Chicken Thief Pursued, Riddled

Pennsylvania, 1908

Enraged Farmer, After Chase, Puts Twelve Holes Through Him

Pottsville, Pa., Feb. 7. — Exhausted after a long chase, Isaac Bevan of Shenandoah, Pa., was riddled with bullets from two revolvers which his pursuer, Anthony Sinkiewicz, emptied into his body as he lay helpless in a snow drift. Twelve shots took effect, one passing through the heart, causing instant death.

Sinkiewicz had for some time been annoyed by chicken thieves and fixed up a burglar alarm. He was awakened by this alarm and he and a boarder at his home armed themselves and gave chase to the intruder by means of tracks in the newly, fallen snow. The chase continued for more than a mile, when Bevan dropped from exhaustion. Seven chickens were found in a bag which he carried. He was unarmed. Sinkiewicz gave himself up to the authorities and has been charged with murder.


Leap Year Girl's Quick Work

Philadelphia, Feb. 7. — Miss Louisa M. Hahn has led to the altar of the Mount Airy Methodist Episcopal church J. Horace Laucks of Germantown. Miss Hahn on New Year's day, ten hours after she became acquainted with Laucks, said to him: "I like you very much. Let us get married. I suggest you take time to think it over, say until tomorrow." Laucks made up his mind within four hours.

Why Girls Often Say "No" the First Time

1902

By Edith Joscelyn

It has been remarked that when a woman says "No" it should not — by the man who loves her — be taken for a negative. There may be an element of truth in this statement; or there may be not. I, as a girl, who thinks that she knows what she is writing about, would say that it all depends upon the character of the woman who utters the little word. If she is a poor, weak sort of creature who is certain of nothing, and who likes to hear the same thing over and over again, much after the fashion of a young mother listening to her first baby's initial utterances, she will undoubtedly say "No" when she all the time really means the very opposite.

I have known a few instances, however, in which women who knew their own minds perfectly have been impelled to say an emphatic negative when receiving an offer of marriage from a man whom they loved passionately, while conscious all the time that they would eventually say a cooing affirmative. It was this way: The men proposing were, so to speak, on trial at the bar. They were suspected of offering marriage out of pity, or out of pique, or from a sense of justice.

A woman is frequently made the recipient of an offer on these grounds, and the trick of saying "No" when the question is first put is the one and only way of discovering whether the man sincerely means what he says.

The instinct of many of us women will clearly tell us when a man is making an offer that is not genuine, but sometimes we dare not trust to our instinct; we hope against hope, and we play our fish with evasive answers until we see that he really means what he says from the bottom of his heart.

It is not long since that I met a man who told me of a friend of his who had suddenly discovered that he would be better off in many respects were he to marry. He straightaway went the round of a number of girl friends and proposed to four of them in one day! They each rejected him, as he thought, by saying "No" on the putting of the great question. But two out of the four wrote to him on the day following, accepting! In the meantime he had made a fifth proposal and had been accepted.

When a girl has been courted for an unusually long period and has at last received the long-expected proposal she will feign astonishment and will give a qualified "No." This is only her banter, and she will follow it up by laughingly explaining that she punished him because — by his delay — he punished her! Shyness or a different position in life are common causes for such delays on the part of many men.

As a rule, it may be taken for granted that no woman says "No" without a reason for doing so.

One more instance: Two sisters recently fell in love with the same man, who was a close friend of their brother's. The man proposed to the younger sister, and she said "No" because she knew that her sister wanted him. Yet when, in course of time, the man made the offer of marriage to the elder sister she likewise said "No" for the identical reason — that she knew her sister wanted him. The girls' love for each other has up to the present kept the man a bachelor.

Tactful Way a Girl May Refuse a Man Proposing Marriage

1908

No girl is likely to need any suggestions as to how to receive a proposal of marriage it she intends to accept the man. But to refuse, kindly and with consideration, sometimes requires tact only possessed by a genius or an experienced woman of the world, because when a man's heart is set upon a girl he is not always willing to take "no" for an answer, or accept the hint that is given which should prevent him from asking the question.

Every one agrees that a girl always knows, even before the man, whether or not he cares for her, and the situation rests largely with her. If she wishes to encourage him there are many ways of accomplishing it, which every daughter of Eve knows instinctively. But to discourage, and not at the same time be rude, is quite another matter. A girl's own kindness of heart, I should say, would aid her in the difficulty, for, unless she is obtuse, she is quick to see when she wounds his feelings, and may salve them without the risk of being called a coquette.

It is a very narrow course to steer, this one between overkindness and brusqueness, and sometimes a girl's considerate manner makes a man hope, even against the doubt he may have. If finally, in spite of her efforts to prevent, he proposes and is refused he occasionally accuses her of unkindness in having flirted with him, even though such has not been the case.

