'n never tarried for no answer, jes sot out his own bottle. His own quart, mind you, cause he ain't one o' dese short hosses which | keeps ole timey licker for hisself an’ white lightnin' for niggers. When Cap'n Hotstuff gives you anything, he goes de whole hog, lets de hide go wid de horns .an’ taller. “Den Cap'n passes me a goblet an' waves his hand. How you 'spose a high-qualified gén'leman behaves his: self? Huh! He jes' turnt aroun’ an’ looked outer de winder whilst I pour- ed my drink. What for? Cause Cap'n knowed ef he stood watchin’, like he grudged ev'y drop, I'd stay my hand befo’ pourin’ nigh as much as I wanted. Den I'd wrastle wid nightmares ontil cotton-piekin® time, dreamin’ of de chance I lost to take a little more. Huh!' Jes studyin' bout dat whisky what I didn’t pour would hurt my feell an' Cap'n Hotstuff onderstan’s how to ease along widout hurtin’ nobody’s feelin's. “Lord’ Lord! When I promenaded away from his house I was steppin’ on de moon ap’' de. stars, cause I nacherly felt so fine, Huh! XYou can't pay mo man a higher recom- mendation dan to take yo' eye off him whilst he tilts yo' quari * k% ox S Zack administered this sock- dolager he commanded EIl to: “Hush yo' mouf. Conversation ain’t reached you yit. I got some mo' to say: When dat po’ white trash commenced beginnin' to git rich, he buys Jedge Tremaine's house, *cause 4t was stylish. You all 'mem- bers Sis Bunny what nussed dem Tremaine chillun, an’ nussed the Jedge to boot? Little bit o' coman? Well, Sis Bunny, hadn’t been in Vicksburg for more'n twenty years at de time she 'rived back home to see de fambly, an’' didn't kno¥ dey done moved away. Dat's how come Sis Bunny got so bumfoozled by dat strange white ooman which was set- tin' on Jedge's front gallery, wearin’ a fine silk dress. Huh! Dat's de wife o dis feller which you brags about. ‘An’ when Sis’ Bunny ‘quire for de Jedge's chillun, dat ooman ack kind- er uppity an’ tole Sis Bunny, ‘Dey done busted an’ gone. Dis s my house now,’ which injuce Sis Bunny to set down on de step and cry. She done traveled so far to see dem chil- lun. After while she tried to talk some 'bout de chillun, but ‘twarnt no use. Den -she ax, nice an' perlite, ‘Please, ma'am, can't you gimme some onderclo’ I'm most naked. What you reckon dat white ooman done? Traipsed herself into de house an fotch out some rags, with a pair o' scizsors. Dar she.sot an’ cut off ev'y frazzlin' button befo' she give dem clo'es to Sis Bunny. Did you ever héar de beat.o' dat for a po’ white trash trick? “Huh! Got autymobiles, is he? Goes puffin’ an' ‘snortin’ roun’ Vicks- burg like a gasoline boat wid breeches on. Two autymobiles. Huh! He oughter be rollin’ dirt on de leves wid two wheelbarrows, one in each hand. Huh! He puts me in mind o dat fik-bit mule which I used to plow on Sherwood plantation. All durin’ de week dat mule went pokin' along mighty humble, Den on Saddy nights when I turnt him loose for Sunday, he'd kick up an’ prance, ‘tendin’ to be a powerful im- portant pusson. I used to watch dat fool 'an laugh, ‘pears like you don't ‘member whar you come from, an’ don plum forgot yo daddy warn't noth- in’ but & jackass’ Dat's de way wid dese Do’ white trash when dey gits de bighead.” : (Copyright, 1928.) Waiting Room Baths. ASHFUL WAITING” is the motto in Berlin, where & bath- house has been installed in the city's latgest rallway station. Travelers may utflize their spare time with a bath while awaltipg their trains, and officlals report that many arrive fif- teen or twenty minutes early that they may take & plunge in the tub @ NGTON, D. C, JUNE 3, 1923—PART 5. Boy Detective Smashes Opium Gang, After Clever Pursuit of Criminals Seventeen-Year-Old Student, Ambitidus to Join Ranks of Sleuths, Gets Offioe-Boy Job in Gov- ernment Service and Is Instrumental in Preventing Deals Involving More Than Half-Million Dol- lars—Takes Part in Thrilling Mott Street Encountet Which Is Climtax of Investigation in New York. BY BEN LUCIAN BURMAN. HE most far-reaching oplum plot in American customs servics history.” = The s words are those of United States Assistant District Attorney Herman L. Falk, whose convictions of the smugglers' band crushed a gigantic conspiracy to intfoduce by stealth into this country more than half a million dollars’ worth of the Indian drug that seethes and fumes in the dingy Chinatown the sight- seer passes but never knows. And In this drama, enacted upon a stage of crooked streets and gloomy ware- houses, there stands out a youthful figure, grinning, unique — Willle Smith, United States boy detective. Willle Smith, seventeén, veteran resident of New York's west side— the street and number this historian kas sworn not to relate—after two years of high school, found it neces- sary that he secure employment. He became office boy in the headquarters of the Government Treasury Service at the customs, building, continuing his scholarly pursuits in one of the night high schools. Standing at the polished gate of the special agent's office, barring the way to an intruder, or