Show A STRANGE MIX UP HOW HOTT the theft of a bicycle XA led d to embarrassing barr assing sing complications among the strange complications for r abich aich the bicycle has been responsible the th 6 following is rather a masterpiece in point of intricacy choso persona who took part in it are now disposed to view the incident with some pride asatri as a tri 1 of confusion and misun misunderstanding derst and not likely to be duplicated B D who lives far up town had oom rion eion to visit a bicycle store on the eon bou levard a few days ago he left his wheel outside near the rack in which se several everal machines for rent while he was wa i s attending to his errand inside t the 0 shop he chanced to glance out through uli the door just in time to see a man spring upon his unguarded wheel and ride rid 0 off ff at a furious pace down t the he street with an exclamation of rage B i rushed to the sidewalk seized one 0 of f the wheels from the rack and started off in hot pursuit of the thiel thief the proprietor of the shop stood for a niome moment nt aghast ho he had not seen the beginning of the trouble and the only thing clear 1 to him was that his supposedly honest customer had made an astonishingly bold attempt to steal a wheel from the rack there thera was only one thing tobo to bo done jumping upon another wheel he joined j in the chase and the three scorched vp up the boulevard iu in admirable racing style the real thief proved the poorest rider of the three as the shopkeeper was unquestionably tion ably the best anc and I 1 the result of this state of affairs was that the distances between tho different members of tho the trio grew speedily less As they drew together a tm truck ck crossed tho the avenue crowding them into a small space the rate at which they were going precluded 0 any dismounting and the three came into collision with a resounding crash before they had fairly extricated themselves a policeman appeared his first fast proposition was to run them all in P for scorching but impressed by the unusual excitement of his prisoners prisoner 4 who seemed to be more disturbed in mind than ordinary scorchers chers ho he waited to hear their stories this as may be imagined was no short task the genuine thief was the only one who saw humor in the situation knowing that he had nothing to ta say for him himself he stood by and grinned while the shopkeeper and his bus customer sputtered out angry and conflicting accounts of the affair but the truth was finally ascertained As he collared the guilty man and dismissed tp the other two the policeman announced that no charge of scorching would U be pressed against anybody I 1 I 1 if I 1 have two or ar three more auw like this to settle I 1 I 1 he aerna remarked ed fy a bystander its a lawyer iube ezil callin lill instead of an officer new york tribune |