The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1880-12-21
OLD SAN HILDERBRAND.
An Incident in the Life Of THIS Old
Hissourian Relsted by Ono who
Was There.

As I glance back over the long
years that are gone, l cannot but n,
fleet On their liberality in bringin,
experience to me. am very inteIil.
gent now but, strange to say, there
was time when l did not know ever
thing. l do not know how this came
but | was unlucky at birth, pre- sumo
but the many lnoons OF after-iiis
furnished 4 remedy tor all this negli
gence Of nature. In regard to some
things NV mind is Very we'll balanced
now. l am proud Ut the fact: but
when l reflect how much actual
Cash this knowledge COS, NE d. un,
know that l am - amazingly Tar
ahead, after all.
1t was some time in the sixties -
three ar four wears after the war closed
under that inspiration. concluded to
come To the great state of Missouri
and practice my profession. 1 am q
professional man. Remember that.
don't know thar my profession is oil
any particular value To the ciyi,iz ii
world. hut when / reflect that some
of the greatest and brightest inieilects
IN the land have bpwed to us-mem.
hers Of my proiession-l do not know
but that We are absolutely essential to
the modern type OF the higher civiliz l.
ton. l am gambler. | have 10
hesitancy IN making tbi. confession.
from the fact that look ON The pro-
fession as one ut great prosecutions
aud many fluctuations; besi,ies lawyer.
doctors. members ut Congress and
other WORTHLESS that the world calls
wise have cume to Us in their hours %.
trouble tor amusement aud consolation.
But must not stop To moraliz-.
Some way. l guess. l must have been
born u philosopher, aud even when
trying to tell plain matter of fact
story / can't help burglarizins the
ancient temple Ut philosophy aud
dragging forth some of its mos, pro
found secrets.
Az | vas trying to tell. | came to
Missouri To practice nv profession.
This Is story ut my own personal
experience, aud of course it il not
necessary that / should mention the
town l stopped at; but stopped at u
town. l remember that. / opened a
Palsce Ut Fortuns--a den, l presume
you would call it--and began business
On large scale. It WASH, such Ia
grand scale after all. wh.n tell yoa
the plain unvarnished truth, for / only
had capital of about 81 200; but /
went into business early in the winter
after the cotton began to 90 into
market, aud Of Course money wis
plenty. found plenty Of fools wh,
wanted tO send ME to the poor house.
bu: some way | always sent them
home with considerably less pail in
capital than they bad immediately
after the sale vi t.ieir cotton. But
they always sobi more cotton aud came
back. Some way they never coultl
learn the lesson | was trying to teacA
them. | am u reforn,er. and being "a
q reasoning animal, am aware that
my kind are 40 obstinate that they will
not learn only BY experience. Plecept
Is nothing, practice is everything. /
Won . large amount Of money in
very short time. l opened u fine bar
room. have constitutional objection
to selling whisky, but aH very ten
del. hearted-in fact. almost sentiment
al-anI the boys always got 81 thirsty
that l concluded | would opeu a bas-
room for their benefit.
Isoon became quite wealthy. Sort
y after tie opening Of the new year
l found by actual count that had
something over $4,000 / looked on
myself as kind Of a financial mon-
arch. had bar-keepers aud dealers
of fortune. and had nothing to do N.Y.
self but keep an account Of nv
enormous gains. had ropers and
cappers who went out and iavited the
moths to come in aud glance at my
cleaning. red hot candle. They iu-
variabIy burnt their wings. Verv few
of them had any wings to speak Of
that is. financial wings--wheu they
went forth from the presence Of my
accomplished and well paid lieuren-
ants.
One evening. late 10 January,
Tommy Van Rugist came in with a
lOng.haired old granger. knew he
was feariuliy and wonderfully green
on sight. besides Tommy possessed in.
fallible judgment III the selection If
his victims, and rs he was working on
q liberal commission, there Vas no
doubt in my mind that the new conner
had sold several bales Of cotton that
day and that there were 5000 or $500
to be made by cultivating his acquaint-
ance for an hour or two.
/ recognized Tommy in 4 minute.
Hello, Tommy" said |. ''come up
and have drink: Why. haven't seen
you for q long time. Bring up your
friend: perhaps he will take some
thing"
The two glidsd up to the bar as
naturally rs il they had made drinking
cocktails the business Of their lives.
They both took oil Kentucky whisky
is cents q drink-but that is the
way they do in the great and irrepres-
.ible west. ! paid for the drinks and
walked away.
Of course Tommy took the stranger
around to the tables and worked the
I'D wires ON him. The stranger was
green, and soon smiled to
myself as saw him pull out big roll
Il the "rOot Of all evil' and begin to
,et. He proceeded cautiously at FIRST,
but the boys let him win q few pots,
md that seemed to encourage him.
he soon became reckless and took two