Paul Harvey Would Be Proud

 
Paul Harvey Would Be Proud
by Dick Mauer


Sometime in the summer months of 70 or 71, Ted Golda and I were working plain clothes and checking businesses in Erie, Pennsylvania. We went in a diner and ordered coffee to watch the help for a few minutes.  The restaurant help all looked OK but we observed two males sitting at the counter speaking GREEK! They paid their bill and left and we caught up and braced them on the sidewalk. One produced an I-151 and the other tells us in english, that he has the same but left it in his room."Sure", he says, "I'll be happy to show it to you." "Sure", he says, "I'll get in the car." We follow his directions and end up on a busy part of State Street in downtown Erie where a lot of construction is going on. He pointed out a restaurant with two floors of rooms over it. We got him out of the car and just then there was a blaring of horns and when we look, the Greek rabbits. The foot chase is on. Into a restaurant, through the kitchen, out the back door, up the alley, into another restaurant back door, through the kitchen and dining room, out the front door onto a busy State Street.......and gone! Ted and I are sick because it's not easy to find a Greek Ship jumper. UNOIMSAYIN'?

Same city about 3 weeks later and Ted and I are still smarting. Guess who we see tripping down State Street? We made sure this time and had him cuffed before he knew what hit him.  Redemption is ours and like Paul Harvey used to say, the I-213 didn't have to know the "rest of the story".