Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-08-31
HE VISITED NEW YORK.
THE OLD STORY WHICH coNTlN-
UES TO FAIL AS A WARNING.

tectsge Was Near to Nip the Game.
Deacon Hardshell sat bolt upright in
the corner of the family pew. his eyes
fixed on the preacher and his whole at
titude that of decorous attention. But
the droning tones of the parson made no
impression on him, for his thoughts were
far away. He was thinking of the dis
tant metropolis and the alluring joys
which are always so dear to the bucolic
heart. "Cracky," he said to himself,
''but them Workers is up to cute tricks!
| kalkerlate, however, I'm just es smart
es most on 'em, even if / don't take no
daily paper. They've got ter get uppretty
early in the morning to fool old Josiah
Hardshell. I'll start fur York termorrer,
n / reckon when | get back I'll show
these critters raound abaout here a trick
or two that'l surprise EN-"
HE KNEW II DEACON.
1t was late in the afternoon of the sec
ond day after these pious meditations
when the worthy deacon deposited his
gripsack on the counter of one of the
modest city hostelries frequented by his
kind, and asked the clerk if there were
any letters for Josiah Hardshell. There
was one letter-a brief scrawl-bidding
him to wait in the hotel barroom for his
correspondent, who would be on hand at
s o'clock, and address him as Queer"
At the hour appointed the deacon's lank
form was extended in an armchair in one
corner Of the barroom, while his eyes
anxiously scanned the face of each new
conner. He almost leaped from his seat
when a dapper looking young man with
a dyed mustache and glittering silk hat
bent over him and softly remarked:
"Well, Queer, how do you find things in
New York;
''Be gosh" gasped the deacon. How
in thunder did you know pe?'
The man with the high hat and dyed
nlustache suppressed a smile with some
difficulty. He might have answered that
he knew him because he was the only
man in the room whose hair was sug-
gestive of chicken feathers, whose boots
had been creased instead Of BACKED,
whose face betokened anxious expec-
fancy and whose whole appearance de-
noted familiarity with rustic methods of
life.
He did not say this, but he said what
pleased the deacon excessively, and raised
himself at once in the estimation of that
excellent ruralist. His reply was: "Oh,
I'm accustomed to recognizing people
right away. l knows shrewd man when
l see him. Let's take a drink"
Don't keer eff l dew, stranger" said
the deacon, as he rose from his seat and
accompanied his newly made friend to
the bar. II guess | be abaout es shrewd
es they make 'em daown aour way, n it's
gotter be a pretty smart Yorker es kin
take in old Josiah Hardshell. Young
man, gimme a leetle mite o rum n
gum"
CHARLEY, ALSO, WAS KNOWN.
"And now to business" said the dap
per gentleman, as the two seated them
selves by a small table in a corner of the
bar room.
I'm with ye," responded the deacon
eagerly, IN / kin tell We, young man,
yen find me q pretty hard nut to crack
every time"
That's the only sort of men we deal
with" responded the other impressively,
land can assure you, sir, we make it a
point to find out just how shrewd a man
is before we put ourselves in his hands.
Now this stuff that we're going I o sell
you will go down your way exactly as
well as the real thing. You can't tell
the difference, and nobody else can for
that matter. We can sell you $4,000 of
our sort of goods for $500 of yours, and
if you keep your mouth shut as tight as
we keep ours nobody ii be the wiser.
You can use it in your neighborhood for
paying your grocer and lifting the mort
gage off the farm, and the money goes
away off and nobody's hurt ut all. Then
when it's all gone you can send to US for
more"
The deacon's eyes glistened with de-
light. He thought of the ''critters" in
his neighborhood whom he could swim
die, of the mortgage which he could
wipe off and the immense profit he could
make out of the transaction.
st looks ter me like a kinder good
scheme" he observed cautiously; shut
be- all them bills of yourn es good es that
there dollar We sent me?'
"Just look here!' retorted the other.
producing a roll of crisp, new green
backs; ''can you tell whether these are
queer Oh not? Step up to the bar and see
IL we can buy a couple Of drinks with
any one of themn-
"Tn have to take you in, i guess,
Charley" said a well dressed man who
had been sitting near by, apparently alb
sorbed in his paper. And l guess you'll
have TO come along, too, as a Witness"
he continued, addressing the deacon,
whose blood was freezing in his veins.
The dapper young man was bailed out
the next day, but the deacon is still Ian
gushing in the House of Detention. II
has just occurred to him that there are
certain Workers" who are as smart as
he is, and hat some of them may be
found in hotel barrooms, while others
are in the service Of the New York de-
tective orce.-New York Star.
Long and Quick Jumps.