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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 1917)
TUE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND. . SEPTEMBER 23, - 1917. PORTLAND'S POLICE VETERANS HAVE MANY ADVENTURES Joe Day, Ben Branch, G. Roberts, John Quinton, Ole Nelson and E. L. Crate Retired and Pensioned After More Than Two Decades of Work. BY BEN HUR LAMPMAN. FALL was in the air. The sunbeam that fell across the police docket was rarely golden. With deliberate care the desk sergeant traced upon the record the last escapade of Jane Doe. As he laid the pen in its niche on the grimed old inkwell, he sighed gustily Into a yawn, and considered the pros pect beyond the doors of the station. Two little' Chinese lads were tossing a ball. A truck banged by. The ser geant sighed again. "They dont make 'em better than those birds," he observed, apparently apropos of nothing at all. Whereupon, between abstracted di rections to the license bureau, gruffly pleasant admonitions to traffic vio lators, and lumbering excursions to the insistent phone, the sergeant rum bled in reminiscent narrative. ''Pension 'em? he queried. "Sure they should. When a guy spends his years on a beat, come day, go day. and takes any hand that's dealt him he oughta get some consideration. "long about the time his thatch gets thin and frosty. Not that I'm lining tip anything soft for me, yunderstand but right's right, and wrong's wrong, ain't it?" Sersieant Growl Reminiscent. And these are but a hasty handful of the yarns the sergeant told, bulking huge over the old oak desk, as he win nowed the long ago. Into his talk there crept the rattle of sleet on dark and lonely nights, and crouching fig ures, and click of bright handcuffs un der the moon, and the sharp slash of gunshots. Back of it all, unawed and calmly resolute rose the bluecoat of the beat. It sounded like the 'muffled bang of a bursting paper bag. but it was a black powder charge wrenching at a strong-box door. Patrolman Joe Day, loitering through the gloom of that Summer mOrning in 1887, knew it for such. - The heavy smoke of the explo sion was coiling from the doors of Kd Morgan's saloon as he spun around the corner of Sixth and Washington. A slouch-hatted head thrust itself from the wreath of smoke, called an alarm and was paired by another head. From the doorway leapt twin flames, and the racing patrolman fired at the flashes. A breeze whispered sharply past him. He fired again. Out of Ed Morgan's portal pattered the safeblow ers. firing as they fled. Six blocks to the southward Patrol wan Iay gave up the chase, for the quarry and their footfalls were lost In the murk of early morning. When . he made his report at the station he kept something that could not be transferred to paper the mental pic ture of the yegg with the slouch hat. Face Ix n g R em em b ered. "It was 'Red O'Brien, I tell you," he insisted, and the blue-coated boys scoffed at his peppery assurance. Next years come alike for crooks and coppers, and the ways of providence are deviously deliberate. The un guessed scheme of things sent Joe Day, In another Summer, to a visit with an old friend at Vancouver, Wash. There was a pleasant odor of cookery in the cottage, as the patrolman drummed on the parlor window and waited for dinner. Two men walked past. The face of one was averted, but there was no mis taking the features of the smaller one. Joe Day. idling away a vacation after noon, became again the man on the beat. For the little man was indubit ably none other than Johnny Magln Ttfs. alias "Little Johnny" Blue, and known to the records as the pal and confidant of the missing "Red O'Brien. The unseen watcher scanned that pair of backs. '"It's 'Red. for a dollar! he ex-; claimed, and slipped dinnerless .from! his host's house. They were sprawled on the park grass, with cigarette smoke lifting. I when Day and the City Marshal came j upon them. Without semblancea of ' haste, and with the assurance of vlr- j tuous vagrants, they rose to scrutiny j - and walked toward the on servers. j ."Take the big guy, Tim," generously, proffered Joe. who is slight of stature. ' "If I can't trim the other one I'll eat my night-stick Whereat they took them. In the taking was torn much turf and some clothing, and it was a spent and panting little patrolman who dragged his own captive forward, that he might look at Tim's. One glance was enough. "You're 