“This is a bomb!” said a woman with a shawl over her head as she placed a neat brass cylinder with a screw top to it in the hands of Robert E. Joudain, a salesman, at No. 42 la rue du Rossignol on Wednesday evening.
“I found it in the street out there,” she added, pointing to that portion of the highway known as la rue Royale and la rue du Rossignol. “I think I’ll be going now.”
She went.
Mr. Joudain emitted a low moaning sound and dropped the “bomb” into the gutter. A crowd collected—at a safe distance. Somebody started to turn in a fire alarm or call an ambulance.
But Mr. Joudain is a brave man.
“I will take this to the police station,” he said after proper moments of precaution had passed and nothing had happened. He did.
“This is a bomb,” Mr. Joudain explained as he laid the wicked brass cylinder on the desk before Lieut. Ray. The lieutenant arose from his swivel chair with alertness.
After he had come back from the street, he doused the “bomb” in a pail of water. Then he summoned courage and examined it closely.
The “bomb” was a handy automobile tool-case.
Jack Mondieu, Ace Reporter, is a figment of your imagination.