WEBVTT

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A boy engages in a fight to the death battle with an eagle.

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A beggar saves more than ten thousand dollars.

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An office manager gives his stenographers time for primping.

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Can you imagine that?

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This is Lindsay McCarrie bringing you another session of this series in which we hope to

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surprise you with some odd facts and news stories just to give you, well, something to

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think about.

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We'll be back with the first item in just a moment or two.

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We

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And here's the first Can You Imagine That Squib for this time.

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I discovered this item in a Chicago newspaper of June 4, 1911, and it might well be taken

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to heart by many modern business executives. On the day before, A.J. Callahan, then Chief

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Clerk of the Office of the City Corporation Council, posted this bulletin.

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The ten most competent girls in this office will be allowed to primp for 15 minutes each

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morning. They will report at 8.45, primp for 15 minutes, and be ready to work at 9 a.m.

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Immediately, a flurry of pleasurable excitement ran through the girls of the office, and after

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due consideration, they posted the following schedule.

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8.45, inspect braids. 8.46, straighten puffs. 8.48, fluff hair. 8.49, adjust belt. 8.50,

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rub face with powder bag.

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Which according to the girls was the most important item for it consumed five minutes.

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8.55, look at the face, head, and hair in mirror. 8.57, examine waist and skirt, smoothing out

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wrinkles. 8.58, carefully lay away hat. 8.59, hang up coat. 9, get busy.

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Remarked a spokeswoman for the girls.

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And you needn't laugh either. We are not allowed any more time than is necessary. Ask any married

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man if his wife can finish primping in 15 minutes.

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Explaining his motivation in this rather odd order, said Chief Clerk Callahan.

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It's the right kind of pride. The girl who primps is to be commended and not sneer that.

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If a girl a chance to primp, a real chance, then she'll do better work all day. The eternal

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feminine is getting more feminine every day. Even if a good many of them are shouting for

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votes and divided skirts.

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But after all, that was in 1911. I wonder how many office girls need a special bulletin

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allowing them to primp these days. Oh, how well progress never ceased.

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Well, here's a news item from Filo, California in the year 1905, and it's calculated to teach

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all little boys and girls not to throw rocks at birds. A farm boy named C. D. Estle was

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plowing, and when he paused for a rest, he noticed a huge eagle in a tree. Unthinkingly,

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he began throwing stones at the bird, hitting it two or three times. The eagle at last flew

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away from the tree and circled high above Estle's head, the boy watching the maneuvers

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with interest. Suddenly, the monster eagle swooped down toward Estle and hit him a terrific

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blow with one of its wings. Then, Estle managed to remove a picket from a nearby fence, and

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by the time the bird was ready for its next attack, Estle was prepared to protect himself.

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Time after time, the eagle lunged at the boy, finally knocking him to the ground, but all

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this time, Estle was getting in his innings with the picket, ultimately breaking one of

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the bird's wings. This so enraged the eagle that it sunk its talons in the boy's arm and

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the lad fainted.

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When he awoke, the eagle was lying dead near the fence, and Estle prepared to spend several

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unpleasant weeks under the care of a physician. The eagle measured ten feet from wingtip to

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wingtip, and its talons were eight inches long. So, well, boys and girls, let that be

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a lesson to you.

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There have been many accounts of hidden fortunes stored away by eccentric mendicants and peculiar

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beggars to you for what purpose no one has ever known. For instance, in Philadelphia

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many years ago, Elizabeth Stork, a beggar, was found dead at the age of eighty-five years.

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In a cupboard in her barren room was discovered five hundred dollars in cash, and authorities

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later found that she owned the house in which she lived and the adjoining property, both

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valued at six thousand dollars. And yet, Elizabeth Stork died of starvation and exposure. Can

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you imagine that?

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But here's a case that ended entirely differently, and all too tragically for one of its participants.

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It was on the fourth day of August, 1926, that a party of sightseers were unfolding

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themselves from one of those so-called rubberneck buses at Pell Street and the Bowery to explore

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New York's Chinatown.

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Isn't this exciting, Fred? Chinatown!

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Sure is. Nothing like it back in Adel.

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Fred, Fred, listen to me.

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Huh? Yeah? Oh, yeah. What is it, Mabel?

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That old man there, he's coming right over to you.

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Oh, well, he's probably just a beggar. He'll go away.