'Red O'Brien!" sputtered Day. "Don't try to stall you can't make it stick. I'm going to send you back to Andrew Counts', Missouri, to atand trial for the Savannah bank job." "Red" Admits Old "Job." j "Red" O'Brien shrugged his big j shoulders and regarded his handcuffs j with the eye of familiarity. Later he "rame through" and admitted that, haste had hindered his target practice before Kd Morgan's saloon a circum stance for which he professed regret. And, still later, before a Missouri court, the black-powder authority took, his "Jolt" of 14 years. As an aside, spare your sneers for Mack-powder. In those unenlightened days the efficacy of "soup." or nitro glycerin, was undreamed, and he was a master craftsman who could read the riddle of the contemporary safe with a judicious poundage of coarse black blasting powder. Such was "Red," and his fame was wide. As for O'Brien's pal in the business of the Morgan safe-blowing, he proved to be "Dutch Jake" Webber, and the penitentiary received him in the march of time. For "Dutch Jake" committed the faux pas of appearing on the streets of Colorado Sprinsrs with his luggage. From his maze of pockets the gratified police abstracted precisely 203 pieces of an admirably appointed burglar's kit. Frank Lock hart, too, was a burglar. Moreover, he was "good," in the joint vernacular of his pals and the police. As the moving spirit of numerous hold ups the gifted young man became a mystery. The police sought and found nothing save the empty pockets of his victims. And then, one Autumn night In 1&87. a man with his hands up caught the glimpse of his highway man's face. As one who neither toiled nor spun, but whose wizardry with a pool cue brought him homage and half dollars, Lockhart was known to the habitues of a billiard parlor at Front and Mor rison streets. Repairing thither one afternoon, while the nonchalant Frank was exhibiting at "15 balls or no count," Joe Day broke up the game. Fugitive la Cap tared. In seeming comradeship the pool player and the patrolman walked side by side toward the police station. Lock hart, protesting the -mistake." reached carelessly upward and settled his hat Further, he idly pulled up his trousers and tightened his belt. But his captor knew the signs for flight. "I'm on to that dodge." Day advised htm. hitching the service revolver around. "Make a break. Lockhart, and I'M play cushion caroms with your spine." "What's eating you?" was the ag grieved response. "I'm taking no chances. I know you'd shoot a man's liver pad off." Injured virtue was In his tone, but venomous hate launched itself in the smashing: blow with wh,ich he followed the words, at the very portal of the station. Day went down, his face a welter of blood, but his revolver spoke as he fell, and it called again and again to the fleeling highwayman as the pa trolman bounced to his feet and gave chase. At Fourth and Stark streets Lockhart faltered and staggered against a wall. He w'as winded and his face was strangely white for a youth in 20-round condition. And so Day came up with him. Together they went back to the cells, the battered patrolman and the pale prisoner. "He's yellow," agreed the jailers, as they regarded Lockhart. the cue wiz ard. An hour later, rising from his blood-soaked bunk, the prisoner asked for a doctor. A bullet had smashed through his groin. In time Lockhart got three gifts from the state his health, a trial and five years. Many Miles Traveled. Joe Day became a detective when Portland first experimented with the law in plainclothes. Since that day, in the pursuit of lawbreakers and dutv. he has Journeyed more than 200,000 miles and was once in conference with Scotland Tard. "Diamond Billy" Winters had a sa loon and a bartender. Both were near to his heart. The one was the notorious old Log Cabin and the other the suave and skillful mixer and artist, John Thompson. In time the trust reposed by "Diamond Billy" In his barkeeper's iniegniy was sucn that he gave the latter the combination of the saloon safe. The stones that earned for Win ters his sparkling alias were In the safe. One evening as the saloonman tooK the train, his felthful barkeen took the diamonds. The trail that Detective Dav followed led to the City of Mexico, doubled back through the states, whisked Into Can ada and vanished at Montreal. Months ionowed. but in time a nostcard crossed the ocean and came to the City ' .Mexico, wnere the Chief