Miscellany, Aug. 9, 1954

Dilettante. In San Francisco, accused of stealing a Rubens portrait worth an estimated $40,000 to $100,000, Lloyd Galloway, 26, told police he took it to “make a few bucks to tide me over. I know people like art.”

Hooked. In Campbellton, N.B., after the town council asked the Mounties to crack down on illegal fishing in the reservoir, they shortly nabbed Campbellton’s Police Committee Chairman Leonard Day.

Upstaged. In New London, Conn., Walter Mamonis explained to doctors that after he had caught a shark in Long Island Sound, beached it, hung it on a hoist and struck a traditional fisherman’s pose beside it, the shark bit his hand.

Name-Dropper. In New Orleans, Mrs. Ora Baker became suspicious when her husband began calling her “Amanda” three days after their marriage, on checkup found that Amanda was his California wife.

Small Talk. In El Centro, Calif., charged with assault with a deadly weapon for hitting Joe Gilbert over the head with a beer mug “because he was mumbling in his beer,” Virgil Slimp, 26, had the charge reduced to simple assault when he was able to prove that Gilbert made a habit of mumbling in his beer.

Career Man. In New Brunswick, N.J., the Army discovered that ex-Private Richard Brown, 18, had lived off the Army at Camp Kilmer for a month after his discharge.

Cureall. In Richland, Wash., Dr. R. R. Denicola reported that in an operation to cure a patient’s severe coughing, he removed a surgeon’s glove that had been lodged in one lung for twelve years.

House Guest. In Edmonton, Alta., Adam Fulton reported that someone broke into his home, cooked a meal, left the dishes dirty, slept in the bed, stole a cigarette lighter and tie clip, left a note: “I thank you for the use of your house.”

Chemical Warfare. In Kansas City, Mo., after three policemen dashed into a house in answer to a report of gas, two had to turn back because of faulty gasmask adjustment, the third set his pants leg afire by stepping into a pan of flaming formaldehyde, all three later learned that the house was empty and being safely fumigated.

Penalty Tour. In Toronto, Canadian Air Force Veteran William Bagler was given 21 days in jail after he took out his spite against his wife by dressing her in pajamas and an R.C.A.F. raincoat, putting a knapsack full of bricks on her back, making her march a pack drill in the basement of their home.