| Show f A MONKEYS TRICKS A Bohemian One in New York J Plays Many Pranks HE BECOMES THE MASTER THIEF I At Night He Makes People Think Their Houses I Are HauntedHe is Captured and t Becomes a Great Fet i f Special 19 THE HBHAu Examiner Dlspatchl NEW YORK Dec 27 William Whitt t man has caged at his house 220 West Nineteenth Nine-teenth street a male ringtail monkey Hit i nephew says he is retaining the littl animal until his master comes to claim it The owner of his monkeyship has been much sought after for some months ana he will have when he comes to substauti ate his claim a number of varied and interesting inter-esting claims for damages to adjust Whatever What-ever his former condition the mischievous little creatures appearance in the neighborhood neigh-borhood of his present domicile uatcs f i on last summer A servant girl sleeping ii the rear room of a house on Fifteenth street between Seventh and Eightl avenues was awakened one morning two bends patting her cheeks She looked up am saw betiding over hpr a strange and hideout face She Jumped from her bed and crying MuroXTl lan downstairs be family much alarmed went to her room armeJ but finding nothing cane to the conclusion that she simply had a dream A few days afterwards an upholsterer who was mending mend-ing chairs in a bouso in the same locality left the room for a few minutes and when 1e tCi g he eer back ho found part of his tools gone No one had been seen to enter the room and it was thought most mysteii ous Tho mistress of the boarding house out morning about this time found the door to her larder had been opened during the night and several jars of preserves carried away So these mysteries continued to accumulate accumu-late without apparent solution until one morning a lady was surprised to see sitting sit-ting upon the board fence in the rear of her residence on West Fourteenth street a monkey eating from one of the identical jars the boarding house mistress ha < missed a few days before Although the I little thief was thus discovered he seemed Ito I-to grow bone the less bold In fact his I depredations increased Mrs Wells of 203 West Fifteenth street had a number of valuable palms in her yard One morning she awoke to find the whole bed had been torn up and ruined Mrs Illesby of 32S West Fifteenth street looked out of her frott window one afternoon after-noon to find a valuable tropical plant had been torn into shreds and the buds apparently appar-ently eaten up Oh it is that terrible monkey she cried If I could only get hold of him But she didnt get hold of himfor at that minute he was crawling I along the fence in Ute rear of her house with a banana stolen from a neighboring kitchen in one paw and a napkin taken from West Fourteenth street in another One day Mrs Whi o an saw him lugging away a buich of keys from one of her neighbors and at another time she saw him seated on his perch on the fence trying to break open a jewel casket from ladys room The children were badly frightened by being awakened in the early morning by rude slaps on thq face They would cry out but before their parents could reach them the mysterious visitor would have disappeared One of the roomers at 220 Weal Fourteenth street was rudely awakened awak-ened by finding something tugging at his head He looked around just in time to see his monkeyship disappear through the window Watches jewels plates photographs photo-graphs anything ho could get hold of he would attempt to make away with Some of these things he would drop soon after I I taking others he would conceal and some never have been found He would invade kitchens at the most opportune moments and destroy dinners teat servants and I housewives had with great care prepared His appetite was marvelous and everything every-thing eatable appealed to him with wonderful won-derful eloquence No one it seemed was able to catch him He would commit com-mit his depredations and be off like a shot The police were notified but they said they could do nothing with the little pet The managers at Central park were begged to secure him and make this addition to the menagerie but they apparently appar-ently did not need any more monkeys The scene of his operations was confined almost entirely to yards in the rear of houses from the corner of Fifteenth street and Seventh avenue to 223 West Fifteenth and the corresponding heuses in Fourteenth street The families of Airs ElizabethLis comb Jacob S Carter William Whiteman H Young Illesby and T J Wells were the chief sufferers from the little animals antics Exactly when the little rascal first appeared ap-peared in this neighborhood said Mrs Whiteman is not known but think it was about September He was first very keen and we could not get near him He seemed to have a very strong liking for anything bright or anything to eat If a watch were left in the room with an open window it was pretty sure to fall into his possession Some of my neighbors have found him sitting on the bureau or table holding a timepiece to his ear and listening to its tick At other times he would be found sitting before a mirror calmly looking at himself He soon learned the use of hairbrushes hair-brushes and toothbrushes and if he sometimes some-times took one fcr the other it was all the same to him No one could catch him in those days in Fourteenth street and thin as if to tantelize us he would for a minute hold his stolen treasure in his paw and then disappear Where he lived all this time is not known but I suppose in one of the trees as ho ran into them when pursued pur-sued by cats or boys Cats he would fight whenever he met them and sometimes some-times the backyard would be thick with fur One cold morning a few days ago a servant ser-vant built a fire in the kitchen and then came up stairs When she returned the monkey was sitting by the rang shiver ng He made no effort to get away and so was easily taken captive and caged My nephew took quite fancy to him and if no one comes to claim him he says he will keep him himself Harry Lipscomb grandson of Mrs Lips comb living at 210 West Fifteenth was one of his monkeyships captors and has much to say of this little captives antics It was fun to see him crawling along the division fence with something he had stolen in each of his front paws said Harry At times he would disappear for several days Where he would go no one knew then back he would come hungrier than than ever He soon learned to open the doors of cupboards and nothing was safe from him except what was locked and j the keys hidden We boys used often to wonder where the little fellow lived when n 1 he was at home but we never found out People would sometimes place things out c for him to eat and if they did not suit him he would wrap his tail around the plate and i start with it up a tree When about halfway I half-way up he would drop the plate and brake it One day I saw him sitting upon the fence with a napkin Washday was his delight He could climb along the clotheslInes clothes-lInes pull the pins out and then sit on the fence and watch the clothes blow off the line Sometimes he would chew off the i lines and let the clothes all down If anyone any-one should appear and claim tho monkey I there will be some reckoning to be made I before he is taken away |