of Police gathered it in, as by arrangement with the American authorities. Thus it befell, through the gems of "Diamond Billy." that DtLrtlv. r Journeyed to Europe and talked shop wnu orauana i ara ana visited Paris and the continent. For three months Thompson fought extradition, but at length he returned as a prisoner of the Portland police. They had worsted and outwitted a CIVIL HOSPITAL WORK KEEPS NURSES ON GO EVERY MINUTE Edith Lanyon Tells of Routine and How Fine Soldiers Are, but Women Need a Great Deal of Attention. BY EDITH E. LANYON. SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND, Aug. 20. Life in a civil hospital Is in many ways different from life in a naval or military one, even if there are plenty of wounded soldiers as hon ored guests and patients. For one thing:, the probationers have most of tha hard work to do themselves in lieu of having orderlies to do it for them. It is true that we have ward maids here, but they have plenty of work of their own to do. Some of their time, too. Is very pleasantly taken up in chatting to the soldiers. A good-looking ward maid never lacks a willing helper as long as there is a soldier about! A Red Cross nurse is not a oroba- tloner, but does very similar work. At times she ranks above, and at times below a "pro." I am now the one Red Cross nurse on night duty and have a mighty busy time of it. Having now been on over a week I am pretty well acquainted with the routine by this time. At about 6 o'clock every even ing I am called, reluctantly get up, and my landlady gives me a cup of tea. From then until 8:15 F. M., when I start to the hospital, is practically the only leisure time I have and that, alas. s stolen from my sleep. I usually write letters or mend a few of the in numerable holes in my stockings. At 30 l. M.. we have supper all to gether at the infirmary. At 9 we are on duty in the wards. From then until midnight I am usually. busy giving out milk, polishing brass and polishing tables, etc.. etc.. the staff nurse who is on duty with me mostly attending to tne patients. Admiration Turns to Bitterness. How I did admire those highly pol ished tables and the beautiful bits of glowing antique brass when I was on day duty! Now I know them all too well. We even have to scrub the pen holders every night. The hospital was founded In seventeen hundred and something and those tables and brasses have been polished for 200 years or so nightly by perspiring night people, so no wonder they look in good condition. Even the painted deal chest of drawers is a joy to all beholders. Secretly 1 delight in the fact that it has not brass handles like the one up stairs which poor upstairs nurse has to polish every night. One of the nicest old things is a copper candle box, with heavy pewter corners, which stands under a tap to catch the drippings. It is a fool thing, to catch drippings in, as each blessed drop that touches it makes a mark which is uncommonly hard to get off every night. A beautiful brass hot water jug and the sterilizing drums are always cleaned for me by a sympa thetic sergeant in the morning. It is Impossible to get them all done by my self. My next work Is to set out all the breakfast trays, both for the women's ward and for all the soldiers. The breakfast Is cooked in the ward kitch en about 6 o'clock each morning. At midnight we have dinner, usually cooked by Sister, as she has the most time. I have my dinner with upstairs nurse and Sister has hers with my nurse. I do the washing up! Alter this, we cut all -tne bread and yjil ' ' -"" -ff ' 3 posse in battle, had slipped lithely away from a searching company of milttia and the state awaited word of the trio. Not alone for the robbery of a little store at Turner station, but for the reckless eclat with which the depera- dos had flouted their pursuers. There was a pool game in progress at the Caledonia saloon, at Front and Xorthrup streets. That it was a sin gular pair who played was attested by the rifles that rested on a gaming ta ble and the ominous bulge of hip pock ets as the players leaned to a billiard shot. Appearances did not belie them, for they were two of the trio, H. A. Glenn and William Bradshaw. "Put 'em up!" The pool players dropped their cues, but they made no move for pistol and rifle. Framed in the swinging door to the barroom stood Patrolman Day, and his service revolver was as level as his voice. The state paid their captor $150 reward and congratulated Itself. As for one John McCurrin, the third member of the gang, he was captured in Yamhill County. This -was in 18S0. The Oregon "pen" received them. ' In 1913 Detective Day followed a case butter for breakfast. Then we sit down at brief intervals in between attending to patients. Sometimes an accident case bursts in upon us. The other night I had to go upstairs and help to wash a bicycle accident. It was too bad a soldier who had been wounded three times and been discharged from the army, had the misfortune to get all smashed up in a bicycle accident. The night before a girl got knocked down and bady injured by a motorcycle. Then we have a baby which squeals at intervals and has to be comforted by warm . milk and things. Poor little thing, it misses its mother. All the soldiers volunteer to take care of baby and one offered to wheel it out this morning. They beg to be allowed to have it in bed with them. A deputa tion this morning offered to care for it, each man to be nurse for half an hour, day and night shift! They do love pets! I have had to turn out the inevitable do? that sees and adores and Insists on coming into the wards with them. They look upon a baby as a gorgeous novelty of a pet and whenever baby cries, a regretful voice will come from the soldiers' ward : "He's lonely nurse; let me have him. If they had their way he would be the most spoiled child in creation very soon. - A great, big Scotchman wanted to bathe baby this morning and was awfully disap pointed when I said he had been bathed at 4:30 A. M. Laying; of Tables Bin: Job. We have our tea. nurse and I, at 4 A. M. Then I take in the breakfast trays and lay the tables in the wards by the light of a flashlight. For two wards of soldiers upstairs and - two wards of soldiers downstairs and also for 16 women in two other wards. From 4:45 A. M., when we start washings, until 8:30. when we have our own breakfast, life is one awful nightmare of & rush. We have about 20 helpless bed cases to attend to be fore they have breakfast and I have to rouse up all my soldiers, upstairs and down, and see to all their break fasts. A soldier from each ward helps me. Sometimes the victim for the morning serves breakfast to each man of his ward, who has it m bed even if perfectly well able to get up. All their beds have to be made before 7:30 A. M. They have a noble way of stand ing by and what you cannot possibly do they will do for you. All signs of the getting-up tumult has to be cleared away before the day nurses come on, and nurse and I gen erally go off duty feeling like limp rags. Even the top of the clock has to be dusted. I get an obliging soldier from India to do that for me. . He is such a fine fellow of 6 feet 4 inches and can see any stray rpeck of dust which evades my eye from down below. He regaled me with a bloodthirsty little yarn about a Gurkha yesterday morning whilst he was dusting the top of the medicine cupboard. Here it is: Cnolee'Story Related. The Gurkhas were charging the Ger mans. A huge German grabbed a little Gurkah and yelled, "I kill you." The active hiilman screamed, "You would, would you?" The German nodded and his head dropped right off! The Gurkha had slit his throat from ear to ear like a flash before he could finish his to Jefferson City, Mo., where the State Penitentiary is situated. Glenn, of old time . Oregon notoriety. was '-there. . on the last lap of 20 years for strain rob bery. The Portland- officer talked, with him a broken, weary old; man. of 73 years. In the evening of life,- with his prospect checked by the bars of prison, Glenn stood as testimony to the truth that crime doesn't pay. Day Widely Known. Of Detective Sergeant Joe Day It has been said by C. C. Healey, Chief of Police of Chicago, that he Is "one of the big men in American police circles, and Is as well known in Chi cago and the East as he is in Portland and the West" In 1915, when Chief Healey paid a visit to the Pacific Coast, he stopped In Portland for the express purpose of visiting with De tective Day. When one regards Patrolman. O. Nel son he- beholds a viking Just such a fellow as thundered at the wassails of old -Norse- saga limes, or threatened to ' swamp the gilded, galley of an enemy sea 'king.