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Show fjD YENTU RERS' "Waterfront Battle" By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter.- JT'S the same old story, boys and girls. Adventure never shows up when you look for it always pops up when you least expect ex-pect it. Take the case of Edgar Columbia. Ed chased adventure from Canada to Mexico and back again, but the scare of his life came to him when he went into a lunch room one night to get a cup of coffee. That cup of coffee cost Ed five cents, and came doggone near to costing him his life. It was in the early part of January, 1923, and Ed was in Portland, Maine. Up there he was a member in good standing of the International Longshoremen's union, Local SGI, and engaged In the Wfti'l- linn- mil unlna I i n or tlia Vinnrc that nmp in nnd OUT nf Portland harbor. It was a he-man's job, and Ed says he met up with some pretty hard-boiled characters along the Portland waterfront. "The men who frequent the dock districts in all seaports," Ed says, "are apt to be a pretty tough lot And Portland was no exception to the rule. Human flotsam passed through there from the seven seas and the five continents. They were toughs crooks yes, and murderers all of them flocking to the shabby waterfront Kialto as beetles flock to a bright light. Nice People, These Waterfront Folks. "In Portland these characters could he found on Commercial street, Fore street and the lower part of India street. They hung out in dives, clip-joints, cheap beaneries and in the back rooms of blind pigs." That was the sort of locality Ed Columbia worked in, and his work was as hard as the neighborhood was tough. When a boat was scheduled to leave In the morning, the longshoremen worked all night to get it loaded. In the winter those nights often ran a temperature of 15 or 20 degrees below zero, and at such times JJie men took turns going out for a cup of coffee to keep them warm. It was on one of these nights, about 2 :30 a. m., that Ed started out for a cup of hot Java. He went into one of those all-night lunch rooms of India street, and sat down at the long, wooden lunch counter on one of m, , uiit.i m Then SocKo Ed Let Go a Haymaker. those round spinning stools. There were 15 or 20 tough-looking eggs sitting sit-ting around at nearby tables, drinking and playing cards, but they didn't worry Ed any, because Ed was just as tough-looking as they were and weighed 1S7 pounds in the bargain. Ed ordered his coffee and an egg sandwich. While he was "eating his sandwich and sipping his coffee, a tough-looking gent came walking into the lunch room and, with a string of curses, flopped himself down on the stool beside Ed. The tough guy had a pretty good cargo of liquor aboard. He was, as a matter of fact, at that stage of drunkenness where he was getting meaner and uglier by the minute. But well that was none of Ed's business. He went right on eating and drinking his coffee as If nothing had ever happened. Ed Takes Abuse as Long as He Can. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the drunk turned on Ed and began calling him every name he could think of. It seems that some man had stolen his girl from him, and Ed looked like that man. For a while Ed paid no attention to him. 1 "He was furious," says Ed, "and my Indifference didn't help any. Finally, I told him to pipe down and go to h 1. Then he went completely nuts." The drunk began yelling at the top of his yoice, threatening to kill Ed Then he jumped to his feet and made a grab with both hands for tho stool he had been sitting on. Those stools were Just round seats set in iron pipes. On the bottom of each seat was a sort of stem that fit loosely Into the pipe a metal spike protruding about three-quarters of an Inch that the drunk picked up. Holding the seat with both hands, he raised It high about his head and tried to drive the spike Into Ed's skull. Ed jumped and none too soon, either. The edge of the seat grazed his head, and as the drunk raised it for another blow, Ed started backing away toward the corner of the room. As he backed away the drunk followed, raving mad and still yelling bloody murder. "At every lunge," Ed says, "I backed away, until I was caught In tins corner. I was afraid to make a grab for that spiked seat, because if I missed it, It meant a broken arm or wrist. I didn't know what to do and In that corner, with no means of escape, the situation was gettin" pretty desperate. 0 It Took a Cool Mind and a Sure Eye. "Finally, I had to do something. And what did I do? Well remember remem-ber how he was holding that stool seat with both hands? Every time he lifted it he would leave his face and jaw showing between bis upraised arms, ''hat was my cue." And Ed sure took that cue. He drew back his right fist and waited for those arms to go up again. Then socko Ed let po a hay-maker hay-maker for that unprotected jaw. The haymaker landed and the bird dropped. He was lying on the floor, colder than an Eskimo's nose, while Ed slipped out of the door and went strolling back to the docks. "And in spite of the cold," Ed says, "I was perspiring plenty. I wonder won-der if It could have been the coffee?" That's the way adventures run up along the waterfront J Portland VVNU Servlc |