Prefers
Elgin to Norfolk
He was a decrepit old parcel
of rags and dirt, wandering into the city Sunday night, where he was
soon garnered
in by the strong arm squad and closely questioned by Sergeant
Ketchbaw.
He told the sergeant that he
came from nowhere and was bound in the same direction unless he
found attractive inducements that would cause him to stop in St.
Thomas.
Later he acknowledged that
he had taken French leave
of the House of Refuge, Simcoe, where he declared the authorities
had endeavored to poison him -- most unsuccessfully.
His name was Albert Root
when he was at home, he told the police. He expressed an ardent
desire to spend the rest of his exiled life in the "Thomas
Williams Home,"
but upon the case being presented to Major Horton,
his worship declined the honor and provided the police
with sufficient means to send the Honorable Albert back to Norfolk
County.
"Beat it and do it in a
hurry!" instructed P.C. Joseph McCully, assisting Albert on the
next train going east.
At the time of going to
press, no receipt for the itinerant's safe delivery has been
forthcoming.
----------
Enquiry of the Industrial
Home elicited the information that Root was an inmate of that
institution last winter,
but that he cleared our when the birds began to chirp
in the spring. Doubtless he is now looking about for quarters for
the coming cold spell.
