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Show ADVENTURERS' CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES V gtY OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELFI VjH i , i ri 'The Nurse and the Thug By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter HELLO EVERYBODY: Here's a holdup story with a different twist almost a traffic one, for, we learn from Augusta C. Gores of Glen-dale, Glen-dale, L. I., "The gunman confessed to Judge Savarese that he was about to assault me." Had it not been for the curious curi-ous coincidence related below, Augusta's adventure might have had a different ending. Augusta, who Is a nurse, was attending an invalid patient In Glcndale, and on the night of April 4, 1938, at 11:20 p. m., she alighted from the Metropolitan avenue trolley a block and a half from the house at which she was employed. The road at that point happens to be very lonely, inasmuch as Saint John's cemetery is but a block away. Augusta felt rather creepy for that reason as she was walking that distance from the trolley. Suddenly, ahead of her, she saw a lengthened shadow, traveling travel-ing In the same direction. SOMEONE WAS COMING ALONG BEHIND HER. She looked back to moke certain, and, sure enough, a man was hurrying hurry-ing along toward her. Augusta felt the man might be following her, so she figured she would cross to the opposite side of the road in order to see whether the man would actually follow her. He did. Augusta looked back once more as she was crossing, and as she did, the man crossed also. He, too, was looking back to see whether the road behind him was clear. "I was not mistaken," Augusta says. No Chance to Escape by Running. Fear came over her. Fighting for control, she realized in mounting panic, that she must suppress her blind desire to outrun the man. No hope lay in that course, she must use her wits instead. Behind her the footsteps grew louder. At last, unable any longer to restrain herself, Augusta turned. Not a foot away from her was the man. She attempted to turn back to the avenue, as there were several cars going through, but the fellow prevented her from doing so by telling The drunken thug was getting rough, and Augusta began to tremble. her to go on ahead of him and obey his orders as he had her covered with a gun and would use it on her if she screamed or made any attempt - to call for help. At the same time, Augusta says, the man pressed his body up against hers so that she might feel that he had a gun. The man wore a leather Jacket, and had his hand in the breast pocket, concealing the weapon. This was enough for Augusta. All thoughts of flight vanished. She knew she must somehow talk her way out of this situation. But she knew in the next instant that she didn't have a choice. The man was under the influence of liquor, and he was past the reasoning stage. Augusta Invented a Husband. As the man began getting rough, Augusta told him desperately that she expected her husband along any minute, and that her husband was a police- officer. "You'll be In for an awful lot of trouble!" she warned the persistent annoyer, hopefully. Augusta adds in parentheses: "I happen to be a widow." She thought by manufacturing this story the man might go away and let her alone, but, on the contrary, he seemed inflamed by this threat He became rougher, boasting that he could handle the situation, and Augusta, seeing now how drunk the fellow was, began to tre"mble inwardly. And despite her rising panic, she knew that her one hope lay In just one thing SUE MUST NOT LET THIS FELLOW KNOW HOW FRIGHTENED SHE WAS OF HIM. To scream was useless; there was no one who would have heard her cries. Augusta's one hope lay in holding off her annoyer until someone some-one should happen along. , The man was powerful, and Augusta was powerless against his drunken strength. In vain she wrestled to free herself from his grip. He was just about to overpower her when, turning down the road, Augusta saw the headlights of a car. Her Savior Was a Policeman. The thug had his back turned. Augusta, recalling her feeble threat of a few moments back, cried out: "Here he comes now!" The Instant's attraction was enough. While the thug wheeled to face, as he thought, the approaching police officer (Augusta's fictitious husband) hus-band) she pulled away from him and threw herself Into the range of the headlights! The car was traveling at a pretty good clip, and the driver told Augusta afterward that he did not see her until he was almost al-most on top of her, and actually came very close to running her down. Augusta leaped on the car's running board, begged the driver, a man. to help her, explaining that she was the victim of a holdup. By this time the thug was making his getaway. He was making good headway, WHEN SUDDENLY AUGUSTA HEARD A SHOTl And here's the strange coincidence. The very man Augusta had stopped in the car proved to be a police officer in plain clothes, who was coming home from a prize fight. He was a total stranger to Augusta, but he must have been just as effective as If he had been the Imaginary husband she had tried to scare the thug with. Because the next scene in this drama shows the thug up before the judge. Augusta was commended by the court upon being able to hold the man oil long enough for help to come. Copyright. WNU Servlc. |