When this happens the girl must merely exercise self-control not to lose her temper and remember that the man is going through real suffering. It is extremely improbable that his future will be blighted because of her refusal, but life is overcast for a time and it does not help him at the moment to know that a hundred years from then nothing will matter. Patience and toleration from a girl at such a time will sometimes result in his becoming a good friend whose companionship she may have for the rest of her life, whereas a quick rejoinder and a general attitude of indifference will make a breach never to be healed.

A girl with tact can often put off an impending refusal so that a man becomes conscious that she does not wish him to speak of marriage and drops it without further hint. She accomplishes this usually by refusing the opportunities for being alone with him, when he might speak of personal matters. She does not accept his invitations to dinner or the theater, and if she is at home when he comes to call takes care that some member of the family shall be present all the time. Her whole attitude toward him is that of friendliness, largely mixed with impersonality, by which is meant that she is reserved, holding herself aloof, and yet is not rude. This is difficult to do.

Should one for whom she does not care insist upon proposing to her she must try to be kind but emphatic in her refusal. There is no greater injustice to a man than to let him think there is hope that she may some time care, when he has the belief simply because she hates to hurt his feelings. If this is the motive that prompts her she will hurt him infinitely worse after a time, for he will have buoyed himself in the interval with false hopes that are hard to let go.

There is much humor but a certain amount of sadness in the "I-will-be-a-sister-to-you" jokes. Nothing could be more tactless than an expression of this sort from a girl when a man is being refused by her. Nothing less than accepting him will bring any joy, and to throw out the unsatisfactory, if well meant, "sister" idea is simply galling. The future intercourse of a man and the girl who has rejected him depends largely upon propinquity and the girl. She need not express kindly intentions, but if they are thrown together afterward she may show friendliness without raising false hopes.

— CARRIE KUTE.

French Girl Inspects 20 U.S. Suitors

1920

Frankly Admits She Is Here to Hunt Husband — Has Discarded Eighty as Unsuitable

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Twenty times Mlle. Susanne Boitard watched an American officer get down on his knees before her and heard him propose marriage to her.

And just twenty times the chic French girl answered, "Oh, Monsieur, but you must wait! When the war is over we shall see. It may be ——"

All this happened in the battle-scarred days of 1918 at Mlle. Boitard's magnificent home near Amiens, France, wherein many Yank officers were quartered during the war. And now she is in the United States looking over her score of prospective husbands, and has already discarded eight as unsuitable. Mademoiselle frankly admits that she is hunting a mate and that she believes marriage is the greatest ambition that a woman can achieve.

"So why shouldn't I come to America to pick the best one of the twenty who have asked my hand in marriage?" demands the French girl.

Is Pretty, Rich, Educated

It cannot be denied that Mlle. Boitard has qualifications for marriage. She is pretty, perfumed and excessively feminine. She is 24, rich and well educated. She is brilliant and vivacious. She is the picture of health and beauty.

"And I want the best husband in the world!" Calmly announces Mlle. Boitard.

On the subject of husbands, and American husbands in particular, she admits that her U.S. suitors were great fighters, but she has some objections to them as prospective mates. They spend too much, she avers, and they are poor — ah, oui! — very poor judges of good wine.

"All these men who proposed marriage to me," declares mademoiselle, in her charming English, with a trace of French accent, "lived at our chateau near Amiens. They drank our wine and they ate at our table. They were very enthusiastic over the chateau at Amiens and our home in Paris, for they had every possible luxury there. Now isn't it entirely possible that some of these twenty officers may have loved my luxurious home more than they did me?

"It is only reasonable that I should want to see how my American suitors live in their own homes. I do not want to be too critical about them, but I find some faults in the American national character.

"What has displeased me about American men more than any other one thing is that they are so stupid and reckless about spending money. They eat and drink and tip in expensive places as if they were millionaires. I find it very unpleasant. They want to appear rich, and that surprises and disappoints me.

Poor Judges of Wine

"And I do not like the American way of drinking. The men I know seemed to drink just for the sake of drinking, without the least appreciation of good wine. With one of them I am sure that it would have been all the same to him if he was drinking perfume.

"The American business man works too hard. He doesn't take any time for his wife and his home. I want my husband to work, but I also want him to make time for theaters, art, horses and charity affairs. I don't want to have to think in the dollar sign."

Back in New York from one inspection tour, Mlle. Boitard seemed a trifle disillusioned. She had seen and discarded eight of the twenty who wanted to marry her.

"There is one chance in particular, and maybe two or three others, that I may yet marry an American man, in spite of the eight I have discarded," says the French girl, dreamily. "I am thinking of one officer from Kentucky and another from St. Louis. But I will visit these cities and will find out for myself."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 20, 1920, page 1.