- as he clambered aboard'. ' In the phrase of his brother sentence. Nice, appetizing little story to take in just before breakfast. Our soldiers had an outing a day or two. ago. They were the invited guests and judges at a baby show. One of them triumphantly brought home a "pacifier" on a long pink ribbon as a little souvenir for our hospital baby. Needless to say it is only allowed to hang near baby's cot as a decoration. His Majesty's troops are allowed ai lege not enjoyed by mere "civies." I usually commandeer a little for baby's milk and for a little sick girl, with the full consent of said troops. One small girl who is lame always calls me "Nurse-Dear," and the jiajne pleases me awfully. Truth to tell, - we have such a lot to-do in 4he-women's ward that-1 get little time for my soldiers. I sometimes tell them they do more to help me than I do to help them. We have a dear little auburn-haired Belgian girl in one ward. She is very ill, but delights in -sewing dresses for her doll, and early in the morning one comes in to find Marie busy crocheting. She can sew beautifully, and is such an industrious child. - She grieves terribly for her mother. Some day, she tells me, she is going to make a dress tor nurse. Girl Not Tattooed. One of my morning duties. is to wash and brush the hair of a beautiful blonde girl of 19, who has to lie on her back, quite helpless. She has -lovely long golden hair like a mermaid's, which I do in two long Marguerite plaits, one over each shoulder. . She has such a lovely white skin that it Is -a pleasure to wash her. There are no lovely tattooed pictures on her like those of my sailor boys, though. Brushing a man's hair Is certainly a snap after doing a woman's. Women in hospitals do need a lot of attention. Most of ours are very good, after all, considering how exceedingly ill they are. . Our soldiers- here are much more convalescent., A ; healthy man can have a terrible wound and still keep pretty cheerful. One of my men has a German helmet which he was anxious for me to try on, but someway I did not feel like putting it on my, head after . a German had worn It. I wonder where that Ger man's head is now? I felt curious, but did not like to ask and was spared the grewsome details. I went to town the other morning to meet the night nurse from the naval hospital. I departed, much polished -up about the shoulder badges by my Ser geant, who did not wish the naval nurse to outshine me. He does not think much of the navy. Men Good Bedmaken. . The big grenadier guardsman gave me a lesson in bedmaking "as it should be done" a few days ago. He certainly is a dab hand at it. His bed looks per fection when he has finished with it. Only one other man of the Irish Guards did I ever see make one as well. Now he kindly makes Jock's bed for me whilst I am more than occupied in the "woman's ward. : Jock has only one arm. Another man Is going to show me a special kink in bedmaking that he learned at a Canadian hospital. He tells me it makes a bed look un commonly decorative at the foot. Hope I shall find time to see this demonstra tion of his some morning. He is of the Welsh Guards. Of course , our sailors could make beds shipshape enough for anybody, but the. soldiers refuse to believe it. Hence all these - proofs of their own superiority. - . r ; . . . - I had a letter from a destroyer grate fully 'acknowledging the books, which were Portland's gift. This A. B. says patrolmen, the big blonde fellow is "some Swede." Charles W. Walton, alias "Babe," was a musician before he took to the more perilous but profitable calling of holding up streetcars. Soft-faced and 19 years of age, hence the sobriquet. But the conductor of a belated owl car, one September night in 1904, ob served little of the infantile In the fashion with which "Babe" presented a big, black pistol and his - demands. There arose an excited chatter from the- several passengers, who -awaited similar treatment, and Patrolman Nel son . plunged somewhat pompously forth from the front platform to dis cover its cause; Nelson Gets Babe." ' As the bluecoat bulked in his vision the "Babe" threw the threatening he is sending all the books home when he has read them and is having a book case made in which he will always keep them as souvenirs of Western kindrfess. , It Is now time that I went on duty for the night. SON SUCCEEDS HIS MOTHER MInneapoIitan AVlth Serbian Relief Commission Faces Task. . 