Boy

One afternoon last week John Webb, 19, of Anniston, Ala., crossed Times Square, Manhattan, surrounded by a crowd of tittering street dolls and foyer sheiks. He entered a Childs' restaurant nearby, sat down, ordered a meal. The crowd persisted in peering at him through the window; some of them entered the restaurant and ordered a glass of milk or a cracker in order to sit near him; waitresses in the restaurant whispered behind their hands.

What was the matter with 19-year-old John Webb?

Nothing was the matter with 19-year-old John Webb. He felt fine, had good appetite, was merely taking his 612-lb. self to visit friends in Hackensack.

Picker

In Buffalo, N. Y., one George Malloy, 19, walking to church, spied and picked up a small disc that bulged in the middle. During a Methodist-Episcopal service he amused himself by picking and stabbing at his curious treasure with his pen knife. His inattention bothered no one until Blam! off blew Picker Malloy's thumb and forefinger.*

Smeller

In Manhattan, one Sandro Rodreguez accepted a drink from the hip-flask of one Ralph Martinez, a total stranger. Raising the glass to his lips, Mr. Rodreguez smelled, frowned, excused himself, returned after several minutes with a policeman, who arrested Mr. Martinez for burglary. Mr. Martinez pleaded guilty. He had stolen, not only the wine which Mr. Rodreguez had recognized instantly as his own, but several of Mr. Rodreguez's rings and bracelets, also his watch.

Chimney Man

In Media, Pa., Bernard C. Black, 84, called "Old Man of the Chimney" because for many years he refused to budge from a burned-down, ramshackle ruin consisting chiefly of a chimney on a $100,000 tract of land owned by him, died, following an apoplectic stroke.

Bold

In Berlin, Captain Schneider, bold keeper of the Zoo, with a bucket in one hand, approached a matronly lioness named "Italy," squeezed rhythmically, left her cage with his bucket half full of lioness milk.

Captain Schneider promptly despatched "Italy's" milk to Professor Gerngross of the Technical High

School of Berlin, who had asked for it for scientific researches.

Eccentrion

At Harbin, Manchuria, an Associated Press correspondent last week cabled excerpts from the announcements of a benefit performance in a leading Harbin restaurant. The performance was entitled: "Exclusive and only visit of the world-famous circus eccentrion."

Details:

"Extraordinary program. Lady athlete, with exclusive figure beauty in nature's garb. Wrestling--men, women and mixed. Various chansonnettes. Horse training in the open. Magic conjuror fakir of ancient times.

"World-famed satirical clowns. Living pure-bred stallions driven to music and songs of Asiatic origin. Eccentrics and acrobats. The Brothers Krolikov Choir, of which one is a sister.

"At the conclusion of this unprecedented, magnificent program, to the great surprise of the audience, the most alive man will be eaten before the eyes of the public. Highly strung and nervous persons are requested to leave the hall during this turn.

"The whole program will be pitched at the public in the most striking manner and will be accompanied by a conferencier using the most refined expressions."

In Chicago

In Chicago, the Council of Aldermen bumbled loudly when a bill was introduced to authorize fire-engine sirens on hearses. Undertakers had complained they were not receiving respect or public co-operation while following their profession.

"What's the big idea?" argued Alderman T. J. Byrne, opposed. "Nobody who is dead is in a hurry to get anywhere." Mayor William Hale Thompson ruled the bill defeated.

"Gone Wolf"

At Greenpoint, Brooklyn, one William Connors yanked powerfully on the leash of his police dog, Alex, when the latter, growling savagely, made a sudden leap at a passing woman. The woman screeched, fled. The dog turned, sprang at its master who, burly, sank his fingers in the dog's throat as he was knocked flat. For six minutes man and dog writhed on the sidewalk, snapping, shouting, snarling, grunting. Then the dog groaned, fell limply over, wheezed, died. Police dog experts admitted Alex had "gone wolf."

Hammer

In Shawano, Wis., a correspondent of the Milwaukee Journal related an interview with one Alexander Besaw, 98, of Kenhena Indian Reservation, Wis.

"Look," said Mr. Besaw, "here's something I'm going to show you. That's the stone hammer that the Indians were going to kill Captain John Smith with the time that Pocahontas rushed in and saved him. The old chief I got it from told me that. I was five years old and so drunk I could hardly stand up the day I took it out of his tent, after he'd been killed in a fight."

In Joliet

In Joliet, Ill., a priest driving an automobile asked permission to pass through the State prison grounds "for a short cut." He was seized and, after a violent brawl, unfrocked, and seen to be no priest. The automobile contained "a can of soup" (nitro-glycerin), loaded pistol, cartridge belt, two suits of clothes, a blue-print of the prison.

Chivalrous

In Annapolis, Md., Judge Robert Moss of the circuit court suspended sentence on one Elizabeth Mumford, 51, convicted of pilfering $20,956 in ten years from the county school board by raising checks, because, he said, he came of stock which believed no woman should be punished "unless she had reached such a state of depravity that she was no longer a fit person to be at freedom."

"Good Measure"

In Manhattan, Magistrate Michael Delagi suspended sentence on one Victoria Preble, charged with intoxication and disorderly conduct for singing songs loudly in front of her home, when she testified she wrote and sang songs for a living and demonstrated her ability in court by rendering a composition called "Good Measure."

Crock

In Sunbury, Pa., David Ross McCreary, ten months old, crawled to a crock, pulled himself erect, peered in, fell in, drowned in five inches of water.

Seal

In Lynn, Mass., a wild seal swam and dived in a stagnant inland pool beside a highway. Thousands of people paused to watch. Traffic on the highway came to a standstill. Unable to disperse the crowd the police, vexed, fetched a riot* gun, slaughtered the seal.

* His find had been a dynamite cap.

* Semi-automatic shot gun, shooting eight shells (usually buckshot). The barrel is shortened to permit easy handling, wide pattern of shot. The Winchester and Remington companies manufacture many such for policemen.