The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1881-06-29
A STORY.
The Way Jim Keene's washerwoman
Played H~im-Shirts, Cuns and soiIed
Linen In the Role of Pointers.

PLAYED ~Him-Shirts, Cuns aud SoiIed
Linen in the Role of Pointers.
THE fact is" said Jim Keene. the great
New York rival of Jay Gould, as he relaxed
his usual taciturnity under the genial iufiu-
ence of one of Sam Wards dInDersthe other
day; the fact is, that no matter how clever
and thorough a mans system of stock oper-
ating may be, there is always occurring some
little unforeseen and apparently Insignificant
circumstance that is forever knocking the
best laid plans into \ cooked hat"
"As how?'
well, for instance, about a year ago was
doing n good deal in Lake Shore, and count
ed on making a big cleanup. / discovered
however, that there was some hidden infiu-
enee in the market that was always against
me. 1t didn't exactly defeat my plans, but
il lessened the profits / soon saw that there
was some operator who was Kept informed
as to my movements in time to make me
pay for his knowledge"
Broker gave you away" said several.
Not at all. | never gave an order IN adj
vance, and, besides, | used as now half a
dozen brokers, and also gave cross and
dummy orders in plenty. One day, as /
was standing at the window of my uptown
place, cogitating over this state of affairs, an
elegant private coupe drove past and stopped
just around the corner from my door. II
contained a richly dressed lady and a ragged
lODhilE 6tIl- LII AdltcI EOt OuI, Tdilk IL
basement bell, and was admitted. / sent
for my man servant, and inquired who the
girl might be-"
~'She comes for the wash, sir he said.
"'Does she generally come in a coupe?
1 inquired.
'sfWhy, no SIR said my man, very much
surprised; her mother. the washerwoman,
is very poOr.'
Just then my own carriage drove round
for me, and as it passed the other | could
see the lady eagerly sorting the soiled
clothes in the coupe of her lap. This ex-
cited my curiosity, so l had my driver fol-
low along behind. Pretty soon the coupe
stopped, and thedirty little girl got out with
the bundle and went into a brown stone
front on Twentv-ninth street. The couple
then kept straight or down to Wall street,
and stopped in front of a brokers' office,
where the lady alighted with my entire lot
of sOiled shirt cuffs in her hand.
''Shirt cuffsg' cried the entire
Exactly; shirt cuffs. 1 saw through it all
in a moment. You see, | amor rather was
"a great hand while at dinner, or at the
Thealer in the evening, to think over my
plans for the next day, and to make memo
randa on nv cuffs to consult before starting
down town in the morning. My washer
woman had found thiso out, and had been
been quietly 'coppering my game by means
of my cuffs for over a year."
"Well, by Iovet" said Sam Ward. pausing
for a single instant in the sacred mystery of
salad dressing.
ats the cold fact continued Keene.
'In less than eight months she had cleaned
up over $600,O00 and was washing my
clothes-at least the cuffs--in an $50, 900
house. She had diamonds and horses until
you couldn't rest"
"You didn't make any more cuff mems.
after that?'' laughed several.
well, not many-just a few" said the
great operator, holding his Burgundy up to
the light. IL believe | kept it up about a
month longer, at the end of which time L
had raked in the washerwoman's bank &C
count and even had a mortgage OF the
brown stone house. 1t was a queer coinci-
dence. wasn't it? But perhaps the informa-
ton she found on the cuffs after that wasn't
rs exact as it had been, somehow, nor as re-
liable"
And the "King of the Street. emptied his
glass with an indescribable wink that
made Beach, who was short on Harlem,
shiver like a cat who had just swallowed a
live mouse.