Man About Manhattan 1942

THE EVENING CAPITAL. ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, SATURDAY, JANURY 31, 1942.

[Some parts of this text are f**ked up by the "translation" from the microfilm.
In case you wonder about some strange words...]

Man About Manhattan
—Bv George Tuektr—
"NEW YORK—Urbane is not descriptive of the people you
encounter in the Harlem police stations after 4 o'clock in
the morning. Motley would be better. There are drunks with
blood-shot eyes, frightened juveniles, sullen strangers with
snap-brim felts and dark overcoats, unlicensed beggars, and
hard-eyed, middle aged Isoldes
who can stare a blank wall out
nf countenance.
Into this assemblage bounded a
comic strip artist the other morning.
He was Charles Raab, author
of the widely syndicated comics
feature "Patsy." His car had been
t-.111 en. lit: had attended a new
fi.ior show in one of the Harlem
i'ubs. and when he came out—
shortly alter 3:30 A. M., it was
gone.
I LEFT it right there," he told
lite sergeant, "and when I came out, it was gone."
"Is that so." said the police ser-
geant. "Well, where's your bill of
sale? If you haven't got it, I
can't look for your car. How do we
know that you own a car. You
might just want us to pick up a
car for you."
Fortunately. Raab had the pa-
pers.
The copper looked them over
carefully.
"Listen,"he said, finally,"There
are three types of people who
steal cars up here in Harlem.
First, there's the guy who is a
Ions way from home. He doesn't
want your car. He just wants a
ride. So he hops in your car.
drives to his neighborhood, and
leaves it a block or so from his
house.
"Second, there's the good time
Charley who wants to make an
impression nn his girl. He takes
your car. collects his gal, drives
around till IK:'S tired of it. takes
his girl home, and abandons the
car.
"HTHIRD, there's the guy who
1 takes vour car for quick re-
«njn If that's the case, you can
kiss it good bye. Two minutes
after he has it it's in a garage,
the license it changed and the
car's repainted. TWO days later
it'll be in Pennsylvania, or some
other place.
"Right now, it's pretty late for
a guy who just wants to go home,
so we'll rule that out. We'll rule
out the re - sale idea too. It
wouldn't do any good to look for
it in that case. Our best bet is to
work on the theory that some-
body wanted to give his girl the
idea he was a big shot. If that's
so, we'll probably find the car
abandoned somewhere. We might
even catch him in it. Come on."
SO RAAB and the coppers piled into a police car. They went
cruising through the gray Har-
lem streets. They cruised for an
hour. Finally, they turned into a
street where a big armory was
located. There were Negro sol-
diers walking sentry duty, as
there are all over New York. And
there, in front of the armory, was
Charley Raab's car.
Whoever had used it had aban-
doned it there, leaving no clue.
There were other cars all along
the street. Personally, Raab wasn't
interested in catching the culprits.
He was too glad to have his
buggy back.
* * *