He was more than
willing. I laid out the route, covering ten or a dozen patrol-posts,
and we met at 2 A.M. on the steps of the Union League Club, objects
of suspicion on the part of two or three attendants and a watchman
who shadowed us as night-prowlers till we were out of their bailiwick.
I shall never forget that first morning when we travelled for three
hours along First and Second and Third avenues, from Forty-second
Street to Bellevue, and found of ten patrolmen just one doing his
work faithfully. Two or three were chatting on saloon corners and
guyed the President of the Board when he asked them if that was
what they were there for. One was sitting asleep on a butter-tub
in the middle of the sidewalk, snoring so that you could hear him
across the street, and was inclined to be "sassy" when aroused
and told to go about his duty. Mr. Roosevelt was a most energetic
roundsman and a fair one to boot. It was that quality which speedily
won him the affection of the force. He hunted high and low before
he gave up his man, giving him every chance.
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