"I've been waiting for you to write about the queer old man who hangs out
on the Dearborn Street bridge. I've passed him frequently and he's always
at the same place. I've wondered time and again what his history was and
why he always stood in the same place." This tip is on a broker's
stationery.
"He sells hot beans in the loop and he's an old-timer. He's always
laughing and whenever I see him I think, 'There's a story in that old man.
There's sure something odd about him.'" This tip is on scratch paper.
"I saw her first several years ago. She was dressed all in black and was
running. As it was past midnight I thought it strange. But I've seen her
since and always late at night and she's always running. She must be about
forty years old and from what I could see of her face a very curious kind
of woman. In fact, we call her the woman of mystery in our neighborhood.
Come out to Oakley Avenue some night and see for yourself. There's a
wonderful story in that running woman, I'm certain." This tip is signed "A
Stenographer."
They continue--tips on strange, weird, curious, odd, old, chuckling,
mysterious men and women. Solitaries. Enigmatic figures moving silently
through the streets. Nameless ones; exiles from the free and easy
conformity of the town.
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