Sunday, January 2, 2011

Oh, Orville, An Opossum?? Really??

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

From the November 9, 1945 issue of the Norwalk Hour, Norwalk, Connecticut:

"Kansas City - - Patrolman Orville Lashbrook brought in a tough customer after a still fight. The boys around the police station say the tough customer brought in Patrolman Lashbrook. At any rate, the culprit is jailed and Lashbrook can vouch for the fact that the prisoner resisted the strong arm of the law.
  
The culprit was an apple stealing opossum with sharp teeth. Lashbrook captured him and then didn't dare let go. He was forced to dan??e (dangle?) the animal from the patrol car window while his partner drove eight blocks to the station."  

I think I would be dangling this
critter out the window too!

Orville James Lashbrook, Jr. was born July 26, 1899 in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, died July 19, 1990 in Kansas City, Missouri.  He married Hazel Marie Altis in 1921 most likely in Johnson County, Kansas.  They are both buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri.

This was not the only time Orville made the newspaper reports in the line of duty:

From the September 10, 1945 issue of the Independent Record, Helena, Lewis & Clark County, Montana:

"Curious Policeman
Finds Fortune
In Stolen Bonds

Kansas City, Sept 10 --(AP)--Orville Lashbrook, a Kansas City policeman, grew curious yesterday when he stumbled across a paste-board letter file lying in a vacant lot.

So he opened it. And inside were $39,750 worth of E war bonds, which had been stolen a week ago from the E.E. Carpenter home in Kansas City.

But the 400-pound safe in which the bonds were kept still is missing."



* Photo of opossum courtesy of Cody Pope, Wikipedia, granted under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

**Policeman clip art from http://www.horton-szar.net/clipart/

*** Stack of bills courtesy of clker.com

**** Safe graphic courtesy of Daily Clip Art

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done, Orville! The opossum looks cute but I bet he did have sharp teeth :-) Jo

Michelle Goodrum said...

I love the opossum story! And the links to the clipart :)

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

LOL Can you imagine calling the police because a opossum was stealing your apples? Wonder what his sentence was.

Coloring Outside the Lines said...

I've seen the sharp teeth on those possums up close, and they've got quite a mean snarl to boot- so bravo to Orville for capturing one!

Susan Clark said...

Nasty critters those possums. Three cheers for Orville & his partner. We could have used them when one invaded our basement a few decades ago. Not a day I'll forget.

FranE said...

I can see this happening...Must have been a scene from Andy Griffith show. LOL My daughter had a hole in her ceiling when her husband stepped backwards after finding a opossum family in their attic.
I think it was cool he was the instrument in saving the Civil War bonds. He sounds really neat. Love those Lashbrook people. ;)