Camel v. Man

In Lima, Peru, a man, drunk & sleepy, fumbled at the latch of an enclosure at the zoo. He wanted to go to sleep. So did a camel in the enclosure, and killed the man. No one knew the man's name. (Camels bite as well as kick.)

Bear v. Man

At Arcola Amusement Park, N. J., one George Romanov, side-show wrestler, swelled his muscles, slapped his paunch, grunted at the crowd, "Who's nex'? Who's nex'?" No burly boy came forward. So Wrestler Romanov, feeling potent, had the show's trained bear brought into the ring. The bear patted, pawed, nuzzled Wrestler Romanov, hugged him close. Wrestler Romanov squirmed, grunted, plunged from the ring, ran--bear behind--to Saddle River, dove in, swam to safety.

Contest

At Grinnell, Iowa, last week a Mrs. A. H. Dempster stood on a platform, opened her mouth, called "Yoo-hoo!" The sound carried all over town, reverberated in barns; she was judged winner of a husband calling contest.

Twelve women were entered. Some whistled, some yodeled, some called "John!" It was planned to hold a series of eliminations, pick a state champion. Interest in the contests has surpassed that in recent hog-calling tournaments. Rules announced: Call must be penetrating to reach husbands far on the prairie; must be of a kind to start husbands home, not in the opposite direction; contestants are restricted to calling their own husbands.

Joke

In Pittsburgh, celluloid-visored Joseph Castro fell asleep in somebody's office. Inspired by his snoring, a gum-chewing office joker removed a wad of moist substance from under his tongue. "Lookit," he said, "what do you say we play a joke?" Stealthy as a murderer he approached Joseph Castro, stuck a little tee of gum on the end of Mr. Castro's nose. When spectators giggled, the joker still stealthy as a murderer, became inspired to touch a match to the little tee he had built. Dreaming of a sunny beach, Joseph gave his nose a little wriggle, opened his eyes, squealed, tried to beat off the flames with his visor which caught the flame, dashed it into his eyes, mouth, hair. If he lives, Joseph Castro may have a brown puckered face, two blind eyes.

Shrewd

How could a pair of shifty blackamoors, garbed in cast-off Pullman uniforms make profit out of old stones and garbage without stealing, begging or earning?

One method would be to call at the office of a rich citizen and then take six simple steps: 1) offer him a drink out of a bottle of real "Old Parr" whiskey; 2) assure him that many another bottle of "Old Parr" whiskey, smuggled in on Pullman trips from Canada, could be secured at $6 for each quart bottle; 3) meet the rich citizen at an appointed place; 4) deposit in his automobile four cases of real old shoes, bricks, rocks, broken glass and garbage; 5) take from his hand $285 in payment thereof; 6) vanish.

On May 23, one George Wolf, Manhattan architect, had good reason to be vexed at himself after permitting F. K. Douglas and Walter Bryant, shifty blackamoors, to hornswoggle him in this manner. Last week Detective Finn had good reason to plume himself after detecting that the garbage-leggers were F. K. Douglas and Walter Bryant.

Rivet

In the building of skyscrapers there are a few details in which science has not supplanted skill. Workmen still play catch with incandescent rivets, which, when heated, are tossed through the air 30, 40, 50 feet to where a nonchalant figure, swaying on a matchstick girder, swings a pail to catch them. Loiterers many floors below stand enchanted, watching the bits of glowing metal leap obligingly like miraculously agile trout into a waiting pan. Loiterers reflect that while science sometimes fails when heavy steel bars drop down, skill is infallible, for no rivet ever falls.

Last week, on Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, skill failed. A rivet leaped through the air, gave a convulsive trout-like twist, dodged the waiting pail, slipped down through the air, gleaming, white hot, toward a Fifth Avenue bus-top. It struck with a hiss upon the back of a silk dress being worn by Helen Frawley, 17. Loiterers watched her being put into a taxicab, rubbed their eyes, gasped, moved away.