Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1869-01-15
4 Newspaper Correspondent at Fair.

A correspondent Of the Louisville Demo
crat gives BIT Of his experience as follows;
My last letter wa. dated Chicago. I don't
expect to date another from that enterpri-
sing city. MyGmalevolent star must have
been in the ascendant. else / never should
have. wandered out to Chicago. Il had nc
particular business there,l only to fish > and
was under the impression thatlI could catch
them in bucket at the MIGRANTS, utterly
forgetting all about the great lake tunnel.
| Ny first visit to Chicago was in my tender
years, in 1856. It was at the time when
Chicago took such a sudden rise by means
of jackscrews. By these machines they
raised the entire city, house by house, some
| two or thEee feet.
I know all about various confidence
games, but consider myself inst as likely to
be taken in by the simplest Of them as the
veriest greenhorn of Posey county. How
oft these sharpers must have bewailed their
bad luck at my not having plenty Of money.
With all my experience. ldroppedinto .
fair held for the benefit of some eenfounded
society or other, I thought I would expend
dollar or two. and see what was going on
So bought q; ticket and slid in, I vent to
a table where, Refreshments was sold, and
called for some. oysters, chicken salad, and
coffee. A beautiful siren. with big black
eyes, little white hands. and "a most be
witchipg mouth, spread the edibles before
me: :. I don't know how, il was, but I felt q
strong affinity for that ministering angel at
once. While eating and drinking, and de-
vouringfher with7myseyes inathe mean time,
we struck upa scattering conversation. tgAt
last I saroso and handed her a Eve dollar
bill. diShe'putit in a little box and forget TO
giyewms any changes but instead thereof "a
sweet smile unto me, saying Ilixs sew IN
listAres youGa stranger Ito Chicago f,ioa sA'
st:Kes MADAM, [ am from Kentucky" 10.
sa'Is impossible tI am al entuckian alsoy'
ssAh!1 4 knew it. 'hN-.oi h5r7slor gaa37
81 The reply was whispered, but itproduced
a faint zblushs a. dropping of The beautiful
eyelashes, and a grati6ed SMILE .s9l19rg b
"Wpnld you like to walk around the room
and look over our fancy articles n quoth
the siren. go3
IF you show lmej q i1quothagthe spoony
She took my arm. and raising herself by
it to her toes, she. murmured t'we W are not
strangers, you know. ,slx4-ssle = sidt 4on al
/ We wandered through that room, talking
-sweetly talking things that might be.
Pretty soon We came it to Silver tea set that
was to be rallied of. Would / take a
chance OF course I would. Then a won
derful cake, with q valuable ring concealed
in it, appealed to the cupidity of the chance
takers. / was persuaded to take chance
in Che cake. And 50 things glided on until
l concluded that if I took many more
chances my chances for getting home would
DO rather slim. So | refused to tempt for
tune any further. ssgi---.ale ~
Anon costly work box met our eyes,
but I bravely resisted all appeals, until she
lite black-eyed scoundrel took me on a
new tack. Leaning heavily on my arm,
and absolutely resting her cheek on my
shoulder, with those wicked eyes and sill
very tongue she said 3ie' 1855
"Wonat you take chance for me g Oh,
we'll, Hutcher, folks preached about the fall
of Adam, but / never blamed him, though
l don't think the fellow had half the excuse /
had. I needn't tell you that I took the
chance, and kept on taking chances for the
unprincipled and beautiful, wretch that had
me in tow until I had not a dollar left. Yes,
I was penniless, and then it began to dawn
on me that the young lady was working for
the success Of the fair, and that had made
6rst-class fool ofmyself, as usual
There was |, bankrupt in money, in re-
putation, in self-respect. l had been rob
bed; yea, robbed !; for where is the differ
enea between a pair Of perringers and a
pair Of black eyes in robbery? You part
with your money because yo9 can't help it.
I know that society looks with lepiept eyes
upon these female guerillas who haunt these
charitable fairs, but it is my opinion, when
all the robbers come to take their final trial
and receive their final sentence that little
Chicago robber will take her place by the
side of Jack Sheppard. "a 5 W. -: ooa