Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1872-11-14
HALF IN EEOUle WITH A MAD
MAN


HALF IN HEoUls WITH A MAD
MAN. -1..
II is NOT at all peasant Ting Il, hc .tcke
In 4 ruon, alone " iih violent inad,aan, e.
pecially if he should happen to lN. armed
with Il long. sharp knife, and yau sc afss.if
are altogether destitute Of means of tiefa.nse.
Yet such was once my. case; and the rfadet.
may, perhaps, he somewhat interested IN
learning how such All awkward adventure
| came to pass.
III the year 1863. had great ,lral Of pro-
fessiopal business TO transact in Berin0ndsey.
district Of south London. and had occasion
to spend many hours every tliIy .mong the
not very pleasant streets and lanes OF that
locality. Not Tar from the old church there
| is sort OF very narrow street or lane, called
Grange Walk,
R was in summer time-I think about July
or August-wheR one evening received
message which made it needftii for me call
| in person, the next morning, at.a certain
| house in Grange Walk. A letter and some
books were to be left for me at the ho''se OF a
| man named SmitH; and us had some calls
| to make close by. it would Of course cost me
| little time or trouble to fetch the parcel my
self. n s8
/ Now. Grange Walk is not a very pleasant
| street, although 1t is by 10 means So bad as
many others near to it. There are not SO
| nany dirty, half-l.aked children playing ~
the cutters, or so many, untidy, slips;iod
women leaning at the door-ways or gossip
/ Ing on the sidewalk, as in some other streets
hard by; IN fact for the noighborhood. II is
a very respectable street in its way. !
/ should not have objected to pass'through II
at midnight aud in the dav-time no one
would certainly expect it to be the scere OF
anv unpleasant adventure. So thought
! little about tile matter until the next morn
ing, when, having completed the other bus
i ines which had in hand. turned my steps
/ toward Grange Walk. . ~ s
! The FIRST difficulty which experienced
| was in tlnding the house. Tie gentleman
/ who had written to me was clergyman:
and, as every one knows, the clergy, in conf
mon with other professional men, often
/ write very bad and indistinct hand. The
. gentleman in qucstion was,n no exception TO
/ this rule. Ills letters always looked just as
/ ifhe had fisled large spider out OF an INK
stand. aud had allowed it to crawl over a
i clean sheet of paper. You could just make
4 one or two Alters III mist OF the long,
words, and ~ s4sAs accustomed to read bad
/ " riting. and his in parlt nlar. | generally
contriycd, with the aid of a little guessing,
/ to make out the sense Of what he had writ
ten In the present case, the name ''Sml,h !
1 was pretty clear, but the number OF Mr..
Smith. S house was by no uears so. 1t might
i have been intended for IL, or q. IL, or II
fact almost anything. Still, as Grange
! Walk is not a very large place, | anticipated
less troable ia discovering the abode OF Mr.
/ Smith than Actually experienced. The
! houses were old, rickety affairs, many OF
them buins built of woods and as most OF
/ the doors had tor nla.ly years been Innocent
of d new coat of paint, it was no easy matter
4 to find what the numbers We're which hao
originally been painted on them. BESIDES
! whica, bya new postal arrangement, they
had all boen newly remembered, and tbs
numbers all ran the wrong Way--lOo being
i where originally was, and next to lOO came
No. SO, aud so on; while on most OF the doors
two or three very different numbers were
marked i'll chalk, as if the people living there
had been accustomed to alter them every few
days, without without taking the trouble to
obliterate the old ones. saw that It was
i quite useles to try to unravel the difficulty
myself. so Iapplied to some OF the natives
for assistance This seemed only to MAKE
matters verse, tor while one would strenu'
4 ously assert that such q house lore such q
number, another as stuutly maintained al
Il opiHion diametrically opposite. Then, too
the name s,Snrith" was. stloh a very common
one, that almost every orc asked seemed tt
know an infinite nuaoer of persons bearing
that designation, all of whom were living Il
or about Grange Walk; and tile difficulty was
!, to choosefrom among such conflicting claitn'
the proper person-to flnd. not Smith. fol
II the street appeared fHiT OF tilcm, but
ISn,.th. However, after exercising no small
amount OF patience, aud calling at tile houses
az doz gentlemen OF thst name, while :
dozen or more Of people, chiefly women
whom had asked to direct me, were watch
= inc me f.,om as many open doors, iron
whence they sometimes shouted to me aeros m
II the street to try such or such honss, at last
], By dint OF great perseverance, 4 arrivedat th
]. house of him whom believed to be the tru
u and yeritable Smith the real Smith! Knock
ing with my stick at the open door OF a yer.
|. old, wooden house Of three or four stories II
height, asked . dirty, sloycnly woman VIII
1 made her appearance after the fifth knock
!. whether Mr.. Smith lived there. So
: .Oh, yes" she said. .'Mr. slnith, poF man
he do live here. Il.
! i stated that vi he'd to see him, and ate
Ih.sitatinga few moments. and eyeing me q
over. she said, III peculiar way, and with
aort Of smile which did not understand:
..Well, sir, ne likes. do Mr. Smith, On -
J third floor, in the front room, but its seldoi
/ he do see any ore at all n al
!, s.On rneyer mind that, answered. =
!. 90 lp and try, for i think he has somethin
to say to me. ~
Il then ran upstairs, little noticing the 100
Of interest with which the women looked 9
I; Ter me, and understanding i still less. ! Ia
I supposed from the letter that Mr. Smith O
& cupicd the whole Of the mouse; but this ssnitI
y n fhe true one. was evidently only lodge