Litchfield enquirer., 1874-12-10

" oAACAS uAy OkN0Sb tApp1eubACCs wheeled 1t. When we got to the bank, and were waiting to have our money counted. Patton handed us the signature book and we wrote our names down. F -=5~s.---r If 'HaliOor says Patton; 'that won't do.
 s' What won't doY says Lewis.
 sl''' sWhy, those names, said Patton. .d sssWhat's the matter with the names?'
 ''.'Why. you must change them some how. We have just had Samuel Lew1s and John Cook to open accounts here. We shall get you all mixed up: You wouldn't like the other Lewis and the oth- CT Cook to have your money placed to their credit, or to check against your ac- counts, would you?'
 ''Then Patton laughed until he got as rel ln the face as a turkey-cOck, and call ed Clay, the cashier, and he laughed too, and we all laughed.
 "1'll tell you how to fix it said Clay. You, sir, sign your name Samuel Lewis, c; and you, sir, sign yours John Cook, c. That means Samuel Lewis, coppersmlth, and John Cook, coppersmith; the other gentlemen of your names are both mer. chants
 ''So We appended e to our names. Where's your money, gentlemen? said Patton.
 "'Here it comes,' said Lewis. as his man rolled in his kegs.
 Well, at last, with some help Patton counted Samuels money. Then he count ed mine, and laughed like fury when he was done. Why, said he, Cook, you had more in your copper pan than Mir. Lewis had on his dray.'
 "When he counted my money couldn't help smiling. He kept wiping his hands, for the pieces were slippery and bothered him good deal. AS was going out oi the bank he hallood to me, Cook. don't bring any more greasy money here. Wash 1t before you make deposit
 ''The way it came to be greasy was this. lou see, frequently had my remittances come in . barrel of bacon or lard. Old Mir. Whittlesey, my agent in Kentucky, would send me, say, twenty barrels oi either, and in one of the barrels he would pack my money, and advise me what was the number on the head of 1t. The bar rels would be numbered from one to twen- ty. for instance, SO as not to excite curios- ity.''
 Uncle Cook, perhaps thinking he had nothing furthur in the way of story to tell, was about to stop here. My wife looked up from her sewing uneasily, then laying 1t down and folding her hands, ask. ed him if he ever met with any loss by such manner of conveyance.
 "Only once," he continued, 'sand g pretty round sum it was, too. I did not think 1t worth while to repeat the story to Mir. Slaughter. will do 50, however. ii it will interest him and Ajax There was a deal of mystery about the matter, which l suppose will never be cleared up. Per. haps did not follow it up as I ought to have done. It happened in this way.
 My old agent in Kentucky died having smart sum of money in hand. To con. form to law I had to apply and make cer tain caths in person, and therefore went out. After delay of two or three weeks 1 got 1t from his executors. bought ten barrels of lard and put them in the ware house Of Whlttleseys successor. One day, alone. pretending to examine the quality of the lard. I took the head out o1 one of the barrels, put in my gold, and headed 1t up. l marked the numbers or them, and this one was number seven,
 q had promised Nil. Lewis that would come home by the way of Pittsburg anG the M0ndngahefa River, and collect some money due him from distillers there; so ] sent my iard home by trusty Lancaster County Dutch wagoner, who had come out from Philadelphia with load ot goods for the man who succeeded Whit tiesey. 1 was good while on the way and found when got home the lard had arrived the day before. Glancing at the barrels, number seven did not look like the others. 1t was not my marking, and was of rather different shape. With much anxiety i opened 1t, and to my dismaJ found no money, 1 then examined them all with as little success.
 ''I immediately wrote out to the man il whose warehouse had opened the barre to put the money in. waited montf for an answer, and then wrote to hi brother informing him of my loss. Afte, some delay he answered that Whittlesey' E successor had gone west of the Miss1ssip pl on trading expedition. Six months later the news came that he was killed by a drunken Indian at one of the trading posts.
 ''In the mean time I questioned the Dutch wagoner frequently and closely He declared that the barrels were the same that the store-keeper had helped him to put into his wagon. The Dutch mans character was above suspicion, and having no proof that had put money in. to any barrel he had brought from Ken. lucky, had no legal claims againgt him even If had been disposed to prosecute him. Three years after this he was taken sick and expected to die, so he sent for me and made this confession.
 'He came home by the Winchester route. On the way his wagon broke down, and he was obliged to unload on the road side and take 1t to blacksmith shop, a few miles away, to have it repaired. When he returned next day the barrels of lard and bacon had been knocked about, and one of them was missing. To preserve his reputation as an honest and careful teamster he bought another barrel of lard in Winchester and put the same number on it. When he arrived in Philadelphia and found me in such an enxious state of mind about the missing barrel, he con- cluded 1t had money in it, for he had brought remittances in this way for me before. Fearing ke would be accused of theft, he insisted, up to the time that he was taken so dangerously ill, that none of the barrels had been exchanged or replac- ed On the way. Now he wished to die with clear conscience, and acknowledg- ed that he had lost barrel, and had re- placed it with another. To the surprise of himself and everybody else he recover ed; but he always insisted that his last statement was the truth, the whole truth. and nothing but the truth. So in the end all that ever got from my old collector s estate by going to Kentucky was a queer sort of gold piece which carried in my pocket for good many years, and when Sue, there, was baby, gave it to her to cnt her teeth on. think it must have been an old medal of some kind, but the inscription had somehow been obliterated. As 1t was about the size of doubloon I took iG for that in the settlement. I al- ways told Sue if ever got the money back that I lost in that barrel of lard, it should belong to her. And don't you think the jade brought paper out to Ger mantown this morning all formally drawn up by lawyer, binding me to my prom ise. I think, Sue" turning to her, syou must have 8 soft place in your head. Why bless you, child, would have signed il twenty times, and in the presence of ten witnesses instead of two, for all the good that will ever come of it'' 1