Show ap aws adventurers ADVENTURE RV CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF 1 the particular thief by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter T 1 H HELLO ELLO A and nd EVERYBODY chos the guest speaker at our adventure banquet today well sir its mrs anna robinson of bronx N Y and she going to talk about why anna la Is going to tell the strange tale of the thief who want money that thief certain certainly ly made things complicated for anna if he had wanted money it would have been 91 simple mple anna could have given it to him and hed have been satisfied but when a man demands something you and threatens to klu kill you if you dont give it to him well if youre ever in a spot like that I 1 hope you yon make out as well as anna did it all happened in a doctors office in the little upstate new york town of Jeffer jeffersonville sonville in 1927 anna was working there as a nurse it a hard job but it was a lonesome one for the doctor was out on calls most of the day leaving anna in charge one quiet afternoon in march though anna had bad a caller the doe doc tor was out as usual when the door bell tang rang and anna answered the ring to admit a tall ragged stranger with a desperate look in his eye one look at him told anna that this was an emergency case but little did she dream that the emerge emergency would be her hei owal this caller just wanted coke the man pushed his way past her and hurried into the office Is the doctor in he wanted to know where anna gave the wrong answer the man was wag obviously in a hurry the doctor be back for several hours anna told him she expecting the doc to return tor for quite a while and suggested that he try at the office of another doctor nearby it was just what the stranger wanted to know A change came over his face and a crafty look gleamed in his eyes so youre alone eh eb he said 1 I was taken aback says anna 1 I said yes im alone but the minute I 1 said it I 1 could have bitten off my tongue it if id only thought first told him there were other people in the building I 1 could havo have saved myself the trouble that I 1 was evidently in for but the damage was done and all I 1 could do was stammer what do you want he said oh ill get it myself and started walking toward the inner office at first anna thought he was just a petty thief and as the man walked toward the office she remembered something the doctor had otten often told her it if ever a tramp or a thief comes in he had said dont try wheres the coke he cried angrily to oppose him let him take what money there is and get out but the stranger seem to be interested in money he passed straight by the desk went to the medicine cabinet and began staring at the labels afi on the bottles lie he stared a long time while his bis forehead knitted in a puzzled frown evidently he understand the labels at length he turned angrily on anna and cried Wh wheres ires the cokell coke ready to kill for the drug that explained things and at the same time it threw anna into a panic this man was no petty thief who would be satisfied with money he was a dope addict crazed by a craving for cocaine he would rob klu do anything to get that precious shot of narcotic and to her dismay anna realized that there so much as a grain of cocaine in the place we ha have v e no cocaine she stammered the man turned on her in a ra rage 9 e his eyes bla blazing z ing his hands clenching and un clenching at his sides dont lie to me he shouted get it get it or ill and he took a step toward her raising his claw like hands to her throat says anna 1 I was terribly frightened my thoughts ran in circles he stood between me and the telephone madness and murder in his eyes I 1 could not hope that someone would come in as the local people knew the doctors office hours were in the evening screaming would do me no good tor for screams corr coming ng from a doctors office might only mean that some poor devil was having a broken bone set and if I 1 even tried to scream those terrible claw like hands would close about my throat there was only one way out I 1 had to gamble on the one defense god gave to women talk she talked hun him into submission with fear ear clutching at her heart anna began to talk quietly to the stranger she explained that few doctors kept pure pore cocaine that they used derivatives like zivolia novo catoe ine instead and that novo calne give him the effect he wanted she told him is a lot of other things about drugs drop too As she talked her fear of the man wore away for the madness had gone out of his eyes and he be sank into a chair head hanging banging and dejected then anna switched to another tack she began bilking against the use of drugs painting a terrible picture of blat they would do to him if he kept on using them she told him the best thing to do would be to go to the local health officer and take a cure for drug addiction told him that if his system really needed cocaine the health officer would give it to him and believe it or not the dope addict agreed with her he waited while anna called the health officer on the phone and went along peacefully when the officer came to get him after he be had gone though anna lay down on the couch and cried I 1 hysterically when the doctor came back he gave her a sedative and sent her home that was quite a few years ago land and Annah hasteen asLeen away from jeffersonville Jeffer sonville abong a long time ashes mar married riede f now she tells me to a newyork New York policeman but I 1 doubt if that cop husband of hers ever did a finer bit of police work than anna did with her ewhen the she talked that drug crazed maniac right into the hands of the th a law copyright service lc |