The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-08-20
REGULATING THE CLOCK.

REGULATING THE CLOCK.
How . Co,nmsrcisl Missionary Was Sold
by y Party OF Rural Missourians.
'No. I'm not feeling very well, +" said
. drummer in the smoking car. 1.-THE
fact is. I've been losing too much SLEEP
of late. What doing? Scheming. Yes,
I'll tell you what I'm scheming on.
You know how it is in the country
towns, boys, where the fellows who Loaf
around the hotels are always trying ia
play jokes and sells on travelling men.
As a rule the travellers more than keep
even with the boys. but of course they
are caught up once in awhile. l was
never badly taken in but once. That
was last week, out in Northern Mis-
souri,. Ipride myself on being a pretty
good pedestr an, and when the fellows
in the hotel Office got to talking about
fast walking. of course was inmyele.
ment. l made my brag as to what
had done and could do in the walking
line. and was surprised to hear one OF
the fellows stand up and make fun OF
me and insinuate that 1 was living.
Why says this fellow, you can't walk
a mile in ten minutes, and I'll bet YOU
$50 you can't Now. 1 have often
walked a mile in nine minutes, and as
this challenge looked like picnic l &C
cepted it, pulled out my money and
said was ready to perform the feat.
The other fellow produced his money,
too. greatly to my surprise, and then.
to avoid the possibility of catches or
misunderstanding insisted upon hav-
ing a written memorandum of our
agreement. This he accepted to, and
We agreed to post the money with the
landlord, that the time was to
be taken by the regulator clock
which stood in the hotel office,
that no watch time taken by other
parties was to influence the referees de-
cision, and that was to walk to a GER
tain corner, which the county atlas
showed to be just half mile away, and
return. The wagerer was to accom-
pany me with his horse, and for extra
precaution l stipulated that if there
should be any unusual obstruction in the
road, or any one should interfere with
me. the bet was to be off, also tested
the clock for few minutes by the Sec
Ond-hand of my watch, and found that
it was all right, and engaged friend of
mine, another commercial traveller. to
see that the clock was not tempered
with. In fact, suspected that they had
some scheme for beating me. and de-
termined that would not let them do
it. After all the arrangements were
made and the memorandum signed,
started on my walk. The way was clear
and l made good time. Every thing
seemed all right. According to my
watch ! made the first half mile in a
little more than four minutes, giving me
a whole minute to spare. Imagine my
surprise on entering the hotel to have
my friend tell me that I had lost and
inquire what the matter was. looked
at the clock, and. sure enough, l had
been twelve minutes on the trip. /
asked him if anybody had tempered with
he clock, and he said: No. nobody has
been near it. Again l compared it for
\ few minutes with my watch, and it
was running right to the very fraction
If a second. This was a puzzler. The
money was paid over, and the town fell
ows had . jubilee with it. But l was
ust as certain as could be that they had
me in some manner. and ! de-
ermi ned to find out how. They had
done their work very slceklv. that must
DC admitted, but this only excited my
curiosity the more.
That night. when everybody was
asleep, l slipped downstairs and
climbed up and made an examination
If the regulator" clock on which had
ost my money, and toward which my
had been directed. ] had no
dca what the trouble was, and went
,bOut the Sc arch in a blind sort of way.
knew nothing about clocks, and the
'hances were that would be unable to
discover the nature of the little
rick that had been played on me.
fumbled and fooled with the clock
or ten or fifteen minutes, and was
ust about to give up the search in
Despair when luck came my way. As
was climbing down from the chair on
which stood noticed piece of white
bread hanging on the wall. This struck
ne as being peculiar, and on following
up saw that it entered the clock.
tracing the other end, l found it in the
lerk's desk twelve or fifteen feet away.
hen the whole scheme was obvious.
he clerk and the local jewelcr-hc was
he man had bet with-had fixed up
scheme to beat me or any other such
hey could catch on the time mile was
walked in. the correct running of !
'et watch. or any thing of that na-
nre. The jeweler had fixed things so
hat pulling at that thread increased
he speed of the clock about onc-fourth.
nd this was the manner in which they |.
ad beaten me in my race against time. |
in about sixty days I'll be back in i
hat town, and that accounts for my
osing so much sleep. I'm sitting up !;
ate nights trying to hatch up a scheme !
0 get even with them. Chicago Her.
ii.
A GRAND MACHINE.