Show ikid w y 0 adventurers CLUB NN V I 1 HEADLINES ES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF Fl 1 curly hair by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter blunter ahead LJ ELLO everybody well sir heres a yarn about a fine thick thich A A head of hair now if that sounds strange let me remind you that this isn t the first time a head of hair has b busted into literature theres a yarn in the bible about a head of hair that is now famous all over the world I 1 mean that crop of wool that gave samson the strength to fight whole armies over there in palestine until delilah got out the shears and cupped clipped it off this head of hair were going to tell about today quite so lamous famous as samson s but its been through almost as much excitement I 1 it never figured in in any of those wars over there in palestine but it did strike a blow for the irish cause in the black and tan revolution in 1918 that head of hair belonged to thomas odonnell ODon neU and tom is today s distinguished adventurer and the lad whose tale we are telling toms hair was thick arid alid curly back in 1918 when he was twenty years old and a soldier in the irish republican army 1 I was proud of it then he be says and I 1 seldom had a hair cut so it was quite long and tom lived to see the day when he W was as not only proud of that hat hair but doggone thankful for it as well you know that irish revolution fought like most wars guerilla auerill a tactics were the order of the day the irish scrape together enough men to line up their army and fight the english englis hl in the open so they just got together in small bands that could strike and then scatter before the english could catch up with them the lad you saw working around the farm in the afternoon might be one of the bunch of raide raiders rs who fought the tans after darkness had fallen in fact that lad might have been tom odonnell himself or maybe his brother for both of them did a bit of night prowling whenever word came of a chance to hit at the enemy boys had fire in their hearts that night and one day in april 1918 the news was spread about that the english were sending a force to be stationed at Tie brid county tipperary near the farmhouse where tom lived with his brother and his dad the force was to occupy a big mansion on top of a hill and orders came from ra 0 rr V 6 IF sure enough it looked like a woman there in bed irish rebellion headquarters that the mansion must be burned before the english had bad a chance to get into it about sixty of the boys went out that night and tom and his brother were among them they carried gasoline five miles across the fields and burn that mansion they did then they scattered before any large force of english might catch up with them the flames of the burning building were visible for miles around military detachments started closing in on the place but the boys knew short cuts through the bogs tom and his brother got home safely floundering through mud in a pouring rain toms brother went straight to bed hiding his wet clothes under the cot he slept on but tom sat up to make himself a pot of tea before retiring the tea was barely ready when he heard a lorry full of soldiers pull up on the road outside the house soldiers wanted to find out for themselves tom put out the light he left the pot of hot tea on the table a and hurried into the room where he and his father slept he had a g gun un and if they caught him with that well shoot him all ah he jumped into bed besides his dad clothes and all and tucked the gun in beside him then he be told his dad to let the soldiers in in another minute the soldiers were in and all over the place has anyone been out of the house tonight they demanded demand ed toms dad said no one had been out but those soldiers were taking nob odys word for it they began to search the place then one of the officers noticed notice dithe the hot tea on the table who has been making tea he wanted to know toms dad said no one had made any tea everyone had gone to bed early but there was the tea and his story certainly sounded fishy those soldiers began to search every crack and corner tom becomes his fathers wife in toms brothers room they found a lot of wet clothes and that was plenty bad it meant toms brother would go to jail for taking part in the nights doings but toms brother had no gun and tom had if they found that gun tom would be shot and maybe his brother would too and it looked as it if those soldiers were bent on finding everything in the house that night they were coming toward toms tom s room now and under the blankets shivering in his wet clothes tom could hear them and then tom had an idea it was a slim chance but it might save him tom ran his fingers hastily through his hair brushing it back in a sort of pompadour then he buried his face in the he pillow and pulled the bedclothes up around his face so that only his long curls showed over the top of tile the counterpane and just as he finished an officer came walking into the room get up there lie he roared but tom move and at that in moment toms dad came in saw the long hair hanging down over the bed clothing and got th the e idea to the officer he be said my wife sir and ashes very deaf T the he officer took a closer look sure enough it looked like a woman chere in the bed he know the neighborhood very well and its abood thing for tom he any one of the people in the countryside have told him that toms dad lived alone in that house se with his two boys but for all that officer knew toms dad was telling g the truth aeu sir the british soldiers might have been tough on the e men but they drag women out of bed in their night clothes and nd this one insist on toms getting up the soldiers finished their air search without finding any more incriminating ting evidence and they we went t 0 off ta tak ing inc toms brother with them he got a sentence of eighteen months ont s m english prison but tom who faced a far worse fate go got out of it e an entire ly because E he had a quick wit and a thick curly head of hair air service C |