| Show dono adventurers CLUB HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF the particular thief by FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter H HELLO ELLO EVERYBODY and 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 is going to tell the strange tale of the thief who want money that thief certainly made things complicated for anna it if he had wanted money it would have been simple anna could have given it to him and hed have been satisfied but when a man demands something you and threatens to kill you if you dont give it to him well if youre ever in a spot like that I 1 hope you make out as well as anna did it all happened in a doctors office in the little upstate new york town of jeffersonville Jeffer 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 a caller the doctor was out as usual when the door bell rang and anna answered the im 11 I 1 II 11 on 7 N wheres the coke he cried angrily 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 emergency would be her 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 obviously in a hurry the doctor be back for several hours anna told him she expecting the doc to return 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 he said 1 I 1 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 if id only thought first told him there were other people in the building I 1 could have saved myself the trouble that I 1 was evidently in tor 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 often told her if ever a tramp or a thief comes in he had said dont try 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 te desk went to the medicine cabinet and began staring at the labels on the bottles he stared a long time while his forehead knitted in a puzzled frown evidently he understand the labels at length he turned angrily on anna and cried wheres the 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 kill 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 have no cocaine she stammered the man turned on her in a rage his eyes blazing 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 bis 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 coming from a doctors office might only mean that some poor devil was having a broken bone set and it if 1 I 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 him into submission with fear clutching at her heart anna began to talk quietly io to the stranger she explained that few doctors kept pure cocaine that they used derivatives like novo caine calne instead and that novo caine give him the effect be wanted she told him a lot of other things about drugs too As she talked tier her fear of the man wore away tor the madness had gone out of nis his eyes and he sank into a chair head hanging and dejected then anna switched to another tack she began talking against the use of drugs painting a terrible picture of what they would do to him it 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 fordrung tor for drug addiction told hira 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 had gone though anna lay down on the couch and cried hysterically ny when the doctor came back he gave her a sedative and sent her home all that was quite a few years ago and anna has been away from jeffersonville Jeffer sonville a long time ashes married now she tells me to a new york policeman but I 1 doubt it if that cop husband of hers ever did a finer bit ot of police work than anna did with her tongue when she talked that drug crazed maniac right into the hands of the law copyright service |
