Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-05-02
The Thin Man from Dayton.

eating stands in the Central Market
had been thrown open to the NAV of
the hungry public, and while Mrs.
Magruder was telling small boy that
she could hold up her hand and swear
that she never used beans in her coffee,
a stranger came along and asked if he
could get bite to eat. Mrs. Magru-
der has been on the market for many
years, and she thinks she knows
thing or two. She has fattered herself
that she could tell to bite Just how
much a customer could eat, and she
has for years had an undisguised con-
tempt for thin-bodied, spare.faced men,
who try to chew their coffee and mince
their toast. ....... .....-
This stranger was little better than
O six-foot shadow. His foreground
consisted of shirt-collar and mouth
as big as mince-pie, and the perspec-
tive revealed nothing but two hollow
eyes set below thin line of sandy eye
brows. He remarked that he had just
arrived from Dayton, and was some
what hungry, but wanted first to in
quire how much his breakfast would
cost him, as he was rather short of
funds. ,.,y -......5
"Oh I Isuppose you may be able
to worry down six or seven cents worth
of provisions and cup OF coffee, she
replied. r &c.,. 49,.
"Suppose you say twenty-five cents
for all want to cot 2" he said, as the
corners of his eyes began to witch.
Mrs. Magruder looked him over and
mentally calculated that she would
make just thirteen cents by the bargain,
and she replied: ,-,..t......t
II must have my money in advance,
you know r:;'a.'r "a #. 80 g. fl
-. "Oh, certainly-here it is. Now,
then, I'm to eat my fill for the quar-
ter?" i7I i'" 'I ''--''N' 'F.s'' .'7E
She said that was the understanding,
and winked at the next stall. The thin
man from Dayton doubled up on q
stool, opened his mouth, and O fried
sausage went out of sight so quickly
that the last end seemed to smoke. A
fried cake followed, then a second
p sausage, and after gulp or two the
man handed out his cup with the
words .,
"That tastes like real coffee gimme
some Inore.Y t,. p tt3' I 80 T3r'.
While she was filling the cup he got
away with two hot biscuits and a slice
Il of beef, and the coffee came Just in
time to wash down q hunk OF mince
pie. He could use both arms and
his mouth ct once, and he attended
strictly to business. When Mrs. Ma
gruder had filled the third cup her
smile had quite vanished. She saw
that she wouldn't come out even with
out resorting to strategy, and she be-
gan asking questions. The man an
swered none Of them except by a
mournful shake of the head. Crash !!
crash! went his jaws, and he reached
out from the shoulder like clock work.
Mrs. Magruder called his attention to o
dog fight across the way, but he ate
faster than ever. The bell struck 8
and she remarked that big confagra-
ton was raging at the Union depot, but
the man did not raise his eyes.
When Mrs. Magruder discovered
that she was at least six shillings be-
hind she said that she was "poor
/, widow with Eve children to support"
How ! do pity you !" replied the
man as he passed his cup with one
hand and raked in a biscuit with the
other. .r - s..
Then Mrs. Magruder told story
about a man dropping dead in the
market the day before on account of
overeating, but the man got away with
two fried cakes and replied:
"Curious how some folks will make
hogs of themselves"
AT length Mrs. Magruder wanted to
know how much longer he could stand
he In fvNp
her reproachful glance and answered:
Have thus early fallen in with
swindlers and falsifiers ?"
She let him go on for three or four
minutes more, and then she limited that
detective was prowling around there
evidently spotting" some one.
II he'll only give me twenty FIVE
minutes to finish my breakfast, he can
take me and be hanged r. answered the
man, and his arms worked faster than
ever.
Mrs. Magruder was cornered. She
laid his money down and asked him for
the sake of her poor orphans to move
on and leave her of least one fried cake
as business foundation. He paused
with his cup held out for the seventh
time, and perhaps something in her
fearful look reminded him of his poor
dead mother. for he said:
well, I am only human, and ad-
init that my heart is tender. don't
like to break off in the middle of my
breakfast, but I'll take the money and
move on for your children's sake"
He got mp locking just as much like
q lath as when he sat down, and W hen
lie was out of sight Mrs. Magruder
turned to the desolate ruins and
groaned out ...., ..sa........st....t
"I'll take my solemn oath if four
dollars would make me good for this,
and I must tell my husband that I
fitted out schooner on trust l"-De-
tron Free Press. -'' -''' a"
Mr.. FIELDS ON BosToN's Boy MUIR
nrpFp -Goid NJ Tap,ac IN E;aJJa =,