St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-02-23
EATING WITHOUT PAYING.
Various Devices Adopted by swim
ding Lovers of Good Living.
PeculiarIties of the Deadbeats Mar
rated by a Restaurant Keeper.


ing at the desk. engaged in earnest CONVEX
sation with the proprietor. The latters
face wore troubled expression, while
on the formers was one of blank amaze
ment.
Il can't for the life of me imagine how it
happened" the stranger was saying. Il
put $50 into my pocket just before leaving
the Ottice-or, at least l thought l did; but
it is gone now. Whether il worked out or
whether some one has stolen it, [ can't say.
but it is gone. | will give you my address,
and send the money to you by a messenger
boy"
Taking pencil from his pocket he wrote
a name and address on the back of the
check, and apOlOgiZng for his mistake with
few more words of wOnderment at the
mysterious disappearance OF his SO, he
departed.
There it goes again." exclaimed the
proprietor in tone of disgust after the
stranger had left.
What is the trouble nOw?" asked the
reporter.
why the trouble is that I'm out just the
amount of the check, S5.15.'
But ne said ne would send it To Won
''Oh, yes; he'll send it. So will the
world come To and end; but the chances are
that neither OF Us will live long enough
10 see it, He may be all right,
but il is ninety-nine chances in 4
hundred that he isn't. and it is
just that OIie chance that enables him and
others like him 10 work that game 1t was
the possibility that he might be telling the
truth that kept me from handing him over
TO policeman. l declare sometimes after
/ an occurrence of this kind that | viii sell
out or close my restaurant. There would
be a taiT prOht i'm the business if il We're not
for the bad debts. You have no idea how
common this sort of thing is. The worst
kind of
RESTAURANT BEATS
are well-dresSed, acknowledgements
men and good takers. They always order
the best. and frequently wash their dinners
down with a bottle of good wine. This
fellow just drank a bottle of PouteT canet.
Oh. they know how to order a good meal
and how to eat it, too. l only wish they
knew how to pay for it as well.
Il was taken in nicely a short time ago,
and the gOOd-natuTed proprietor smiled in
spite of himself at the remembrance of his
own credulity. "A well-dreSSed. cookbook
ing man of about 80 years Of age came i'm.
took a seat over there by the window, and
when the waiter handed him the bill of fare
he ordered a whisky cocktail. When that
was served he ordered an elaborate dinner
soup, fish and game. Il salad. dessert. and
/ finished with coffee and brandy and a Re.na
/ Victoria cigar. lie drank the pint of claret
and two pints of champagne, the best | had
i'm the house. Nothing was too good for
him. While he was eating he began talk
ing TO me. He said it was over two years
since he had been in my place, and men
toned some of the boys he used to come i'm
with, all of them customers of mine, and
good ones, too. Then he toid me that he
had just got back to the city after two years
spent in Montana. where he had a biz cat
tie ranch, and he began to tell me about the
life out there; how they raised the cattle.
and how they drove them from one state or
territory TO another to sell. He spoke of
the cowboys and the Indians. and seemed
To have that intense hatred for the latter
which is 50 common among men who have
lived on the plains. | got Interested and
soon went over to his table. lie asked me
TO sit down and ordered second pint of
champagne, which / helped him drink.
lie told me of the immense fortunes that
were being made in the West by cattle men.
and incidentally mentioned the thouS; II $
of acres of land that he owned there. and
the large number of cattle that he sold ey-
cry year. lie had come on, he said 70 see
his folks, who lived here in the city, and
for a good time.
I'VE sat and drank champagne and
smoked twenty-live-cent cigars while he
/ talked. lie inquired after u number of
gentlemen that | knew, and told one or
two stories of former larks in which he
and they had participated. Well. we had
very pleasant time, OF at least | thought
50 then, and when at last he
CALLED FOR \ CHECK,
remarking at the same time that he was due
at the Windsor hotel, | was actually sorry
TO have him 20. He wanted. he said, to
get few of his old friends together some
night that week, and could | get them up
little supper if he gave me a few hours no.
tice, as fine q one Is | knew how? OF
| course | could, l assured him. and no one
would do it any better.
well, the check for S1O.3j was brought
To him. lie looked at it to see the amount.
and then put his hand into his lower vest
pocket on the right side, where gentlemen
generally carry their bills Then he said:
i thought / had some small bills, but /
Will be obliged 10 give you a large one
Then he put his hand around to his hip
pocket. and in a moment he uttered an eX-
clamatiOn of surprise and a look of blank
amaZement came over his lace. / thought
he really turned pale, and perhaps he did.
i have been robbed. he said. and then he
told how he had got a check caShed that
morning of IS. 900. and had left s.. 600 on
deposit at the bank and had taken -. 600
i'm $500 bills. These he had placed i'm a
mall pOcketbOOk which he carried i'm his
pocket. and now il was gone. Could he
have dropped the pocketbook i'm the bank.
could it have worked out of his pocket, or
had it been stolen? These and dozen
9TH 4 an
Sible. Then he said he must go TO the
police station and report the loss, and see
, if anything could he done about its re-
cOvery. lie told the waiter to get car
rage. First, he said, he must go to his
hotel to get some money, and asked me to
ride with him and he would give me the
amount of the check.
Il consented. not on account OF the
check-fOr 1 had forgotten that in his
greater lOSS-but because I felt interested
in him and thought perhaps l could be of
some service. The carriage came and we
got in. he telling the waiter who had served
him that he would send back a dollar for
him by me. We drove to a well-known
hotel. where he had said he was stopping,
and, jumping out, he said he would be back
in a minute; and
SAT IN THE CARRIAGE
anu waited. IL must nave been hdlI an
hour before the possibility of my having
been imposed upon occurred to me; but
after waiting that length of time, and see
ing nothing more OF my friend, l got out Of
the carriage, went to the hotel and mqired
at the Office for him. There was no one
of that name stopping there, the clerk told
me. Then l knew that l was sold, but
/ still it was hard TO believe it,"
..Dead beats are our greatest trouble. y