Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1867-06-19
WATERFOWL, WIS, WEDNESDAY,, JUNE la, 1867

nlising that if | sent him anything of I'M
portanoe he would halves with me on the
profits. L saw by that how terribly.
nervous he was getting, and concluded
that affairs must be even, worse with him
than knew Of. Nevertheless, began
to be trife excited myself, and though
I had sort OF horror of speculation, es-
pecially gold gambling, | commenced to
look around me pretty. sharply for items,
Among other adventufers | fell. ia with
old Sam Gorham, Of Cincinnati, one of
our correspondents, and a nephew Of his,
a. queer, spoon Of fellow, and we went
around sightseeing together.
sfNothing would do for either uncle or
nephew but continual Succession Of
cocktails, and | had to leave them in their
rooms soon after dinner, somewhat the
worse for wear, while | continued my
search for information under difficulties
81 didn't find out anything in particul-
ar all that night or the next forenoon, but
| saw the sights pretty efFectuaIly, and
about noon | went into my yafr. ends room
| to stir them up [ found the nephew
lolling disconsolately in chair, and the
uncle ia bed with a high fever. the na-
| tural result of his foelishness the day be-
fore. The hopeful youth beg the
story Of his tribulations by stating that he
had expected his aunt there that day, but
had received letter from her saying
that she had been delayed and could not
come at once. rc.H Ssha.z- .reGs. .e
Il asked him what the doctor had
said about his uncle. ta5l T. ae# sar3 s.
e""Oh, the Cd mans right sick. and1rI
reckon I'd better telegraph to Aunt, Sal
ly to come on right off . laDaas-
ION the plea of splitting headache,
he begged me to send his message, and |
thought would send one at the same
time to Mitra lie 4 Co. Well, his tele-
graph, save the direction, read: Don't
wait for anything, Uncle Sam very sick
indeed -. f.,..-.. ..+..,.......... T.
p" While mine was simply: .g Ea
. :" n othing stirring. Having very
good time
Now how on earth these two little
affairs got interchanged is a mystery to
me to this day. Perhaps | did it; per
haps it was done at the telegraph Office;
don t. knowSbut twisted they certainly
were, and Somehow both Of them passed
the censors@ When MftraiIle opened his,
ne strai ghtway imagined that something
had gone 30 smash in Washington and
el,est [ had taken a neat way of giving
him a hint, and he rushed out and bought
all the gold his credit would cover. aaf-.l
'He wrote NE an }oeount Of his trans
actions whose magnitude almost turned
my hair gray; and while he thanked me
for my hint he begged to be sure that
nfq information was correct, / thought
at first that he was crazy, and then | be
came pretty near crazy myself, thinking
Of what might be the consequences OF the
mistake The first thing I did-this was
the next day, you know-was to rush in
TO Riggs aad ask the latest gold prices.
sd"Guess my delight when [ fourd them
fairly jumping upward. It was wonder
1ui. Still, | was terribly nervous, for all
sorts of rumors, were, ahoat, and knew
that gold could fall as quick as it could
raise The feeling grew on me until,
pretty nearly half deme ted, [ went into
the telegraph office at W Hard and
dashed off e5....-e.
oe'',It's all sell, and big one - 5...-...
r.'" '"Welf, the old gentleman took that as
he had the other one, and not only sod
out, but went short to the full extent Of
his line. It was the lackiest thing in the
world, for sure enough, within forty-eight
hours things did go down with crash.
I began to feel superstitious there was
something uncanny about it, and [ packed
my kit and made fast in New York. [
did not attempt an explanation. but [
steadily resisted all the old gentleman's
entreaties to go on with it any further,-
[ even managed to persuade him to close
up his gold account and quit it, | had
Lucille to help me in that, ..-..
H.. ''The next figure was. a very handsome
one, / tell yoB and there was very little
trouble about making the other arrange
ments after nay bank account was made
up + My honored father-in law had the
blindest faith in my judgement; but |
told Lucille all about it. What's more,
| don't and and won't speculate. and [
won't Go business for any firm that does.
It's all clear case Of luck
John threw the stump Of his cigar into
the ashes, and [ pulled away at mi e,
wondering if there was any luck in my
getting that place ofshell in my ankle,
" "IsT. Tile aptness of Americans in
coming words is frequently illustrated
l. l..