Soapy wanted to be arrested by a policeman and imprisoned. However, his efforts towards this end had been unsuccessful, and he was worried that he would continue to be unsuccessful. When he suddenly came upon a policeman lounging in front of a theatre, an idea struck him. He felt that if he shouted and screamed and made a lot of noise, he would be arrested for behaving in a dangerous and disturbing way in public, and would be imprisoned, which was what he wanted.