'MINNEAPOLIS. Sept 10. With the American Red Cross Commission to Serbia, headed by a St. Paul man and including- two from Minneapolis, reaches that devastated country i will find confronting it one of the most tor midable problems in Europe, a Ked Cross bulletin received here said. An appropriation of $200,000 has been made for the Commission's work by the Ked Cross war council. Cordenlo A. Severance, St. Paul attor ney, heads the mission as Commissioner, and Deputy Commissioners are: Edwin E. . Haskell, Minneapolis; Rev. Francis Jager, University of Minnesota. Minne apolis: Dr. Severance Burrage, sani tarian, formerly of Massachusetts In stitute of Technology; Dr. F. T. Lord, Boston, and . Dr. Eugene A. Crockett, Boston. - Two other, members of the Commis sion, W. A. W.. Stewart, New York, and L. .. Wishard, Pasadena, left some time ago for Saloniki. - Edwin D. Haskell, secretary of the Commission, is the' son of Mrs. Olga von W. Haskell, of Minneapolis, whose death some time ago was attributed to overwork for Serbian relief. The son will take up the work for which his mother gave her life. Conditions in stricken erbia are stated in reports made to the Red Cross as being the worst in all wartorn Europe. From an army of 500,000 at the start of the war more than 150,000 have been taken prisoners. Thousands of soldiers were lost in the retreat through Albania, and of the army of 100,000 now on the Saloniki front about 60,000 are actual fighting men. The civilian population, has suf fered as much as the army, according to reports. The Commission will take medical and other supplies for use among refugees on the Macedonian front. . CHINESE PRODUCT SOUGHT Native Producers Urged to Develop Trade for .Foreign Market. TOKIO, Sept. 1. Alfred Sze, Chinese Minister to the Court of St- James, urges the production of more provi sions and the development of Chinese international commerce, in a telegram dispatched to the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce, a copy of which haa Just been received by the Chinese officials in Shanghai. ' "If we could increase the . produc tion of foodstuffs, especially wheat and barley, and manufacture more flour to be sent abroad, we would be sure to make immense profits," he writes. "Never-before has our cotton -been so much in demand in the European mar ket. Cowhides and wool are meeting a ready market. - In a word, so long as the war lasts, provisions and clothing will continue to be in big demand. "Here is an opportunity for Chinese merchants, manufacturers and farmers to develop their trade and establish for the Chinese products a position in in ternational commerce," muzzle toward- the new bullseye. "'What's wrong "here?" asked the pa trolman, midway -of the car. He did not see the crouched figure of menace, and the thud of-a bullet was his an swer. Kelson sickened to the shock of a .38 In his abdomen. With the nausea of his wound upon him he lunged, and a second bullet jdrove home by the first. But the big arms were about the "Babe," in a vik ing's embrace, and the pistol clang'ed on the car floor. Nelson rode to the hospital in an ambulance. His pris oner jounced to the police station in the patrol wagon. It was months before Nelson pulled on tne blue uniform again, and it was years ere "Babe" Walton knew anoth er home than the Oregon Penitentiary. . There is in the police annals of the Pacific Coast a lively memory of the "spotted horse" holdups of Seattle. Al though they comprise another .-story, it is permissible to digress a pace from the trails of crime in Portland., . For the charming unknown, who drove the black-and-white mare while her. com panion scoured the suburbs for fat purses was the "Babe's" sister. She BUSINESS WOMAN'S GOWNS PLAIN AND SENSIBLE NOW Frocks and Tailored Garb Have Effect of Being Donned for Ernest Occu pation Rather Than for Mere Matinee or Luncheon. SO plain and sensible are fashions for the coming Winter that the business woman will have no trou ble being smartly dressed. Fashion will come to meet her more than half way and she will need to make no effort at all. Indeed the more like a business woman the mondaine can look, these days, the more correct she is. Her frocks and her tailored garb generally must have the effect of being donned for an earnest occupation like a Red Cross meeting or a committee to im prove the condition of something or other and not suggest anything friv olous and inconsequent like a mere matinee or lunch party. The business girl's earnest " occupa tion Is-planned out for her; she need not go a-seeking.lt. She has only to look correctly attired for .her. part and complete modishness will be hers. So, this year at least, there should . be greater satisfaction in simple frocks and serviceable' skirts and shirtwaists in . hearts that beat over ledgers or keep time with typewriters and less yearning after the fripperies of dress which nobdy is supposed to think about anyway, during war time. Street Garb Good Looking. . Suppose the business girl is in search of a practical coat.' What -will she se lect? The coat must be warm, and long " enough to cover the frock be neath. It must be easy to get into and out of, for an office coat is put on -and off several times each day.