welcoming an official, he watched, wondered and envied. Whether Willle had hoped, from the days he could first 1isp out “detective,” to be- come enrolled in that mystic pro- fession, the bashful youth could not of would not inform the chronicler. Suffice it that often he had been an entranced listener of the garrulous corner policeman near his home, and had read deeply in stories of strange crimes’ unraveling. Sherlock Holmes he placed, and still places, far above those psychic and mechanical detec- tives who solve murders with ma- chines instead of their heads. * ¥ ¥ X T was not long before his genial, ruddy face grinned itself into the friendship of the officers constantly passing. The winds of the friend- ship blew warmer, until one day Allah™was gracious. Willie buftied off a guest on a sudden night raid startling Mott street's sister across the Hudson—Newark’s Chinatown. His behavior was without blemish. King Brady himself could not have observed a single violation of the de- tective’s book of etiquette. As a re- sult when other raids followed Willie accompanied. Tiring of being mere spectator, Willle determined that a g0od detective, even if only a guest, should be useful. So he got busy. Through crannies which large men could not penetrate Willle squeezed —up sooty chimneys, into dusty closets, to emerge black but trium- plant, in his hand the tin cans shel- tering the “tofs,” tiny balls of the potent drug. ow he tapped with his foot for a loose board, now pulled with finger or pried with pocket- knife the knob of a door or the scroll on a chair; coal pile. The guest proved his cali- ber by thus amassing $500 worth of the gummy pellets that bring dreams and was admitted into the great fra- ternity of sleuths The secrets of the craft imparted, he was assigned to trail suspects. Sedulously he haunted them. recon- noitering® where they entered, walt- ing outside, or if the building was a store of two entrances where pursuit could be lost, strolling Inside also, and buying a handkerchief or sundae. To track a supposed drug peddler hour after hour, trying to imagine whether his next move would be to board a bus, and calculating whether his own hundred feet behind was far enough not to be perceived, yet near enough to permit boarding the bus if recessary, was, of course, exhilarat- ing. But today, by comparison, was drab, he knew, as sitting in a restau- rant near Unlon Square—where we now find him—he sipped a glass of milk and, apparently absorbed in the white fluld before him, listened with acute ear to the whispered conversa- tion of the four men at the table op- posite. For this time he was trusted agent In a case perhaps the most im- portant of its kind in the annals of the service; a half-million-dollar oplum conspiracy, embracing smug- glers, swarthy Itallans and blinking Chinamen; a conspiracy which even Sherlock Holmes would have deemed worthy. He was trailing ‘the ring- leader, a prosperous appearing, sleek haired Italian, one Devanno. Devanno, an uptown dealer in silks, imported from Greece, packed secure- 1y in twenty large cases 2,800 pounds of opium, whose value on the street totaled $560,000. The oplum was stored in a harbor United States bonded warehouse, supposedly for transshipment to Cuba, a transaction usual, legal, in which the government could have no concern. Emissaries of the government, however, hidden in the underworld, learned that enor- mous quantitiés of the drug were shortly to be on sale and suspected the source. But it was only a sus- riclon. Mere surmise could not effect ane arrest, could not stop a sirgle sale. The need was evidence. Which legal fact explains why Willie's inter- est at the moment was centered on nther things than milk. * * X % F the four diners to whose muffied words he was eagerly but unob- trusively attentive, besides the fm- porter Devanno, were two white men, fll clad, malignant, probably not un- acquainted with the penitentiary. The fourth of the group was a China- man, whose flashy clothes contrasted oddly with his staid, colorless face. Now the volces were louder. the Chanaman and one of the shabbily dressed ruffians, -whe appeared to be the importer's assistant, were hag- gling. “Seven hundred dollars. Too much,” muttered the orlental, angrily. The assistant furtively commanded him to silence. More argument, but 1ushed At last the Chinaman seemed appeased. A long, waxy hand dipped into & pocket and withdrew a roll of ‘greasy bills. The fingers counted out $500 and gzve hem to the importer. A eatisfled smile curved the latters thick lips; stuffing the money into a rocket, he wrote a recefpt. Upon a gount from the more white than yel- low faced Celestial, the four men ro: and sauntered outside. The Itallan signaled a taxi All crowded in. ‘Willle, too, was now, on the sidewalk, il [ now pawed through a| hailing another wheeled knight of the streets. “Yep." 3 “Follow it." The -jaded driver smiled at the order and the stature of his fare. “Whadyesay?" “Yeu're wasting time. cab in sight, please.” The chauffeur laughed, but