KinSource - Tale of the Week - To Stop a "Bubble"

KinSource

Minnesota Tales

The Minneapolis Journal, October 1, 1902, p. 9

TO STOP A "BUBBLE"

Park Policeman John Martin Has Adopted a Unique but Effective Method.

He Simply Stands in the Way and the "Chuffer" Has to Pause.

Big John Martin takes great pride in the profession of "sparrow cop." He is ever hot on the trail of violaters of park ordinances on Lake Harriet boulevard.

He has long made a specialty of heading off fast and reckless drivers and bicycle scorchers. The police court records show that John has materially swelled the city's revenue for fines because of what the offenders term his "pernicious" activity in regulating speed.

One of the best things John does is to "block and tackle" the fast flying "chuffers" who have gone to Harriet to get rid of their surplus energy.

Suppose an automobile is bowling along at the rate of thirty-five or forty miles an hour - a rate of speed of which several Minneapolis racing craft are easily capable. Does John content himself with merely yelling "Hi there!" and brandishing his club after the fashion of his blue-coated brethren of the city? Not he. He makes them stop. To the uninitiated it would appear that the officer might as well attempt to stop a locomotive as a powerful auto in action.

But this model patrolman accomplishes his work without pulling a gun or resorting to any kind of violence. The moment he sights a "bubble" coming down the boulevard for all possessed, though it be a quarter of a mile away, John walks into the middle of the roadway and awaits developments. When the machine gets near enough for him to get a line on it, he endeavors to keep himself directly in its path. No matter how good is the nerve of the chauffeur, none has yet been encountered who failed to stop before reaching the minion of the law. Sometimes the juggernaut has come to an abrupt halt when close upon the policeman, so close that his brass buttons have been slightly jarred, but there has been no further damage to his anatomy.

"I came awful near running over you just for the fun of it," was the grim salutation of a chagrined chauffeur when overhauled in this unique way the other day.

"Why didn't you do it?" asked John; "that's what I'm asking you, why didn't you do it?"

The automobile business is still brisk with Martin and he has yet to report a case of ruffled dignity on his part.