Yegg

Thomas "Red" Moran is young, anemic and a hardboiled yegg. A year ago, he murdered two policemen. When they tried him for this crime, he sneered at the judge. Said "Red" Moran: "I want to burn in the chair." The judge said he could have his wish.

Still unregenerate, still unafraid of death, "Red" Moran was brought from the Sing Sing death house last week for a new trial. They took him to a jail wherein one of his enemies, William Reid, had been locked up for a minor offense. Hearing that "Red" Moran was coming, William Reid quietly took a spoon and ground its handle until it was as sharp and keen as a knife.

Late in the afternoon the two prisoners met in a corridor. It was the exercise period. The guards were a few steps away. The other prisoners stood in a huddled circle. William Reid moved suddenly. "Red" Moran felt a sharp jagged blade tearing through clothes, tearing through his flesh.

The guards ran through the circle of prisoners and separated the two men who were fighting. William Reid was panting and furious. "Red" Moran, seriously wounded, looked at the men around him with the amazed, pitiful expression of a man who has just learned a hideous secret. He lifted his hand and pointed at William Reid. "He stabbed me," Thomas Moran whispered to the guard.

Tramp

He stopped walking at late twilight and went into the church. There were no lights on; no people were there to pray; the organ loft was empty. The tramp sat down and put his dirty finger on the keys, and there was music.

In New Springfield, N. Y., William Morgan drove past the Methodist Episcopal church, heard organ music. William Morgan knew that no church service was scheduled for that hour, so he stopped his car, tiptoed into the church and peeked at the tramp who was playing hymns. Then William Morgan went off to find the minister of the church and a policeman.

When the three men came back, the church was silent again. They found the tramp lying in the organ loft, asleep, wrapped up in a uniform that some fake Santa Claus had worn for Christmas. They spoke to the tramp to wake him up, then arrested him for playing the church organ. He said that his name was William Nolte, that his age was 23, that he had been living in the church for a month, that he had once attended Sunday School there.

Yawn

J. W. McFarland, 82, of Horse Cave, Ky., yawned, dislocated both of his jawbones, had them reset, died of the shock.

Haircut

Charlie Molina, 17, of Boston, Mass., needed a haircut so visibly that his school principal gave him 35-c- to get one. He increased his capital to $1 by playing a slot machine, spent the $1 at the cinema, had his father cut his hair. The school principal had the owner of the slot machine arrested and convicted for running a lottery.

Scene

Passengers on the Royal Palm Limited, Florida bound, were robbed of their clothing and valuables one night last week before the train reached Atlanta, Ga. They suspected a young couple who got off at Atlanta next morning, rushed into the passenger station after them, had them arrested. Negro baggagemen were amazed that white folk should wear blue pajamas and pink negligees in a public place in broad daylight.