Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-03-10
A LITTLE HOAX.

ton 10 nlS gIoNlS put, at last, DccOm-
ing interested, | asked the head-waiteI
who he was, He told me it was
General So-and-So, an irascible old
bachelor, one of the regular boarders
in the house. While waiting for my
breakfast, | had emptied my pockets
of the letters which | had to acknowl-
edge that morning, and amongst them
found what we called a''propcrty let
ter that had accidentally found its way
among my own papers. A property
letter, you know, means.a letter used
on the stage, and this one read as fol-
lows;
"Youhg man, l know thy secret.
Thou lowest above thy station. If
thou hast wit, courage and discretion,
| can secure to thee the realization of
thy most sanguine hopes. Follow the
bearer, etc. BEAUsEANT.
1t is the letter which Claude Mel
notte reads in The Lady of'Lyons. 1t
most naturally struck me that | would
i%nclose it in an envelope and send it to
the old gentleman, and watch the
effect so calling one of the walters,
a colored man, | told him to 90 out
side in the hall, remain for five min
utes and then return and deliver the
litter, saying that the writer would
call for a reply during the day. / also
instructed the waiter, after giving this
message, to retire quickly and not be
seen again in the hotel until the next
day, and that | would make it all right
with his chief.
Agreeably to my instructions, in a
few minutes the servant walked up to
the general, and put the letter in his
hands. The old gentleman adjusted
his spectacles, tore open the envelope,
and in an amazed tone commenced to
read, half aloud Young man, |
know thy secret, and so on. He read
it over two or three times, and | never
saw anybody more thoroughly bewil-
dered. AT last he called for the head
waiter, and demanded to see the ser
want who had delivered the letter.
OF course he was not to be found. The
longer he pondered the more he looked.
as if he wanted to rave. In the mean
time in came his breakfast.
Oh the breakfast r. he ex-
claimed, almost kicking over the ia
Bile. | want to see the lunatic who
calls me a young man., and says he
knows my secret, and can secure the
realization of my fondest hopes. |
haven't got any secret My fondest
hope is to kick the idiot who sent me
this insane notel' During this time
two or three ladies had ioinod me at
my breakfast-table, and, noticing the
extraordinary excitement of the Gen
eral, asked me if | knew who he was.
L told them to keep very quiet, and
not to attract his attention that he
was a fratricide and an escaped luna
tic, whose keepers were outside be-
hind the doors waiting for him, and
that the letter was only a decoy to
enable them to secure him without
unnecessary violence. Thisthorough-
ly alarmed the ladies, and they hur-
left the table, ~retreating
through the door at the other end Of
the room.
At this movement the second head
waiter, who had noticed the agitation
of the ladies', walked up to me and
asked if they were not satisfied with
their breakfast.
"Oh, ycs!' | replied, "Ipresume so
but the youngest lady is a bowling
maniac at times, and the instant she
saw her father, General So-and-So.
disturbed in his mind by the letter
she had written, | whispered to her
friend to take her out of the ROOM"
In a few moments, having finished
my breakfast, | took my own depart
ure. On reaching the Office Of the
hotel, | inquired Of one of the princi-
pal clerks whether his head-waiter
was quite sound in his mind. He
asked me my reason for making the
inquiry. | said that | didn't want to
get my name mixed up in tho matter,
but it struck me that the one weak
point IN his intellect was his apparent
ly intense dislike to the general and
| observed to the clerk just test II
by going up to him suddenly and say
ing; Don't you think you will get
yourself into trouble about that letter
of the general sY"
After breakfast Mr. Shogner, the
clerk, walked up to the head-waiter
and abruptly made that remark. OF
course the waiter got very much CON
fused, and stammered, as a man natuY-
ally would under the circumstances.
IN endeayQrlAg 90 make an explana-
tisn whereupon |, who was behind
him, intimated by signs to the clerk
that he had better get out of tho way,
as the fellow had q knife about him
and might become very violent.
In the meantime | saw the genera
approach the office 10 make inquiries.
and in a minute or two there was 4
q lively hum of conversation. Half q
dozen men were talking loudly and
excitedly together, among whom werC
the clerk and the tive principal waiter,
OF the hotel, hastily paid my bill
s.eised Iay travelling satchel, jumped
into a coach at the door, and wa,
driven away. never learned whaI
was the result, because | never darec
to inquire but for an hour OF two /
was pretJY lively edition oil til,
Hornets Nest, in three buzzos and
stinger.' n, A, SoraERN.