The bee., 1884-03-08
WHY 1 JOINED THE DETECTIVES.
THE RESULT OF TOO MUCH GARRULITY
WITH STRANGER.
"Can I sit with you ?"
Certainly, sir"
Mice weather ?"
1Snlendid indeed -

"Crops growing finely?"
"Yes-couldn't do better"
l was sitting in car on Wisconsin rail-
way, one day, years ago, when a good look
ing, pleasant spoken man came along stop
ped at my seat, and the above conversation
took place, the latter part of it after had
given him part of my seat.
Now, l am regarded as social man.
like joke; more so then than now. On
entering railroad car l always looked
about for talkative man, and then l got
as close to him as possible and drained him
dry, if the journey was long enough.
And / want to state one thing more.
Left an orphan before 1 could realize the
sad event which made me one, got kicked
here and cuffed there, and grew up between
folks, as they say. / ought to have had, at
the time of which 1 write, pretty thor
ough knowledge of human nature, and
have been able to read evil in mans face
if he intended me evil. did not pride
myself on being over sharp, but the knock
ing around among strangers ought to have
given any one good experience.
Well, the stranger and l fell into an
easy train of conversation as we rode to-
gether, and in ten minutes began to enjoy
his company. He was well made fellow,
finely dressed, and wore fine watch and a
sinon-pure diamond ring. never saw a
man who could talk SO easily and so pleas
antly. 1t seemed that he had but to open
had travelled in the South; so had he.
had heard the roar of the Pacific; he
knew all about it. had been up in a
balloon, down in mine, been blown up,
smashed up, and repaired again and again
my new friend had experienced all these
things, and was wishing for something of a
more startling nature. We agreed on pole
tics, neither had any religion, and had
never met such a railroad companion
Did you ever meet man, who, though a
stranger to you ten minutes before, could
wrest from you your secrets which you
had sworn to yourself not to reveal? Well,
he was such man. 1t was not long before
he commenced asking me questions. He
did not seem to quiz or draw me out, but
he asked me questions in such sly, round
about way, that before knew it l was Civ
ing him my history.
was at that time on the point of being
admitted to the bar of Wisconsin as stu
dent of Law & Law, of Briefyille. The
firm were old lawyers with lucrative. prac
tice, and it had been talked over that with
in q month 1 was to ~ Go" of the firm.
A year before, "a :1er named Preston,
down about four miles from Grafton died,
and his matters had been put into the
hands Of Law & Law for settlement Pres
ton had died rich. He had money in bank,
railroad stock and mortgages, etc, and
everything was settled up to the satisfac-
%inp af tho ralint opd fafharlaec
About year before his death, being
pinched l0r money and not wishing to sell
anything at a sacrifice, Preston had given
smortgage on his farm for 5000. While
Gse paper read "for one year from date"
there was verbal agreement that it should
be lifted any day that Preston desired. A
month afterwards, having the funds to
clear off the paper, the "old money bags"
holding it refused to discharge, wishing to
secure his interest for year.
! was on my way to learn the date of
expiration. A fire among my office papers
had destroyed the memoranda, and must
20 down and get the date from old Grip,
who lived south of Grafton about five miles
The stranger pumped all this out of me in
about ten minutes, and yet never once
suspected he was receiving any information.
II am not positive,"I added, shut 1 am
pretty sure the time Is the 18th, which
would be Tuesday next"
"And then your folks will send down the
money and discharge the mortgage, of
course" he queried.
SOh, yes, shall most likely bring it
down." replied, and it tnever occurred to
me how imprudent was.
He turned the conversation into other
channels, and did not once attempt to
pump me further. We got to Grafton at
1850, and, to my great surprise, he an
nounced that he was to stop in town on
business for few days. l had not asked
his avocation, while he knew everything
about nae.
We went to the hotel, had dinner, and
then secured d livery team and drove out,
getting through the whole business 30 that
I was back to take the 3:20 express east
MY friend was on the porch of the hotel as
drove up, carrying the same honest digni-
fed Iface.
"Well, did you find out?" he inquired,
in his pleasant way.
ayes it was on the 18th, as expected" 1
replied.
We had lunch together, and when we
shook hands and parted l had no more idea
of ever meeting him again than had OF
knowing you. In fact, he told me that he
should sail for Europe within week or
ten days and should not again return to
America At parting he gave me his card.
It was a modest piece of pasteboard, and