Fun at Syracuse

Fortnight ago in Syracuse, N. Y., a postal clerk came upon a parcel addressed to "Comrade Chancellor Charles Flint, Syracuse University." When the parcel gave off a muffled tick, the clerk turned white as a miller, rushed the parcel to the postmaster. The postmaster sent for the police. The police sent for a Department of Justice expert on infernal machines. The expert dunked the parcel in a pail of water, prodded it with a long pole, gingerly took it apart. Disclosed was an arrangement of cardboard tubes, cotton wadding, piano wire, an alarm clock works and some sort of granulated white powder. Pronounced the Department of Justice man: "The best bomb I have seen in many years of police work. Powerful enough to blast through an ordinary stone wall."

Investigation disclosed that the parcel had been mailed from the nearby University postal station. While Syracusans last week gossiped excitedly about the bold "Communist" student plot against the life of conservative, close-mouthed Chancellor Flint, up stepped a timid undergraduate in the University's School of Architecture to name himself and 25 fellow-students as senders of the "bomb." Haled into court to face charges of disorderly conduct, the 25 students sheepishly explained that they had merely wanted to have some fun, pointed out that the "bomb" was harmless. The white powder: sugar. Federal authorities scratched their heads, admitted that no statute forbids the mailing of junk, however fearfully disguised. To Chancellor Flint, who was vacationing with his wife in Miami, Fla. the School of Architecture closed the incident by sending a round-robin apology for the prank.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.