Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1872-06-20
Established December m 5' 1885, 81. b. .!s :5s5 ,.FYHFFRfnIB iTINESSBB

, hung. l a.
Suddenly an idea struck me-
IL remembered something tina
might save my life. l burst int
| a violent fit of laughter, in fact
it was hysterical, but they dit
not know it. They looked at ONT
another in amazement.
"WeH, he takes it7mighty cool
anyhow" said one.
"Suppose he don't think were ii
earnest" said another.
"Come, stranger, you had better
say yourrprayers," said the mar
who had spoken first; ''time flies.
I My only reply was a fit of
laughter, more violent than the
first, ff0&
"The mans II ad," they ex.
claimed. 01
"Or drunk" said some.
/ Swell, boys" cried [, speaking
for the first time, "this is the best
joke l have ever seen. What
hang pal 2
ga pal-you a pal?"
81 amt nothing else, was my
elegant rejoiDder. ~.
y "What is your name ?" trH
az 'sDid you ever hear of Ned
sWillet | replied. re...
Y i"You may be certain of that
Amt be the head OF the profes
sion" -r7sr .,-r.ssss .lgt
g "Well, then, I'm Ned.H asoi
"You Ned Willet ?" they all
exclaimed. ,rat sa. -.s.' r.o-
"You may bet your life on
that" / exclaimed, staggering up
to the conner where | had seen
the old woman counting and pack
ing the counterfeit half dollars
Fortune favored me. None of
the men present had ever seen
Ned Willet, although his reputa.
tion was well known to them
and my staggering, insolent man
ner had somewhat thrown them
off their guard, yet | could plain
ly see that their doubts were not
all removed.
"And you call these things
well done, do you? p / asked,
taking up arolI of money. "Well,
all l have to say is that if you
can't do better than this you had
better shut up shop, that's all" j"
z "Can you show US any better (
asked one of the men.
81 rather, think | can. If l
couldn't I'd hang myself
"Let's see it" they cried.
This was my last coup, and one
on which my life depended.
'''Look here, gentlemen" l ex-
claimed. taking one of the coun,
terfeit half dollars from my pock-
ct that had been rejected at the
bcnk. ''Here is my last job :;
what do you think of it 2"
q; 1t was handed from hand to
hand, some saying it was no coun-
terfeit at all and others saying it
was. r-e r. rrle. f.-
a"How will you prove it is coun-
terfeit ?" asked one.
d "By weighing it with genuine
one" l replied.
The plan was Immediately "a
dopted and ilss character proved.
-"Perhaps he got this by acci-
dent" Iheard7a a man whisper to
anotherl 9lTt r. z
aTry these,"I said, taking the
other two out Of mypocket.
All their doubts vanished.
"Beautifulp' exclaimed some.
s'Very splendid y said others.
When they had examined them
te their satisfaction, they all took
me by the hand, every particle
of doubt having vanished from
their minds. I carried on my
part well. Some questions were
occasionally asked me, involving
some technicalities of the busi-
ness; these, however, l avoided,
by stating that / was on a journey
and would rather that glass was
produced, and we made a night
of il. 1t was not until morning
dawned that we separated.
The next day l returned to
Chicago and brought down the
necessary assistance, and captured
the whole gang Of coanterleiters
in the very act. The den was
broken up forever and most of
them condemned to serve term In
State Prison. %
l have those half dollars still in
nv possession, and never intend
to part with them, for they were
certainly the means of saving my
life.
A young lady, writing on the
subject of kissing, says: 81 would
as lief have a good kiss as a new