TuffyIn Evanston, Ill., Mr. & Mrs. Robert Matthews arrived to visit Mr. &
Mrs. Arthur L. Michel. With them they brought their pet lion, King
Tuffy. During business hours King Tuffy walks a tightrope. Mr. Matthews
stowed King Tuffy in the back yard, but early one morning Tuffy became
disquieted and started to roar. Disquieted neighbors, too, started to
roar—among them Alderman Hugo Pape. Rhetorically asked he: “What
is this, Africa?” Alderman Pape summoned the police, who inspected Tuffy,
but decided they had no jurisdiction over lions.The Evanston City Council concluded that it did not have any
jurisdiction over lions, either. Then Alderman Eddy S. Brandt, of the
Sixth Ward, rose and made a motion that “lions and tigers and other
wild animals” be kept to the west of Evanston. Mayor Henry D. Penfield
added: “I now move that the reference include the Evanston Lion's
Club.” The Council shouted approval, but the motion, as amended, was
hastily shuttled off to the judiciary committee, leaving King Tuffy
still in Evanston.ChickenIn Manhattan, one Max Berger, 70, stepped into an East Side subway at
125th St. carrying under his arm a live chicken. Intended for his
dinner, it had been presented to him by his sweetheart. Forthright
little Mr. Berger plumped himself down into a seat and began to pluck
feathers from the chicken's hind quarters, reciting, presumably: “She
loves me, she loves me not,” to the accompaniment of horrified squawks
from the chicken. Presently a Brooklyn passenger named Kay Nelson
protested to Mr. Berger. Mr. Berger reassured Mr. Nelson. Said he, “I
am only taking off the feathers because I am going to eat this chicken
when I get home. I was once a barber and an expert hairdresser and I
know all about things like this. It is not hurting the little chicken.”
Looking skeptically at the little chicken's nude fundament, Mr. Nelson
was not so sure. He began to fight with Mr. Berger. At 42nd St. they
were pried apart, taken to a nearby station house. Mr. Nelson promptly
charged Mr. Berger with cruelty to animals. A policeman took the little
chicken into the next room, knocked it on the head, stuffed it into an
envelope, marked it “Exhibit A.” Mr. Berger was detained pending the
convening of night court. That night Mr. Nelson did not appear to press
his charges so Mr. Berger was turned loose. He said that he was now
going home to cook his dinner. Would somebody please return his little
chicken? The magistrate said he was very sorry but somehow the little
chicken had vanished.PicketsIn Belleville, Ont., prankish striking pickets at the Stetson Hat Works
forced watchful police to stand at rigid attention for 20 minutes at a
stretch by playing God Save the King on harmonicas.
