The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-11-15
A Clear Case Or Luck,

about the funniest of all.n
"Ah /" said /, " how il that!"
did 1t never occur to you that Il wasa h'tie
odd that in 30 short time should have got to
be partner in the firm, and married man, ana
all that sort of thing?"
"0hl you specialized"
"NOt a bit q i or rather did; and ! didn,t,
made old Mitraille swear off"
$50 far II il very clear bat II knew how You
secured French wife and rich one, could uu-
deistsnd q little plain English"
Before went to the war John Develin and l
were fellow clerks In the banking house OF MI
traille & Co.. in New York. A slight lsmeness
prevented John going into the army, and an utter
absence Of capital prevented him from proposing
for the hand Of the pretty Lucille, though al.
ways believed he had more to fear from the gruf
old papa than from the lady herself.
Poor as be was, and on q moderate salary,
when / returned at the end of the wsr-a good
ceal lamer than John had been before 1t Il found
my chum In the full enjoyment OF all he had
loDged for and with q brown stone front to enjoy
it 10. 30 when he volunteered something which
promised 70 explain the mystery, my curiosity
was set on fire In moment John was right
good fellow and did not envy him Q particle;
but must say was curious about il.
"Wel," said John, :" the way Of II was this:
Have another cigar. Yon know good desl
about what was after when you went away;
and my chance Of getting it then seemed about as
far of as the presidency. II was clear case OF
luck, tell you, and little more. Old Mitraille
had always liked me pretty well, though / was
hardly the man he would have chosen for son.
in law. You knew all about the unbounded gold
speculation in 1862 and 1858; well, he somehow
got into it-steady, old, hard headed banker IS
he is. Almost everybody went into it more or
less. .s gt~a
"The old man had rather missed IL once or
twice, and got hit pretty hard, though no one but
myself knew anything about it-so hard, In fact,
that was a little alarmed for the result.
81 got il into my head about that tine that
would like to run down to Washington and take a
look at the forts and camps. Somehow IL always
CALLED me good deal that could not take nay
part with the rest and wanted to have q look at
the thing anyhow. So called at the house to see
Lucille, and get short furlough, and succeeded
well. That is, did not see as much of Lucille
as wanted, but the old gentleman gave me leave
of absence readily. and added:
I" Suppose something may happen while you
are dare, eh? You send me telegram. quick
eyes replied, but you know the war de-
partment don't allow q fellow to send over the
wires just what he wants to-
"'Oh, never mind all dat Mitraille, Just you
send the words. / understand mighty quick, ha
ha Never you mind the war department.
"And SOL continued John. off went with.
out very clear idea Of what was expected, or
how was to do it."
" And now the rest of it sounds tremendously
like page from Munchausen, but II is all clear
historical fact. Mtraille wrote letter which got
TO Washington about as soon as did, urging me
TO keep my ears and eyes open, and promising If
with me on the profits. l saw by that how ter
ribly nervous he was getting, and concluded that
affairs must be even worse with him than knew
of. Nevertheless began to be a trifle excited
myself, and though had sort of horror of specu.
lation especially gold gambling. commenced to
look around me pretty sharply for items. Among
other Adventures fell in with old Sam Gorham
Of Cincinnati, one Of our correspondents, and a
nephew Of his, queer, spoon OF Eel og, and we
went around sightseeing together.
Nothing 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 particular all that
night or the next forenoon, but saw the sights
pretty efectually. and about noon went into my
friends room to wake them up. found the nephew
lolng disconsolately in chair, and the uncle in
bed with high fever, the natural result OF his
foolshness the day before. The hopeful youth
began the story OF his trbuaton 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.
81 asked him what the doctor had said about
his uncle.
"Oh, the old mans right sick, and reckon I'd
better telegraph to aunt Sally to come on right
off,
"On the plea of splitting headache, he beg.
ged me TO send his message, and | thought
would send one at the same time to Mitraille Co.
Well, his telegram, save the direction, read:
Z" Don't wait for anything. Uncle Sam very
sick. indeed"
While mine was simply:
Nothing stirring. Having good time"
"Now, how on earth these two little affairs
got interchanged is q mystery to me to this day.
Perhaps did il; l don't know; but twisted they
were, and somehow both Of them passed the CEN
sors. When Mitralle opened his, he straightway
imagined that something had gone wrong in
Washington, and that had taken neat way of
giving him hint, and he rushed out and bought
all the gold his credit would cover.
He wrote me an account OF his transactions,
the magnitude of which almost turned my hair
gray and while he thanked me for my hint, he
begged me to be sure that my information was
correct. thought at fret he was crazy, and then
becamepretty near crazy myself, thinking what
might be the consequences Of the mistake. The
first thing / did-this was the next day, you
know-was to rush into Riggs and ask the latest
Guess my delight when found them fairly
jumping upward. 1t was wonderful! Sill was
terribly nervous, for all sorts Of rumors were
afoat; and knew that gold would fall as quick
| it could rise. The feeling grew on me until,
pretty nearly half demented, went into the tele.
graph Office at Wizards and dashed Off
90 It's all a sell, and big one.'
"Well the old gentleman took that as he had
| the other one, and not only sold out, but went
| shortto the full extent of his line. IL was the
| luckest thing in the world, for sure enough,
q crash. began to feel superstitious there was
| something uncaDny about il, and packed my kit
| and made fast for New Nork. i did not attempt
an explanation, but steadily resisted all the old
| gentlemsn's entreates to 60 on with il any fur
Their. even managed to persuade him to close
| up his old account and quit it. had Lucille to
| help me in that.
The net figure was very handsome one.
tell you and there was little trouble about making
| the other arrangements after my bank account
was made up. My honored father-in-law has the
blindest faith in my judgment; but told Lucille
all about it. What's more. don't and won't
speculate, and won't do business for any firm
that does. It's all a clear case Of luck"
John threw the stump of his cigar into the
ashes, and pulled away at mine, wondering II
there was any luck in my getting that piece Of
shell in my ankle.
MEMPHIs RAoKs.-The Memphis papers furnish
tie following summary of the races on the course