424 



ropnlar Science Monthly 



to the floor. In a moment he 

 faces the teller again, this time 

 with consternation written on 

 his face. "How did you do it?" 

 he asks. 



"Pretty soft," mockingly re- 

 plies the teller, "All I had to 

 do was to press a hidden elec- 

 tric button under the desk with 

 my knee. That little button 

 caused a lifting device in the 

 room adjacent to this to raise 

 the receiver hook of a tele- 

 phone. At the same time, a 

 small-sized phonograph situ- 

 ated in front of the telephone 

 transmitter repeated the mes- 

 age, "Help! Robbers! Send 

 police to First National Bank !" 

 Evidently the telephone girl 

 heard it, for you were caught 

 with the goods. By the way, 

 you could have postponed your 

 visit until to-night, but you 

 would have been caught in the 

 same manner." 



"Hands up!" commands the burglar, but the teller's 

 knee presses against a button. A phonograph and 

 telephone send out the necessary warning to the police 



How Our German Prisoners 

 of War Amuse Themselves 



The Thief s "Hands Up!" Is An- 

 swered by the Telephone's "Help!" 



THE thief, face masked and pistol in 

 hand, enters the bank and slinks up 

 to the paying teller's window, "Hands 

 up!" he commands. The teller does as he 

 is ordered, sitting 

 transfixed on his 

 stool as the thief 

 removes neat little 

 piles of gold and 

 silver from the win- 

 dow. In three min- 

 utes it is all over. 

 The thief lowers his 

 pistol, and, with the 

 parting remark, 

 "Pretty soft, old 

 top," moves toward 

 the door. 



Hardly has he 

 placed his hand on 

 the knob before a 

 dozen uniformed 

 officers pin him fast 



An alligator shaped from a tree trunk. 

 The teeth arc only sharpened wooden pegs 



GERMAN war prisoners, from the big 

 German liner, Vaterland, are con- 

 verting the large detention camp, located 

 at Hot Springs, N. C, into a really 

 pleasant place. They have built 

 woodcraft houses to live in and made 

 many curious and amusing things from 

 materials gathered 

 from woods and 

 streams. 



One of the curios- 

 ities of the camp is 

 a big alligator, 

 emerging from a 

 hole in the ground. 

 This was shaped 

 from an old tree- 

 trunk. One of the 

 prisoners, skilled in 

 woodcraft, has con- 

 verted the stump 

 into a strikingly 

 lifelike reptile, 

 its open mouth 

 showing a double 

 row of vicious teeth. 