- It comes off at the office in the morning, and again at the restaurant before lunch and again at the office after lunch, and once more at home after office hours. And some business women have calls to make at other offices during the day, altogether the coat must be sturdy of material and well cut too, to stand the strain of its daily life. Such a coat may not be purchased for a song, but a wise business woman looks well before she makes up her mind and then pays a fair price, know ing that she will get the full worth of her money in a garment, good looking after its first days have gone by. Wool velour is a favorite coat fabric this season and gabardine is liked also. There are soft, rough finished woolen coating also in English or Scotch mix tures that make smart coats for office wear. These last are rather mannish in line and look well with soft felt hats of 'the sport or walking type, and with heavy mannish gloves and laced tan shoes. The woman who prefers more feminine hats and the pretty but toned boots that seem to go with them, will select a belted coat, perhaps one of the new "trench" models so well liked by younger wearers. A fur collar and cuffs will give much style to the coat but they are not indispensable to its smartnss. Costumes Covered by Coat. Much as the business girl fancies a dainty, trig tailored suit which makes her feel dressed up to any afternoon occasion, she realizes that the all-covering coat is the backbone of her wardrobe. - The big coat may be worn over a neat little office frock of serge is a matron now, the spotted horse travels no more, and the sentence of her husband-pal haa long been served. Bullets there were a-plenty in the wild, wide-open days, and bullets there are yet. Ben Branch, who haa smiled thousands of prisoners into good hu mor since they made him jailer, faced and fired his share. But the whistle of an angry bit of lead isn't all there is to a job with the police. There is the endless stretch of beat, the fluff of snowflakes in the face, or the melt ing, humid discomfiture of a close coat and a close day. So that when an incident of action springs in one's face like a startled partridge, the bluecoat is eager and instant in his welcome. Runaway Car Stopped. They had horsecars in the days of yore, and the public paid its coin through- a slot at the entrance, the company manifesting trust in the general probity. Sans conductors, the cars were operated by a driver, who shirted. ' his trolley at the end of the line by unhitching from one end and hitching on -at' the other. ' History does not say that the driver as at -fault. - It is likely, however, that he neglected to set his brake when he halted the glistening horses at the- top of - the hill near Third and Market streets. He unhitched, and as he turned the car s-jle away from him with the stealth of a stray coyote. It gathered impetus and fled. The calam ity that might have befallen could not have been disastrous, but from the flying car came the screams of women. They crowded the entrance to leap. And then as a magnet whips up a filing, a rotund bluecoat was stream ing from the handrail. Ben Branch was younger then, but he bounced adV I mirably. and his helmet whirled awayNI to roll in the gutter. When he found his footing he stopped the car. While taming runaway horsecars was an Incident of the day's work, Ben Branch specialized in burglars and bad men. Give him a chance to talk with them and they came In docile agreement, wooed by the soft, imper sonal common-sense of his argument. Lacking palaver, there remained tha bulging thews of his right arm, or the potent persuasion of a pistol. It was in the latter fashion that Patrolman Branch brought Billy Eldrldge and John Sweeney, burglars both, from their job to the jail. Crate Named Humane Officer Take - Sergeant Ed Crate, who was born in a canoe between Umatilla and The Dalles, and whose father was a fur trader at Fort Vancouver when the Whitman "massacre befell. Before nightfall-of Ms first birthday the In fant Crate was cradled on a pony, en route to a homestead that was to give its name-to- Crate's Point. 