St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-02-03

not to me,-that there was some other
James j. Smith, besides myself, in the
world, and in Philadelphia, for whom
this letter was designed and to whom,
1t was manifest from the terms of it,
its loss might prove extremely incon-
venient.
Under these circumstances, | per-
ceived | had nothing to do but to re-
turn it to the pos:-uiliUc, that it might
reach my namesake, and was re-
tracing my steps for that purpose,
when / was interrupted by gentle
man, or person dressed like gentle
man, but thought there was some
thing unpleasing and sinister in looks,
who stepped up to me, and with low
bow and grinning smile, told me,
he believed he had the pleasure of
addressing Mr.. James J. Smith ?"
THAT is certainly my name" said
| I. But
"You haven't the honor of my ac-
quaintancc =" interrupted the gentle
man. " Exactly so but l have the
pleasure of producing my note of in
l tiouultiOu
And with that, the fellow, clapping
one hand on my shoulder, in very
impudent, familiar way, displayed un-
der my nose, not note of introduc-
ton, but note of hand, for some sew
enteen or eighteen hundred dollars,
drawn in favor Of Simon somebody, |
forget who, and signed, plainly and
strongly enough, James j. Smith
All this, my friend" said |, rcmov-
ing his hand from my shoulder, ais,
doubtless, good and fair enough. The
difficulty is, that it concerns some
other James J. Smith, and not me ::
for | never wrote that note nor, in
deed, any other. You have made a
mistake"
Every facetious, sir" said the per-
son. II should inform you, sir, that
poor Simon being in difficulty, was
under the necessity of parting with
that little note 10 me, sir; and paid
him very fair price for it, sir, because
it was debt Of honor and debt Of
honor, sir,' here the rascal looked as
if he meant to impress me with an
awful sense Of his courage and deter
mination, a debt Of honor, sir, new
er find any difficulty in collecting"
"The deuce take you and your debt
Of honor" said |, waxing impatient
Il tell you, sir But my gentleman
interrupted me again.
No occasion to swear, my dear fel-
| low | don't intend to trouble you
jua now. know what brings you to
town here know Old Rusty is com
ing, if he has not come already, and
the rich young lady with him. The
letter, sir, that you just received, sir"
Here the fellow burst into laugh at
the look of amazemcnt | put on, at
finding him so familiar with the mystic
rious cpistlc and added, somewhat
contcmptuously, II did not think Mr..
James J. Smith such a spooncy, as to
give the public the benefit Of reading
his letters over his shoulders in the
street! In short, sir, as | said, l
don't intend to trouble you just now,
nor to be gammoncd hereafter. |
shall wait, sir, till the happy hour is
over and then, sir, humbly claim to
renew acquaintance, without renew
ing the note, sir +! till when, your obe-
dient servant to command, sir"
With that, my gentleman bowed
and stalked off, stroking his whiskers
with an air of unutterablc magnifi'
cencc which have never seen equalled
bv any but blacklcrS.
This little incident, besides moving
somewhat Of my choler, quite changed
my resolution of restoring the letter
to the post-oilice and thereby to my
namesake. 1t seemed now apparent
that my alter ego was some rascally
= adventurer, the fellow, as we'll as
prey, of him who bore his note of hand
and it appeared, therefore, impossible
that such a fellow could pretend, il
any honest way, to the hand of the
erich young lady," referred to by the
note. holder, and doubtless, the fair L
, of the letter. | felt that | shoulc
punish, if not defeat the schemes of {
rogue, and perhaps protect deserving
girl and deceived parent, by keeping
Mr.. T. BIS letter in my pocket, an'
into my pocket, accordingly, ] thrus
it. At all events, the interception o
7 the letter would create delay an,
; delay might effect the desired purpose
,, spent the remainder of the after
noon rambling about the city, viewing
it, and, as | thought till the last me
: ment, without further adventure. Bu
just as | was hunting my way back t.
: my clearinghouse to tea, | was stop
|; ped by a sharp but rather timid-lookin;
! young fellow, q tailor's clerk, VIII
4 begged my pardon, believed | wa
Mr.. James j. Smith, reminded me tina
4 | owed a very long bill to his employ
J. crs, Messrs. Snip and Shears, hinte
J. that they had written to me two O
u three times on the subject, observe
q that times were hard, and conclude
by insinuating the pleasure | woul
u confer upon those gentlemen if l woul
u be so good as to walk with him, fortl
c WITH down to their shop, which wa
+ only seven or eight squares Off
replied to all this, that he had mi
i, taken his man, that owed Messr
% "a Snip and Shears nothing +; and upo
s. his presuming to express some i
lr credulity at the denial, | threatened
break his bones upon which he b
came alarmed and retreated. But
10 observed him following me at di
e, tance, and dogging me all the way
in my boarding-house.
l After tea, having no acquaintance
Id in the city, | went to one Of the the
a tres to pass the evening, and passs
s. it, in the main, very pleasantly.
y was, indeed, at one time annoyed
j. the conduct of two or three We
as dressed, but noisy young fellows
If, the next box. who, from their d
of course, set down as gamblers al