| Show CLUB the servant problem lern by FLOYD ft OYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter STEP up and meet frances walton mrs F R walton of new york city frances has come to tell us an adventure yarn the story of how she ran into the servant problem only dont make any mistake about that problem of hers it how to keep a servant ailt ait it was a totally different sort of problem that had more to do with I 1 her own safety than it had with getting her housework done for her it happened in the fall housecleaning house cleaning time frances was living in a house at 25 east eleventh street and the windows needed washing it was ithe year 1019 1919 and help was hard to get she know anybody she wanted to give the job to so she asked a bellhop in a nearby hotel it if he had any friends who wanted to earn a few dollars the bellhop said he knew just the man for the job he promised to tend send him around early the next morning and sure enough long along about half past eight a man came to the door and said he was the window washer frances had asked for frances put him to work on oil the windows and that bird sure was a hustler he did so well that irly day that frances told him to cone come back the next nest to do some other jobs that needed doing but the next day that bird show sl low up till about half past eleven and when he did come lit he brought old pady lady adventure with him window washer turns out to be a thug the first tiling thing frances knew of his arrival was when lie he came to her room on the second floor the maid had let him in ile he told frances that the water was running in one of the laundry tubs in the cellar and he shut it off it was a common enough complaint and frances suspect anything she started down toward the cellar with him but the minute they reached the foot of the basement stairs the man grabbed both her arms keep quiet he said and you wont be hurt A chill shot along frances spine from the back of the cellar another man appeared a small rat faced man with a clothesline in his hands another man came from somewhere behind her and put his bis hands over her eyes so she see sec him the three men tied her hands bands behind her back and led her down the steps to the cellar there they tied her feet frances Is bound while robber gang ransacks house when they had bad tied her feet they started to gag her one of them wanted to stick a wad of rolled up newspaper in her mouth but frances begged him not to she was short of breath and that wad might have killed her the man Z the ruffians overpowered and tied her up went out and got a pillow slip tore it into strips and put one of them over her mouth another he tied across her eyes then they put her on the floor against the wall and one man the one who want to be seen was left there to watch her all this time fear was growing in frances heart what were those men up to did they intend to kill her hera frances honestly think so co still you never can tell what is liable to happen to you when you fall into the hands of ruthless men such as these seemed to be she leaned back against the wall her heart pounding violently and waited to see what would happen meanwhile the other two men had gone upstairs and were gathering together all the valuables they could find end the maid asked one of them where frances was and he told her slie site had gone out ile etc also told her that frances had bad left word that she was to clean up the top floor and the maid suspecting nothing went upstairs leaving them free to ransack the lower floors at their leisure frances keeps her wits makes guard uneasy but now lets get back to frances down there in the cellar watched by the third bandit after 15 minutes or so she found that the bandage over her mouth was loose by shaking her head from side to side she managed to work it off and then she told the man who inho was watching her that a man who lived in the house was coming back at 12 it was almost noon by that time and the bandit began to get uneasy after a few minutes he got up and went out about five minutes passed after that thal then frances heard footsteps upstairs the bandits were leaving the house frances waited until they had gone and the door was closed behind them then she began calling to the wald maid thieves are caught but valuables never recovered I 1 she had bad to call several times before the maid heard her then she heard beard her footsteps in the kitchen and on the cellar stairs but that maid much help she was so frightened that her fingers trembled and she untie the knots in the ropes frances told her to go outside and see it if she could find end a policeman the maid came back in a few minutes and said she find a 1 policeman by that time the maid was more excited than frances t k frances sent her next door to get a man io to untie the ropes and so at last she che got out of her predicament then the she called the police the three men were all caught and sent to prison but none of frances france s valuables and many of them were heirlooms heir looms were ever recovered 0 service |