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Listen, mister, I ain't had nothing to eat for two days. How about helping an old man

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to a cup of java? How's about it?

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Hey, well, uh, well, here's...

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Hey, hey, he's here.

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He's fucking annoying.

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Come on, beat it. Leave my customers alone.

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You rich people ought to be ashamed of yourself coming down here this way and refusing to

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help us poor folk.

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I told you to beat it. Now go on, get out of here, will you?

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Yeah, I got as much right here as you got.

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I said to get out of here. Hey, hey, hey.

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Hey, what's going on here?

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Listen, copper, this mug's been annoying my customers. Not only begging from them, but

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he's been insulting them, too.

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Oh, is that so? Well, come on, you. I'm gonna take you in.

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No, no.

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Hey, what do you got in that bundle?

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No, no, no. It's just a bunch of old newspapers. It ain't nothing.

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Come on, come on. No hand to do it.

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No, no, no. No, no. Give me back those... Give me those...

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Money. Paper money. Lots of them.

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Give it to me. Give it to me. Mine. It's mine. I did it.

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Go on, now. Go on. Keep your mitts off of this.

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Come on, Pop. You're going with me now. Come on.

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Here's one more $500 bill, Captain.

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And the lining of his coat.

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That all you got?

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Yeah, yeah, that's all.

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What's your name?

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Frank Jacobs.

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Married?

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No, I live alone.

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Address?

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Number 60, Scammo Street.

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How long have you been collecting this money?

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For over 40 years.

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How old are you?

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I'm 66, I think.

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How much are they all together, Dyer?

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$12,385, sir.

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Uh-huh. All right.

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Dyer, take him to Lieutenant Reed and have him booked on soliciting arms

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and interfering with pedestrians.

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Yes, sir. Come on, Jake. Come on.

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Hello?

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Oak Street Station. Lieutenant Reed speaking.

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Yes, Ed.

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Huh?

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Is that so? Uh-huh.

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Okay, I'll take care of it right away.

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This is Lieutenant Reed.

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Call Patrolman Dyer on the Bowery Beat and have him report to Inspector McAuliffe

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at headquarters right away.

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Okay. Now get me Inspector McAuliffe.

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Hello, Inspector? Reed at Oak Street.

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Say, I'm coming over to see you right away.

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Yes, sir. It is important.

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One of our men just brought in a beggar.

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You're Patrolman Dyer?

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Yes, sir.

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Dyer, where did you go after you left Oak Street Station with your prisoner?

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Well, he came to headquarters and gave the money to the property clerk.

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You sure you came directly to headquarters, Dyer?

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Well, uh, well, no, sir.

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I did visit a friend of mine on Pennell Street.

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Where on Pennell Street?

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607.

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Come on. Let's take a run over there. Come on, Lieutenant.

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Yes, sir.

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What's your friend's name, Dyer?

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Holt, sir.

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Mr. Holt?

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Uh, yes. Yes, that's me.

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Man, if we come in?

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Oh, no, no, no, no, no, of course not. Come in.

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Oh, hello, Dyer.

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Uh, hello, Bill. Give me that fountain pen. I left here a while ago, will you?

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Uh, yes, sure. Sure. Right here.

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Here you are.

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I'll take that.

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That's all right, Bill. This is Inspector McAuliffe.

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Oh.

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Oh.

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Mm-hmm.

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Look here, Lieutenant.

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Well.

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Two $500 bills stashed in this pen.

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What about it, Dyer?

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I took them.

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I didn't think nobody would miss them.

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I needed the money. I took them. Sure, I took them. I missed them.

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And so that simple beginning wherein a professional beggar

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accosted a busload of New York sightseers

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resulted in revealing him as the wealthiest beggar in the history of the Oak Street Station

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and in the arrest of a New York policeman

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for appropriating $1,000 of Frank's long-saved fortune.

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Can you imagine that?

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For obvious reasons, several of the names and addresses have been changed

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in the foregoing dramatization.

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But the facts were exactly as you heard them.

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Now, as our musical Can You Imagine That this time,

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let's do a little more melody sleuthing.

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First of all, I want you to listen to a portion of Beethoven's Minuet in G.

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...

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You all remember that, of course, don't you?

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Well, now, let's change the melodic pattern just slightly at the end of the phrase.

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...

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And we get, of course, it's that beloved old favorite of wartimes,

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the rose of no man's land.

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...

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...

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..

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