THE ILLUSTRATED HEE.
February 14, 1004.
Thb Illustrated Una
I'uMIhMmI Wwkly by The Hoe Publishing
(Vinpuiiy, Hoe liullding, Omaha, Neb.
The Roundup of the Gang
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IIN i.KK WKIWTKK, who I be
ing put forward liy Nebraska us
til- choice of the x-nplr of thin
state for the office of vice provi
dent of (lit; I'tiltcd Stales uml u
proper man to go on the national ticket
With Theodore Roosevelt for the coming
campaign, has been a re'ldont of the stato
fver since tho woods were liurn'd. Ho Iwih
ln-en prominent In It h affairs, too, for many
years. Mr. Webster wns a incmbpr of the
legislature, nittiiiK for Douglas county, In
1873 and In 1X75 was a member of the con
siltiitlonal convention, serving its president
of that b.Kly. . was delega te-nt-largc ami
chairman of tho Nebraska delegation to
Minneapolis in 1W2 when ItenJ imln Harri
son was nominated for tho sceonel time. In
1NMI Mr. Webster sought tho nomination
for congress from the First Nebraska dis
trict on the republican ticket, but was de
feated In the convention. In U39 he was
a pronlnent cundldutc for t'nited States
Senator before the NVLr i: -kit slate iogis
Inture, being defeated by Judge II ayward
of Nebraska City. Mr. Webster lias inns;
been known as one of the leading lawyers
of the west and tin engaged In many of
the really bit? cages that have been tried
before western courts, one of the most
notable being that In which the rights of
the Poneti Indians were determined. Ills
Interest In politic has always been of tlut
active kind and bis voice Is heard In every
campaign, always urgulng for the suprem
acy of the republican party. He has lieen
formally put forward by the republicans
of the state convention as the choice for
the vice presidential nomination and a
vigorous working organization has been
formed to further his chances.
The disappearance of name from the
Missouri river valley hasn't lessened the
crop of exoart marksmen, not n bit. Irof
of tills whs recently given when a tourna
ment was held under the control of the,
Omnha dun club, and a body of shotgun
artists assembled at the club grouuas on
the Iowa side of the river. Three off the
coldest days that ever blew were devoted
to the tournament and the marksmen
stepped up to the score, facing a keen
wind from the northwest, with the mer
cury down below sero. mid smashed tar
gets with all the lest and seal of the
summer time. True, the scores were aot
tip to the pleasant wenther mark, but
with the conditions under which the shoot
was held, tho results are little short off
marvelous. As usual the shoot developed
Some surprises. It win not to be wondered
at that a team from the country, the All
Nebraska, won the championship of four
States, but the fact that a country boy.
practically unknown, got away with the
rup that represents the Individual cham
pionship, was n sort of an eye opener for
' the knowing people. Bleverson of Wlsner.
Neb., won the cup, but he had to shoot off
a tie with Ford of Central City, la.. In
order to claim It as his own. and the city
men. who claim to her the real thing when
It comes to trap shooting, hid to be con
tent with looking on at the shoot-off.
Omaha No. 1 team pulled off the money
In tho team shoot at live birds, but here
again tho country came to the front. Kline,
rf Spirit Ike. Ta.. getting the only straight
core of twenty-five blids.
Omaha's High School Basket Hall team
has lcen making a lilt of reputation for
ttself this winter and la now hailed the.
champion of Nebraska. Iowa, 8ouli Iu
kotu and North-Dakota, with aspirations
fer the championship of tho middle west.
These young rren are a husky M and when
tho condition under which they get their
practice are considered, they appear en
titled to much credit. They have no gym
nasium at the high school and must take
the Young Men's Christian association
gym ut such times as It is available. Prof,
llcrtisleln, the physical director, has tsken
much Hlns "lth the boys and has brought
"tlwm to u high state of physical excel
lence. Tho dedication of a new church In any
community Is a sign of advancement, for it
Indicates the trend of thought of the people
town id higher things. Ist Tuesday, nt
Woodbine, la., a new Catholic church was
dedicated to the uses of public worship,
the e vent leclng marked by the ceremonies
customary in such cases. The church, a
picture of which aptears In this number.
Is a substantial structure and erst the con
gregation $8.0. It marks the growth of
Woodbine spiritually as well as materially.
(Copy light, 1904, by William 11. Osborne.)
1 1 IMj New Yorkers are divided Into
two classes.' The first class oon
r , slsts of those who get caught;
y, the second of those who do
On the Knst Hide, there resided a gentle
man whoso real name was Mr. Shifty Shift.
