FUN AT A BARBER’S

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1931, Page 4

FUN AT A BARBER’S

AN EXCITING EVENING.

A. pair of Sydney detectives went j (forth one evening last -week to collect .evidence against a hairdresser who was supposed to have a totalisator concealed somewhere. about his premises, states the Sydney Bulletin. They disguised themselves before starting; that is'.to say, they put on each other’s boots brushed their hair straight up, and , assumed, that air of fathomless mystery .which the detective always wears when ■ he has forgotten his own name and ■address; and then they walked into the suspected house arm in arm, throw.ing out their legs at precisely, the same angle, and sat down on two chairs to wait for evidence. Neither of them j, offered any observation; they merely planted themselves and glared hungrily like two spiders waiting for a fly. The (barber recognised them, and flew round texcitedly and asked them if they would ' . . ■have their hair cut, but. they replied {hoarsely that they didn’t require any (assistance. Next moment a . hairless (youth slouched in and began to state ;that he would invest half a sovereign !— Just here, however, the barber (rushed him backwards into the chair pmd lathered him, and the sentence was left unfinished. He struggled wildly r.;. [to escape, and swore fearfully, and [kicked out like a fury, but the barker {whispered fiercely in his ear that if he (said a word about horses he would ■ [strangle him on the spot and bury his (remains in — And at this moment a Jong, knock-kneed larrikin put his Jiead through the doorway to inquire (what odds he could get about a steeplechase. He didn't get far enough to to- -mit himself, however, for with one [jump the other assistant seized him land began to cut his hair, and told him Jiri a muffled undertone that if he attempted to say a word about steeplechases he would never live to finish the sentence. He went away thoughtfully pnd had several drinks, and then, grow- ; ing partly oblivious, he came back to (renew his question about the steeplechase. The instant his head appeared in the doorway he was partially strangled and his hair cut a second time. He Retired in a bald condition and greatly surprised; and the detectives made an entry to the effect that no suspicious (circumstances had so far come under their notice. A huge wharf-labourer burst through the doorway a moment later and started to announce that he would have five bob on —• Both the assistants hurled themselves on him arid shampooed him at this moment, while he shrieked for the police and discharged a fiery blast of language at them; but he was overcome and led out in a fearful state of indignation. There was five minutes’ calm after this, till a stalwart young woman arrived with a message : from, her brother, and she came so near to giving the whole busi-.-ncss away that, she was partially shaved in the excitement, and had hei hair singed and her fringe completely demolished. But at last she broke away and went into hysterics outside. Three minutes later her father came •; -round to ■wreck the whole shop, and one of the assistants was assaulted before they successfully crushed the old ■•.•-.. man into a seat and oiled his head in the midst of his ravings. It was evident by this time that a crisis was at hand, for it required the whole available <• force’on the premises to hold this last f 1: infuriated customer down and'put some

hajr-rpstorei- ~on’(him, and. if anyone else came in and tried to speak it wOula be impossible to stifle him without letting, the old man out of the chair, and if one he got out it was certain that he would kill somebody. Just as the barber and his employee had resolved to let go and run for their lives apd leave all the stock, fixtures, fittings and utensils behind them, the two' officers • made . another entry in their book that. evidently none but a legitimate trade was c'oriducted- on the- premises, and then they rose together and clumped heavily away. 'When they Were gone, matters were explained to the apoplectic father in the chair, and business gradually assumed its normal aspect, except that the big wharflabourer had taken out a summons for shampooing - under-arms accompanied with violence, and refused to ■be pacified.