Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-04-20
WITH A DOOR KEEPER.
He Can SEQ Forty Things at n
Glance, and Knows q boy with
q GifC keturn Check.

a GifC keturn Check.
The curtains had just gone down or
the first act Of a play in an East side thea
tire, and men and boys crowded past The
| d~oorkeeper on their way to fresh air and
perhaps something spirituous. At least
J 200 went out, some from the gallery and
some from the orchestra. The upstairs
patrons received yellow checks, and
| those from down stairs blue ones. Hardly
had the last man squeezed by when the
return tide set in. Then the fun began,
| At least one in five had thl st his check
into a pocket already filed with letters,
keys, tobacco OF other miscellany, or all
together, and had forgotten which
pocket, and had forgotten until
seized by the shoulder that he had
a check at all. If the blue or yellow card
was not forthcoming at once, a vigorous
but harmless shove sent HIM out Of the
plore his clothes. Others passed in a yell
low check promptly and started into the
orchestra, only to be hauled back with
an imperative order to go up stairs, and
If any demonstrated that they held blue
ChSNhs, lAClC was u iOOh III tuC uoOI hCcR-
err eye that brought the argument to a
speedy end, and the gallery patron vent
to his proper place. In the thickest Of
the crush a young man, after presenting
his check, was pushed out OF the line
with an angry exclamation on the part of
the doorkeeper.
What 8 mat for2" growled the party.
Last nights check, and you knew it,
rpfnrna1 thu lnnrkaanar uhh OF thx
checks in front of him with both hands,
and, holding back the crowd for a sec
ond, he held up a card with a figure {
printed on il. 1t was the evening of the
fourth performance, and the check
holder, with one ~discontentcd scowl. put
his hands in his pockets and walked out.
impatient and pushing, other patrons
crowded along, and as the checks were
delivered it was plain that The d~oorkeepel
inspected each one, though it seemed al
though forty pairs OF eyes would be re
CURED TO do il and make no mistakes
Two boys with gallery checks were sud
denly showed by him from the crowd with
such force that they went spinning across
the lobby and stumbled against the outer
door. They waited suilenly until all the
patrons had gone in, and then approached
the doorkeeper again with their checks
still in their hands. He seized the checks
a d would not let them in.
"Didn't | tell yees to get out?' he said
Yes" answered one Of the boys
but what's dc matter wild our hayin.
checks
You got EN- from a man on the side
walk; that s what s the matter"
No, we didn't; we got our seats an
paid for EN- protested the boy.
Lets See your seat checks then"
"We left 'em inside"
"What was the row and NUMBER"
The boy hung his head and glanced
dispairingly at his companion.
II dunno" he replied after a moment:
II forgot 10 look"
"Nowyou get out Of here" exclaimed
the doorkeeper, jumping at them, and
don't you show up at this theater for a
month"
The boys made a hasty exit, and the
d~oolkeeper said TO a bystander:
The tricks boys and men resort TO to
! get a free show are endless. / didn't
need TO ask those two for their seat cou-
pons 10 know hat the return checks were
given TO them; when | touched their
hands as they came in | noticed that they
were cold. Now, a boy that's been in,
side and gone out for only a minute or
two has warm hands when he returns.
See? j have the right 10 fire them out in
spite Of the checks, for every check il
plainly marked, Not transferable"