obeyed. The first car sped down Broadway, wheeled onto the noisy Bowery, into murky Chatham square. It came to a halt before a four-story warehouse- tenement, adding its dinginess to the forbldding gloom of Mott street— Chinatown. The men entered. A door closed after them. While Willle, the vigilant, scrambled from his taxicab, halted half a block away, and took up his post in the shadow of a curio shop nearby, where, seem- ingly staring at bronse Buddhas mi- nus arms and carved elephants minus trunks, he waited. Waijted until long after darkness had fallen, when, ceP- tain that the men had efther de- parted by an exit of which he was ignorant or would spend the night within, he carefully noted the ad- dress and hurried officeward to re- port. A day's work well done. He had seen the money and the receipt pass between the importer and the Chinaman. That was enough. The suspicions were confirmed. The next day the hidden govern- ment emissaries, much older than Willle, believed criminals and there- fore criminals’ confidant: the youth's information, learned that a cab was to be dispatched the fol- lowing afternoon at § o'clock from one of the conspirators’ houses. It Keep that was to meet the importer and a Chinaman in front of the building on Mott street, probably for a delivery of the narcotic. The cab was to be | black ana white. The afternoon came. Willie was again watching, standiug beside the ugly | doorway of & ten shop, hands buried | in pockets to conceal his excitement. | How could a boy detective be other- wise than excited? At various points along the narrow street thronged with tall Mongols and droning Pekin- ese loitered six agents, so stationed that a cab coming in any direction | could be perceived at some distance. The agent first catching a glimpse of it was to signal by dropping a hand- kerchief, whereupon his fellow sen- tries were to leap out and with drawn revolvers trap cab passengers and cargo. Ten minutes to 5. Willle moved closer to the warehouse as he saw Devanno come strolling along and | stop before the somber structure. Five o'clock. A heavy truck, laden with hemp, rattled past. Three minutes after 5. The auto wheeled™into sight. No. Only the shining black coupe of a doctor taking a short cut on his rounds. * %k ¥ % IGHT minutes after 5. * The men are late. * * * Well, Wil- lie can wait all night if necessary. * * * A spluttering of a motor, and cab whirls around the corner. * * Quick! Why doesn’t the agent drop the handkerchiéf? Funny, the other detectives, too, stand mo- tionless. * * * Are they paralyzed? * * * Hum! * * * The cab is yel- low. Not black and white. * * * That's the reason. * * * The ve- hicle bumps onward. It pulls up to the spot where Devanno is walting, now joined by the chalky Chinaman Willie saw two days ago. Devanno leans over and whispers to one of the riders. The detective nearest Willle, now suspicious, but confused by fall- ure 4o, recelve the signal, lurches for- ward and grips the Itallan’s arm in his powerful hand. Instantly the taxi driver presses his foot upon the ac- celerator.. The already throbbing| engine roars, the wheels begin to re- volve. But not too quickly for willie. His eye has caught some- thing lying in the bottom of that automobile—he has recognized the faces of the two men inside as those of the restaurant in Union square. And they were getting away! * ¢ ¢ “Look out!” he shouts to the officer struggling with the importer, loud enough for all the agents to hear. “That's the taxi!” * * * Hurling the Itallan aside, the detective now dashes frantically after the yellow car just beginning to acquire speed. In a second it would have darted round the street turning and been lost in the labyrinths circling Chatham Square. The officer leaps upon the running board. He thrusts a revolver above the opened window. The two men offer no resistance.” The fright- ened driver applies the brakes. The other agents climb on. They look a dashes into a maze of traffic, and when the youth.arrives has disap- peared. » Other detectives catch him next day. Federal authorities cable the Amerfcan consul at Havana, where the twenty cases of opium were consigned, to open the boxes on arrival. The order is executed. The cases are found to hold not the drug WILLIE TOOK UP HIS POST IN THE SHADOW OF A NEARB CURIO SHOP TO WATCH HIS PREY. B sent from Greece, but brick and stone chopped from the foundation of the New York warehouse in which they had rested. The remainder of the opium was recovered; the smugglers ordered to jail a few days ago. It is the duty of a historian to be just and impartial; he must not strive to conceal a fault in the characters of which he writes. All boy detectives of fiction possess generous freckles; the chronicler, as he chatted in the custombo with the boy detective of fact, scrutinized scrupulously, and could find not one. Law Offers Obstacles To Rebuilding Verdun PARIS, May 16. ERDUN during the war was one / of the most remarkable be- sieged cities the world ever saw. After four years of peace it seems likely