The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-03-27
A TRIFLE TOO STEEP.
How q Leadville Job Printer Para
lyZed q Sport.

IyZeu q Sport.
From The Denver Morning News
~ on think job printing Is high In
the west, do you?" said former
Leadville publisher yesterday to Gus
toner who was kicking at the price of
a piece of work which would have
been considered cheap in New York.
well, you'd ought to have been in
Leadville in the early days, when
there were 10000 people there, all ex-
pectlng to become mlllionaireS In few
days, and throwing away money with
recBlessneSs that looked as IL they
despised it on account of having been
earned by honest work. Why, I re-
member one evening after / had pot
10 be an old settler, having been there
July three weeks and running a lob
office for that length of time. Ali
that was the time to make glad the
heart of the job printer. We were
running little office but the profits
were immense. We took in between
S5OO and $500 day, and there seemed
10 be no end to prosperity. / remem-
Der one evening my partner and
L had got through our
days work and were preparing to
leave the office. We were met in the
hall by tlaShily dressed person, whose
appearance at once stamped him as a
sporting man. He inquired If the
boss was in. My partner spoke up and
replied that he was. well, just step
this way moment, pleaseY said the
man. oh, no; not to-day said Joe,
the thought suddedly
FLASHING THROUGH HIS MIND
hat daily we were publishing had
given some offense, as, indeed, 1t was
only too likely to have done. We're
10 h in the business and have no OBJ
cilon to hearing your statement en-
MAST 1t transpired, however. that
h vi>itor was not In search of
Il her blood or retraction, but
sim,:!y wanted to have piece of job
"oik doue of Il trihing nature. We
. I ii him That he was too late, that
= We we're going home, and ne would
have TO come around in the morning
: If he wanted the work done. But I
| can't watt he said; i am going to
} run a table at Kemp's tonight, and 1
have to have them cards tonight no
matter what it COSTS" We finally
of the work wanted. 1t was a very
simple piece of work, requiring only
the placing of some numbers on q
|
they could be used in gambling l
never could imagine. Well, we
I TOOK OFF OUR COATS
/ and went to work at 1t. got out the
a figures and my partner ran a planer
+ over the cards, which were then left a
: few minutes to dry, during which we
q proceeded to make out the bill. This
o wasn't such an easy thing as you
might imagine, for there was no ade-
quate basis to work on. The whole
: cost of the cards was only cents
: while the value of our work at a most
r liberal estimate could not be placed
\ above 40 cents. OF course, that
wouldn't do, and so we had to fall
back on our imaginations. Lets put
e it at S10," said Joe. oh, pshaw, don't
insult the man., said / make IL $780,
and Joe jotted down $25 in the re-
a ceipted bill which he prepared. The
, cards were to be delivered at
: Kemp's and we dropped in their on
our way down. The place was crowd
ed with as miscellaneous looking lot
of men as mining excitement ever
brought together. We found great
+ difficulty in forcing our way through
the rooms, but finally came across our
customer seated at table and prepar.
ed to begin work, seemingly in some
. danger fromanIimpatient crowd of men
a over anxious to be relieved Of Their
n money.
, / HANDED HIM THE BILL.
!. He gaZed at moment, and then look.
!, ing up asked: "If pay you this, will
9 you deliver the goods ?' Oh, certainly
replied, laying down the little bunch
of cards, less in thickness than sheet
Y of pasteboard. He laid down two
e tens and five in payment for the
h work. Then closing one eye, assum
ing look of judicial severity, and
+ drawing out his words deliberately
he said, while he marked off the points
v with his fingers on the edge Of the
table. 81 know that l am a gambler
and a thief; that steal my money;
that If you don't get it out Of mel
will lose it to some other dishonest
gambler, and that we are fair game
for everybody, but don't you think
that this is just leetle too high :"