Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-11-11
Jim Keens's yyssher-W oman

saw Francisco Post
The fact is, said jim Keene, the
great New York rival OF Jay Gould, az
he relaxed his usual taciturnity under
the genial influence OF one OF Sam
Wards dinners the other day, 1.-THE
fact is, that no matter how clever and
thorough mans system ofstock opera
tons may be, there is always occurring
! some little unforeseen and apparently
insignificant circumstance that is for
ever knocking the best-laid plans into
1 COcked-hat.'
AS how ~
well, for instance, about year ago
was doing good deal iii Lake Shore,
and counted on making big cleanup.
| discove ed, however, that there was
some hidden influence in the market
that was always against me. 1t didn't
. exactly defeat my plans, but it lessened
the profits. soon saw tIat there was
some operator who was kept well in
| formed rs 10 my movements in time to
make me pay for his knowledge"
did the broker give you away" said
several.
= Not at all. never gave an order in
advance; aud, besides, used, as now,
/ hall dozen brokers, and also gave
cross and dummy orders in plenty.
: One day. while was standing at the
window OF my uptown place. cOgltatlng
over this state OF affairs, an elegant pri-
vate coupe drove past, and stopped just
around the corner from my door. 1t
contained richly-dressed lady and
ragged looking girl. The latter got out,
rang my basement bell, and was adj
mitted. | sent for my man-servant and
inquired who the girl was.
"'She comes for the wash, SIR was
the answer.
":Dnes she generally come in Il
coupe" ! inquired.
"'Why, NO, sir, said my man, very
much surprised; her mother, the
washer woman, is very poor.
Just then my own carriage drove
round tor ne, and as passed the other,
| could see tue lady sorting the soilcd
clothes in the coupe on her lap. This
excited my curiosity,so | rad my driver
follow along behind. Pretty soon the
coupe stopped, and the dirty little girl
got out with the bundle, and went into
q OiON A-SlbIlt LlOul OAl ihShtl -hA'i'Ai
street. The coupe then kept straight on
down TO Wall street and stopped in
front OF brokers' Office, where the lady
alighted, with my entire lot of soiled
shirtcutls in her hand"
"iOur shirtCufs?" cried out the en-
tire company.
Exactly; shirtcufs. saw through
it all in moment You see, | amor
rather was-a great hand, while at din.
ner, or at the theater in the evening, to
think over my plans for the next day,
and 10 make memoranda on my cuffs to
consult before starting down town in
the morning. My washer-wOman had
found this ont, and had been quietly
'coppering' my game for upward ot
year.
We'll, by Joye" said Sam Ward,
pausing for q single instant in the sacred
mystery OF salad dressing.
ITS the cold fact" continued keene;
"in less than eight months she had
cleaned up over $4,000, and was wash
ing my clothes in $4,000 house. She
had plenty OF diamonds and horses, TN.
Ill YOU couldn't rest"
"GOu didn't make any more Gull
memOrandums, after that. We warrant"
SAID several.
"Wel, not many-just few" said
the great operator. holding his Burgun-
dy up to the light. 81 believe kept it
up month longer, at the end OF which
time | had raked in the washer-wOman's
bank account, and even had a mortgage
on the brown-stone house. 1t was
queer coincidence, wasn'ti,? But per-
haps, the information she found on the
cuffs after that wasn't as exact as it had
been, somehow, nor as reliable.
And the king OF the Street emptied
his glass with an Understandable wink
that made Beach, who was short on Rar-
lem, shiver like cat who had swallow
ed live mouse.