Where is the irony in the short story "The Cop and the Anthem?"

The entire concept of "The Cop and the Anthem" is ironic.
That is what makes it such an amusing and enjoyable story even after all these years.
Here is a man who is actually trying to get arrested. He seems like an admirably free
spirit. He has dropped out of respectable, conventional society and is living a life
many of us must secretly envy. He doesn't have any responsibilities or worries. He is
like the pigeons in the park. He has to put up with some inconveniences, but he doesn't
have to get up at six-thirty and work at some desk job all day long, and even all day on
Saturday. Soapy is a bit like Henry David Thoreau, except that he is an urban dweller.
Soapy is obviously a philosopher. Here is an example of situational
irony:

At a
corner of Sixth Avenue electric lights and cunningly displayed wares behind plate-glass
made a shop window conspicuous. Soapy took a cobblestone and dashed it through the
glass. People came running around the corner, a policeman in the lead. Soapy stood
still, with his hands in his pockets, and smiled at the sight of brass
buttons.

One of the
dictionary definitions of irony is:

readability="6">

a state of affairs or an event that
seems deliberately contrary to what one expects and is often amusing as a
result.

Smashing a
big plate-glass window with a cobblestone is not contrary to what Soapy expects, but it
is contrary to the reader's expectations. And it is amusing as a result, even though it
is outrageous.

Every event in the story is ironic. It is
ironic that a penniless bum would walk into an elegant restaurant with the intention of
ordering some of the most expensive items on the menu. When he ends up eating at a cheap
restaurant, he has to stuff himself in order to run up the bill high enough to make the
management want to call the cops. And it is ironic that he eats a lot of cheap fodder
when he had been planning on wild duck, Chablis, and Camembert
cheese.

On
the opposite side of the street was a restaurant of no great pretensions. It catered to
large appetites and modest purses. Its crockery and atmosphere were thick; its soup
and napery thin. Into this place Soapy took his accusiveshoes and telltale trousers
without challenge. At a table he sat and consumed beefsteak, flapjacks, doughnuts and
pie. 

It is ironic that Soapy
has to eat so much food that he can't try his restaurant trick again after being thrown
out on his ear. He wouldn't be able to consume any more
food.

It is ironic that the woman Soapy tries to molest
would be just waiting for some man to approach her. It is ironic that he steals an
umbrella from a man who had stolen it himself. And, of course, the final irony is that
Soapy gets arrested just when he decides to
reform.

Everybody has bad days like that. They may not be
so colorful or dramatic, but there are days when nothing seems to go right. All the
stoplights turn red just as we get to them. Some women call them "Bad Hair Days." Life
itself is ironic.