He had many other names, but this name
suited him above nil others. Mr. Slilfty
Shift tic-longed to the elect individuals who
do not get caught.
The police department Knew ull about
him; especially Is this true of old Itonesct
Smith, the department's right-hand man.
And then again, they km w nothing about
ldm. Morally they were certain that
although outwardly Shifty Shift was a
whited sepulchre, within he was full of
dead men's bones. Olllclally Itonesct Smith
nnd the department knew absolutely noth
ing about Mr. Shifty Shift.
"You can't prove nolhln'." Mr. Shifty
Shift would remark; "not against me, at
least."
And they could not. They had tried it
astute and versatile Intellect. How, wh--n
and where, is the safest time, place an 1
method to knock out one millionaire at the
(articular request of another? This wa8
the ultimate ipiestlon. The tlrst question
was: How ranch Is It worth? Having net
tled the first, the answer thereto being en
tirely satisfactory, Shifty Shift addressed
himself to the other, and finally succeeded
In arriving at a satisfactory conc'usl n.
And the result was this:
In the first place. Shifty eonelud d to
leave the gang out of this thing. In the
nccond place, in view of the strenuous ef
forts of the New York police department,
he concluded to turn the trick elsewhere
than in the great metropolis. Circum
stances favond him, for Mr. Henry P.
Havlsham bad a hands me coun'.ty place
Just across the river, where he spent a
good deal of his time.
A week later the countryside was electri
fied by the rcmrt of a dastardly assault
upon the Q .'eat American bull, Mr. Henry
IV Havlshain. It srcmi: thai Mr. Havishnm
had started out alone on an early spring
A Short Story by
William II. Osborne
and a third day required for the purposa
of getting over the excitement of the first
two.
"And a darned good thing for me, too,"
said Shifty to himself.
The election und the Inauguration kept
the chief busy. The town was full of
strangers. All the voters from the sur
rounding townships came in to vote, and,
Incidentally, to dissipate. Among the more
obstrepi rous were half a dozen big farmers
who had come down from the mountains,
so they said, and had come down with tho
avowed purpose of filling up on npplo
whisky.
One of them finally became fighting
drunk. The chief himself tapped him on
the nnn and Informed him that ho was
under arrest. The man's companions din
covered his plight and started in to rescue
him. Then there was a general mizup and
the police department of Monroe distin
guished Itself. It rounded up the farmers
and, piling them Into a spring wagon,
pressed Into service for the 'occasion,
lodged them safely at the door of the JaiL.
KAC1I WITH A RUtDOO REVOIWKR IN HIS HAND.
many, many times, and had never suc
ceeded. Shifty was a strong-arm man par excel
lence. And his gang followed suit. This
Sang had been chosen wisely and well
from among the stronger and, at the name
time, more astute gentry of the Kast 8te.
"What's the uas," Shifty had sjld, "of
having a good strong arm If you ain't got
no brains to back it? 1-c.t me have mea
about me," would say Shifty Shift, un
consciously quoting from a fairly well
known dramatist, "let roe have men about
me with a. strong arm and a good close
mouth, and a roiurtderable amount of old
hoes sense, and I'll match them and me
against any pollen department on the face
f the earth."
Accordingly, the Shifty Shift gang was
the admiration of the under world, the
terror of the upper oruat.
Hut between the Shifty Shift gna and
the police department there was no com
promise. The departsBent had been fooled
too often, and there was a war m that
was war to the teeth.
"I'll get jou, Sutfty. old Boneset Smith
of the department wouM smjr. "Til get
you last If I can't get you first."
Shifty laughed. "Say. now." he replied,
"I'll bet you don't." lie pulled out a. roll
of hills, niched probably from his latest
victim. "Say, woat'll you bet? I bet you
don't, uow. Not you. Nor yet the chief.
Nor all of you put together. See if you
do."
Now and then, and here and there, humm
nature ha: ks buck to suvagery. James T.
ItlenkiiiBop was a millionaire, but, at the
same time, he waa a barbarian. He was
mad clear through. He had b en bearing
r certain commodity Kverybody knows
now Just what he tried to dn with Great
American. And another gi-ntl -manly dealer
- Havisham by li;tme had slice ued in
bulling It. Tho means by whlc;i he a. c m
plixhed this seemed, in the eys of 111 nk
Insop, the bear, to be Hi tie i-hort of a
breach of trust.
lib nkinsop, the Is a", he'.l 'xel in the d H5
trine of "getting back;" his it. cd iw uu
eye for an eye, and a tooth for it to III.
