Louise Burt was walking along a San Francisco street.
Suddenly a man took her purse and ran. Mrs.
Burt was very angry. She had ten dollars, her
bus pass, and the keys to her house
in the purse. Mrs. Burt ran after the thief.
The thief ran one block, two blocks, three
blocks. The thief was a young man, so he
could run fast. Mrs. Burt was not a young
woman_she was 73 years old_but she could
run fast, too. Mrs. Burt stayed right behind the thief.
Mrs. Burt was wearing two chopsticks in her hair.
The chopsticks had sharp ends. Mrs. Burt took
the chopsticks out of her hair. "Maybe I can
stab the thief with these chopsticks,
" she thought. "Then he will drop purse."
The thief ran into an apartment building.
Mrs. Burt followed him.
"Help! Stop him!" she shouted. "He has my purse!"
Two police officers were walking near
the apartment building. They heard Mrs.
Burt and ran to help her. One police officer
stayed with Mrs. Burt.
The other police officer chased the thief.
The police officer found the thief on the roof of the
apartment building. The thief was looking in
Mrs. Burt's purse. When he saw the police
officer, the thief dropped the purse and
jumped off the building. The building was two stories high.
A few minutes later the police officer caught the
thief. He was hiding under a car.
He couldn't run because he had two broken ankles.
The police took the thief to jail. The thief
will stay in jail for long time. But the thief was lucky.
He was lucky that the police caught him.
He lucky that Mrs. Burt didn't catch him!