to remain for a long time, if not for ever, the most remark- able war ruin that the workd can see. It may be impossible to rebuild it. al- though its inhabitants have come back and are doing their best. Verdun before the war was the gate of France on the side of Alsace-Lor- raine, where the German armies were massed against {t. It was defended by a chain of forts and against these the utmost strength of the invader rolled | up agaln and again for the whole four years of war. A few hundred Greeks Qied to hold the Pass of Thermopylae— and 400,000 French soldiers were kijled around Verdun to hold back the ‘in- “They shall not pass” was the and they did not pass, even over their dead bodles, into France. Now the question is how many of the 21,701 inhabitants of Verdun when war began will be able to live again in homes that shail be rebuilt. And, it may be added, how many of the 78,493 inhabitants of the “arrondissement,” or county of Verdun, who depended on the life of their city will be able to rebufld their houses again and earn their liv- ing? An assistant pastor of Plymouth Church who sat beside me at one of our Paris press lunches gave me this good advice: “When you write for Amerlcan papers do not say ‘repara- tions.” Say ‘rebullding expenses’ We in America sometimes get the idea that reparation means war expenses and not mere necessary reconstruction.” * K K X QO I will eay that all the difficulty of getting the population of Verdun on thelr feet again is only a question of gettifig reparations money for rebuild- ing the city, so that its people may earn their liying by their industry. The inhabitants of the city and of what sbout. On the floor of the cab are two large sugar sacks, fllled with opium. One hundred and two pounds. Worth over $20,000. More important, the evidence needed to arrest the plotters and check their further, machinations. For which we must give much praise to Willle. The detectives glance about fér their hero. He is not to be found. But blocks away a light-haired boy, puffing, panting, possessing all the fervor that comes with seventeen, is pursuing s black-haired Italian im. porter. The Italian’s legs are long his enduramoe greater; finally he! fl 2 ‘were prosperous farming villages be- fore the ruin came on them have used up the little means they had left. The French government has borrowed from its own people all that it dared in order to advance the needed money while walting for Germany to pay. repara- tions. But a great difficulty has arisen. Before the war the 21,701 {nhabi- tants of Verdun proper—that is, the city—llved largely from the perm: nent garrison of 30,000 soldiers. This place was the key to France, as the war proved, and there was an infantry division with a brigade and five regiments; there was a battalion | of foot chasseurs, a brigade with two regiments of hussars, two artillery regiments, an engineer battalion and another infantry regiment of the re- serve. They were just enough to hold out against the first overwhelm- ing attack until French army affer army came to set up their wall of human breasts in defense of their country. | * %ok x | oDAY Alsace and Lorraine are again French, and Verdun is far inland, far from any future frontier of war and Invasion. Its whole gar- rison and that of what is left of the demolished forts is only a féw in- fantry squads and two, artillery bat- teries, more for the care taking of military property and cleaning up than anything else. These few hun- dred soldiers have no wants that will keep up again the commerce and in- dustry of a city of 20,000 inhabitants. Then the bombardments year after year have made much farming of tha surrounding hills all but impossible. Earth has been blown and scraped from the slopes, and what is left in many spots is thickly sown with rusting scrap iron of war that all but prevents even hand cultivation. Still, the farmers who have returned are growing crops of wheat and other grain that are amazing under the circumstances. The present trouble is to find some {ndustry that will give work and well being to the inhabitants of the town. They are willing to change all their pre-war habits, and they ask only that they mey be enabled to re- build in a way that may bring new industry into Verdun. Thelr city would naturally be the center of las bor snd commerce for all the sur- rounding country. But to do this they should be able to use their re- construction money for new kinds of bulldings fitted for the new in- dustries, and not the same as the old buildings for a garrison town. Now the reparations law is, or threatens to be: “You can have the necessary money for rebuilding your houses which were destroyed, but they must be the same kind of houses. So Verdun has its own little corner of the reparations problem to solve. Its citizens wished to use thy money to which they have a right for re- building their houses on factory buildings that would employ 10,000 | workmen and restore business lifé in their community. And now they are told -the law or treaty may not per- it 1 [