And us Mr. Havlsham hid ucc cd -d in
rutting Mr. Hlonklnsop's o teeth, and In
discoloring his financial y. Mr. I I -i kin
sop, In a rage, deteimlned that tho ee of
Mr. Huvisbam and bis belli ;ts, : hoild
suffer In a very roil and hy.1oal teise.
It waa in this wi.se that Mr. Shifty fhlft
came ultimately to consider one of the
greatest problems evec presented to hi
duy to whip a trout stream on his land.
He had not come back. A search waa
made, and he was found unconscious by
the roadside hidden by the brush and under
growth. 1ie chief of police of Monroe,
the little Jersey town where Mr. Havlsham
lived, started Immediately to investigate.
He dlarovmd, first, that Mr. HaviMham,
fortunately, was not seriously injured. He
discovered also that a farmer jogging along
In the distance had seen a burly looking
Individual cross the road and disappear.
Several other men had noticed a stranger
about the town a man of burly makeup
and muscular appearanoe. The chief se
cured a description of this man, snd found
eat later that he wu seen swinging aboard
a New York train a short time after the
assault.
Mr. Havlsham was daaed for several
days, tout finally waa able to deaoribe the
man who felled him. And the description
of the man who felled him was consistent
with the general appearanoe of Mr. Shifty
Shift.
The chief of police of the email town
of Moaroe oammunioated Immediately with
the chief of police of the city of New
York. The latter, with the aid of Boneset
mil a. and by a sumsaary method all his
Mm. immediatolr ahipped Mr. Shifty
Shift down to the small town of Monroe,
with instructions to the chief of police
there tu treeae fust to him. Shifty Shift was
louged in the ramshackle country juil In
the town of Monroe.
As he was locked in a cell he took In
everything at a glance. "Gee." he said to
himself, "but this Is easy. I could handle
the police force all by myself, ulmost. Tho
gang won't do a thing to 'em."
In the meantime Honeset Smith of Npw
York called up the chief of Monroe on the
wire.
"What are you going to do with him?"
asked old Itonesct.
"Convict him." was the laconic answer.
"No. you won't." said HoncHct. "He'll
prove an alibi. He'll prove that It's a casj
of mistaken identity. Hr'll prove any hing
and ever thing And be ll be aeii:i'.le.l."
Tf he is." said the chief of po I c . In a
determined tone of voice. "I'll h've mvself
locked UP."
Now, the arrest of Shifty Shift wis not
the inly excitement in the It! e t . n of
Monroe. There w.)S nnotlu r-the tlee b.n
of a major 0ci there In the o nfy
when a n'tiybr 's elected at the spiles elec
tion he i biitalled in office on the very
next day. The result la that there are two
days of Kcnerui disorder and merrymaking.
One by one they were led, staggering and
fighting, Into separate cells and locked up.
The jail at Monroe was small, and the
cells were so arranged that every prisoner
in the place could see and converse with
every other prisoner, if desirable. When
the six farmers were lodgod in the cells
assigned to them, Shifty Shift, who had
been busy reading a New York newspaper,
looked up lazily and inspected. Then ho
shifted one leg over tho other und went on
reading. The town officers retired and the
outer door was locked. Immediately there
was same improvement visible In the con
dition of tho farmers. Shifty grinned for
several minutes.
"Well, gents," he finally remarked In a
low voice, "how did you leave little eld
New York?"
The farmers burst Into a lwarty laugh.
"You're all right, Shifty," they responded,
"and we'll swing the thing, all right." For
the six farmers were none other than six
of the strongest and most astute members
of the Shifty Shift gang.
Kach farmer took off bis hat, removed
a false bottom and took therefrom a loaded
revolver. Two others in adjoining cells
began Industriously to remove one of the
Iron burs, which would be useful when It
came to breaking jail.
"What time will we turn the trick?" one
of thorn asked of Shifty.
"We'll have a good chance tonight," said
Shifty, "for the town'll be wild over the
election. They'll bo shovin' In fellows here
right und left. It's only light that we
should get out snd give 'era more room."
At S o'clock that night the gang heard a
multitude of maudlin shrieks approachiug
the jail.
"tlce, but the town's a-guln' it it," said
Shifty.
A bolt was drawn, the key turned in the
lock, and several officers marched in,
dragging with them men who were supinely
drunk.
"l'aralyzed," thought Shifty, as he
watched them sling u big fellow into the
cell next to his n n.
The other newcomers were in little better
condition. They were asleep in two min
utes, suoring sonorously as they lay upon -the
hard wooden Ivnches. There were,
perhaps, seven or eight of these Imprudent
revelers.
Nothing hapjenfd for . n lo n while.
Finally, Slilfty heard approaching foot
steps and softly whittled. And tlitn began
(Continued on Page Five.)
