| Show I 1 i na x FAMOUS L D HEADLINE HURTER li F X not V A 1 I t il I 1 hackman turns detective by FLOYD GIBBONS THE HE other night boys and girls I 1 got myself into a fine argument with a bird who said there any adventure any more or to be more accurate about it this fellow said there any more adventure in peace time he said that civilization had so caught up with the world that the e modern modem exploring trip was nothing but a cut and dried business of hiring a bunch of at natives to carry your baggage and then going for or a walk in the woods he said that big game hunting bunting had degenerated into a sort of game of hide bide and an with a tame elephant on a practically 1 fenced in reservation he seemed to think I 1 had a monopoly on all the adventures because I 1 was a war correspondent and got around to the spots where fighting was going on well sir ive been to a couple of wars where I 1 have anything more exciting happen to me than having a family of cooties booties move into th the vacant flat on my top floor and on the other hand I 1 had one of th the toughest times in my life in peacetime peace time taking a trip across the sahara ahara desert taxi drivers life Is an adventurous one that trip was just like the exploring jaunts that bird was talking about A camel carried my baggage A camel carried me too whenever I 1 too doggone weak from heat and thirst to stay on the doggone brute id rather go through six wars than take that trip across the sahara again but all that is beside the point what I 1 want to talk about is exploring and big game hunting and taxi driving you know when that bird was through with his spiel I 1 said to him who cares about the explorers and the big game hunters not such anch big potatoes in the adventuring business wily why a new york taxi driver runs into more adventure in the course of a year than an explorer does in ten and maybe its incidence coincidence co and maybe its fate but two days I 1 later ater I 1 reach into a pile of your letters on my desk and out comes this yarn from taxi driver andy of brooklyn N Y suspicious looking fare hires andy for jaunt andy tells us about an adventure that happened to him at four in the morning on march 26 1934 andy had his cab parked in front of madison square garden when a young fellow hailed him k Q come on the fellow said hand over your dough and told him to drive him to an address in thirtieth street between ninth and tenth avenues andy had had bad a good day that day one of the best in weeks he had bad nineteen dollars and sixty five cents on the clock and enough tips to make it all come to about twenty two bucks having that much money in his pocket at four a m made him sort of careful and besides he be like the looks of this new job he was being handed in the first place he like the fellows appearance and in the second place he knew that thirtieth between ninth and tenth was no residential neighborhood but a cab driver cant turn down everybody who looks suspicious lie he could lose half his fares that way so andy took a chance passenger turns out to be a stick up guy sure enough as the cab neared its destination andy felt a gun thrust against the back of his neck A gruff voice ordered him to stop and get out of the cab As andy stepped to the sidewalk the gun was thrust into his stomach come on the fellow said hand over your dough go ahead and take it said andy ile he figured if the fellow went through his pockets he might leave an opening and give him a chance to swing a haymaker but the fellow was too smart tor for that do I 1 look me like a sap he be said hand it over reluctantly andy passed over the twenty two dollars the bandit shoved him into a hallway and ordered him not to come out for ten minutes through the crack like opening out the door andy saw him get in the cab and drive away then he came out ran back to eighth avenue and called the police sleuthing cabbie gets his man I 1 the bandit had made a clean getaway the police find him andy went back to the office and told his story the company charge him for the lost money but still he satisfied that same night he told his wife he was going to get the bird who robbed him it if it took him all the rest of his life the next day was a monday andy was back at his stand with another cab but he be was paying less attention to hack back driving than he was to the faces of the people who passed by AU all day monday and all day tuesday he watched without success he did the same thing most of wednesday night with no BO luck either but along about three in the morning he got a sort of feeling that hat be was going to see his man sure enough while he was cruising on eighth avenue near fifty first street he spotted him crossing the street it was raining hard but that stop andy he cruised along after the man till he saw a policeman andy told his story to the cop and the pair of them went after the bandit they grabbed him at forty ninth street took him to the station house and after a ten minute grilling he admitted the tha holdup hold up he proved to be an ex convict on six years probation says I 1 andy 1 I felt pretty good about catching him I 1 guess it just goes to show that there such a lot of difference between a detective and a hackman ackman li 09 0 service |
