St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-07-28
WHO LOST THE TEN DOLLARS.
A Financial G nundrum That
Drove a Man to His Grave.

Drove Man TO HIS Grave.
Pittsburg Times.
You are q financier. am not. but |
had friend who died of financial
conundrum, and although it is too late
to do him any good, would like to
know tn e answer.
He was a good fellow, poor fellow,
but he was unlucky. Besides, he was a
good deal of fool. He invested all his
own money and some more in GlOriad
mining stock. He saw a great deal
about it in a newspaper of great former
morality and much previous virtue. He
did not stop to note that the stock was
95 per cent or more below par, nor in
Quire if anybody controlling the finan-
cial columns of that paper had been pre-
scented with block of Gloriad stock.
He didn't DO anything but go
and blow In his savings in
Gloriad. The stock took tumble
before he did, and at the roundup he
found himself with large block of
Gloriad which nobody wanted, and no
money. His wife died, and his son, who
of luxury, went to the bad. Believing
still that even a mining stock which
could get quoted and noted every day
in the paper that used to be honest
when his grandfather read it must have
some value, and having nothing much
to live for anyhow, he came out here to
Texas to investi ate the condition of
the Gloriad enterprise.
His discoveries did not bring him
either consolation or cash. He found
that the nearer he got to the supposed
mine of wealth the smaller was the de-
mand for the stock emitting him to a
share in its munificent profits. Having
embarked in the investigation, he went
on at it. The further he went tine worse
he Jared. When he struck Ell Paso he
had just one round, white silver dollar
left to his name,- and he went and
bought drink with it.
The barkeeper took his American dol
lar and handed him Mexican dollar in
change. A Mexican dollar at that ii me
was worth only IS cents in United States
money. There were rumOrs of trouble.
of Indian raids, and the pursuit of the
robbers from one country into the other.
A Mexican dollar was only worth IS
cents in Texas, and the United States
dollar was worth but S5 cents in Mexico.
1t was early in the morning. He had
nothing to do with the rest of the day or
with the rest of his life, for that matter.
The Mexican eagle on his last remain
ing coin suggested something to his
desperate fancy. and he wandered
across to Ell Paso Del Norte, On the Mex
lean side. He bought drink of meScal
there for Is cents, laid down his Mexi-
can dollar and received an American
dollar in change, equivalent to IS cents
in Mexican money. He looked at the
coin and an idea struck him. 1t appealed
to his speculative humor.
He retraced his steps to the Ameri-
Can side, walked into saloon, called
for a drink of whisky, paid for it with
his solitary American dollar, which he
had received in change on the other
change. This he promptly carried over
the line. bought drink of mescal and
got United States dollar in change.
Then he got to thinking. Here was the
situation. He had precisely the same
capital he started with an hour before,
nd had distributed 60 cents worth of
liquor through his system in the way of
dividends. The whisky and mescal
were gone. They were no further
use to anybody. The visible supply
of exhilarating beverage had been alb
solutely diminished to that extent. He
had bought it at the market price. He
had paid for it in cash. He had all his
original capital still in his pocket. True,
he had contributed the labor of walking
back and forth from the Mexican to the
Texan side, and vice versa; but that, as
he shrewdly decided, was nOn-product-
i've labor, as far as the interests OF the
public were concerned. 1t earned moth
ing, for it added nothing to the supply
of anything. He might have walked
no on6 forth until tho river ran dry
without anybody being the better off.
Here was chance to get even with
the section of country which had in
directly been the cause of his bank
ruptcy. He walked back to the Texas
side, bought another drink, gat Next
can dollar in change, went back to the
Mexican town, got another drink and
United States dollar in change. He
kept it up all day. He picked up a
stick and cut notch in it for every
drink, as the old Indian fighters used to
keep score of the scalps they took. He
kept it up pretty steadily all that day
until closing-up time, and set at it again
the next day as soon as he could see.
He waxed enthusiastic over his specula-
ton, giving war-whOop at every notch
in the stick.
But at length he got wondering who
WAS lOSlllS dill GIllS IuOliCys AppoiOit1lJ
not the barkeepers. They were getting
the market rate for their liquor. Surely
not he, for he was holding his own. The
problem bothered him. He was natu-
rally a curious man. The more he
thought of it the more he drank, the
more his head swan around with per-
plexity, and the more the subject in
question became complicated with ex-
traordinary things which reminded
him of the menagerie he had
gone to see when he was boy. At
length, when he had consumed s5.05
worth of Texas whisky, and IS worth of
Mexican mescal. he died in front of the
saloon where he got the first drink, and
with silver dollar in United States
coin in his pocket-died of wondering
who had lost the Sl0.05 worth of two
kinds of liquor which he had consumed.
although the local coroner said it was
delirium tremenS.
But neither the coroner nor the jury
ex planned who lost the S10.05, and that's