1 Young Crate grew up with ponies. They were his friends and playmates. His was that "way" with horses that is the gift of one man in many thous ands. It was fitting that, when the mounted squad was formed. Sergeant Crate should, be given charge, and equally fitting that he should be ap pointed humane officer. "I don't care whether a man can ride like a Cossack, or not," he was wont to say, .before the motorcycles and Jitneys crowded the sleek mounts from the service of the city. "I don't care a whoop," he would assert, "but give me men who are good to their mounts." ' Six men of the Portland Police Bu reau, after .long years in the city's service, are. to be retired. They are: Ben Branch, aged 73, 40 years of serv ice; Detective. Sergeant Joe Day. aged 66.- 38 -years of service; Sergeant G. Roberts, aged. 61. 28 years' service; John Quinton. aged 71, 25 years' serv ice; Ole Nelson. 60 years. 22 years' service; Sergeant E. L. Crate, aged 65. 25 years service. i "Pension 'em " snorted the Desk Sergeant. "Huh! Well, I guess!" or mohair, or a more ambitious frock suitable for the Saturday holiday making; it will cover the sport skirt and shirtwaist combination which every business girl wears sometimes; and of an evening the useful coat will go forth again, over a pretty theater or dancing dress of light material. And speaking of the business girl's dancing dress, it is understood that if she is a normal, fun-loving girl, good times after work occupy a large part of her interest. One or two dainty evening frocks she must have, and an attrac tive costume for Saturday, when most business houses close at noon or soon after. Such a frock may combine satin and wool fabric, or It may be of satin with a touch of chiffon, or of mohair and worsted . material daintified by hand embroidery. As has been pointed out, most frocks this year are ' unobtrusive in style and quiet In color so in shopping for her special frock.- the business girl will iind plenty of models blithe enough to please her fancy, yet not too blithe foj?' an office appearance on a Saturday forenoon. Workaday frocks will be of serge or of mohair and a touch of satin will not come amiss in these, for rare is the frock now that does not include two fabrics. Fashion is anxious to make all ma terials "go round" and to do this, now that silk and wool weaves are getting scarcer and higher priced, she Is apportioning to each frock its allotted share of the materials at hand. A good frock for office wear has a black satin upper part, cut as straight as a chemise. To this is attached at the hip line a pleat ed black mohair skirt. The frock would hang as straight as a night gown from shoulder to ankle were it not for a four-yard sash that goes twice round the waist, drawing the satin in to the curve of the figure. The sash is made of the mohair material and is double and about four- inches wide, the material seamed and then turned over like a long tube, before the pressing. Costumes Have Long Sleeves. Let no business girl, taking hope by the prints of elbow-sleeved costumes in the fashion magazines, have her of fice frock or shirtwaist made with sleeves that fall short of reaching the wrist. Workaday costumes, whether donned by business women or fashion ables who go to committee meetings, have the long sleeve that stands for correctness in a tailored type of cos tume. And if the business girl is not tailored, she is all wrong from a sar torial standpoint. Neither may her simple serge frock be too picturesque in suggestion. For example, a perfectly plain dress, buttoned down the front and with long sleeves, sound all right for the office. Yes, but the buttons are gilt and they run up the pockets, too, and the sleeves. and outline epaulets on the shouklersVj and rows of fine gold braid trim col- lar. cuff and belt. That serge frock would be the most conspicuous thing in the office it ornamented, and few employers would relish its plcturpsaue ness. .Another serge frock, trimmed with rows of black braid and relieved by white organdy collar and, cuffs? would be In perfect taste.