The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-01-28

almost as bad, sir. It's grand lar
ceny."
"Woof! But you don't mean It'll"
"Read this, sir"
And he handed me a telegram from a
station twenty miles north of Decatur,
which read;
ARREST and hold the ma who shared
the bed with me in room No. Al. He
stole all my money. HUNT"
/ tried to explain, but the constable
had a duty to perform, and he performed
it. He was to hold me until Hunt could
get back, and We sat together on the
veranda for the next two hours. Then a
man dropped off the south bound pas
senger train and rushed up to us with
the explanation:
"Ahi you ~scoundrel, but | was too
sharp for you!"
SIS your name Huntg'
eyes, SIR"
"Well, | want an explanation of this
matter. l was the last one up, and if
you were robbed I don't see how
"He's got my coat on his back right
herel' shouted Hunt.
So / had, but it fitted me to a T, was
of the same cloth and cut, and | had had
no occasion to inspect the pockets. In
the breast pocket was a wallet with $500
in it, and on Hunts back was my own
coat. He was to blame for the change,
having got up first and taken my coat.
He did not discover the mistake until he
went to pay his fare on the train.
r. 49, 1.xrs, . LT--4..I... A-.- ----L
to a livery stable to get a horse for a
ride into the country. After the rig was
ready it looked so much like a thunder
shower that / decided not to take it out.
A stranger came in just as / was going
out, and later on ] saw him drive by the
hotel with the horse. Three days later
and 100 miles away a sheriff came up to
my room at the hotel and said:
"Wel, you'll have to go with me-"
Which wayY'
"The jail way"
"For WHAT"
Stealing a horse and buggy at Blank
town" .
ssRnt Z never did,
"Oh, come now, be reasonable. It's a
dead sure thing on you, and if you'll tell
me where the rig is I'll remember the
favor"
'tMy friend, did you ever hear of Davy
Crockett" I asked.
'sHeaps of times"
HE had a motto, you know"
"Yes, and I've followed it. Here's
your description t a dot, and I'm going
right ahead. Where did you leave the
rig?'.
I warned him that he was making =
mistake, but he rolled his tongue in his
cheek and said he would take the
chances. | therefore accompanied the
sheriff to the county Jail, where ! found
two white men and four negroes locked
up for various offenses. Their greeting
was as hearty and cordial Is I could de-
sire, and the sheriff had no sooner de-
parted than I was patted OF the back and
invited to tell my story. l told it and
was laughed at for trying to stuff old
veterans with Any such chaff. | slept
on a pine bench in one of the cells, and
was, rather glad when morning came.
l knew the sheriff had telegraphed for
the livery man to come on and identify
me, and I put in about four hours prac-
ticing on the way I meant to crush him
when he appeared. At 10 o'clock, when
he appeared, l was trying to understand
a game of cards called euchre or echo,
or something like that. Ny partner was
a negro, in for cutting somebody with a
razor, and 7 remember he was saying
that he had q lone hand and had mop
ped the floor with the vicious opposition.
1t might have been a lone hand, or a
solitary hand, or full hand-I can't say.
/ remember, however, that some of the
cards had chromos on them, while others
were covered with spots.
The livery man came in with q look of
fond expectancy in each eye, but the
moment he saw me his jaw fell and he
gasped:
"Why, you haven't got him here for
stealing my rigY'
"Why, of course. Isn't he the chap"
sWell, you are an idiot and no mis-
take! You can get ready to sweat for
this!''
But it turned out that the livery man
had given my description in place of the
other mans, having mixed the two of
us up. The sheriff offered me $500 at
the very first pop to give him a receipt
for damages, and I guess he would have
come up to So, 900 if / had hung out. I
think the wine and cigars cost him about
SIS. and I don't believe his hair has got
back to its old position yet.
And it also happened that ! once went
into a jewelers., in Nashville, to get a
kernel of corn, peanut shuck, or some
other trifie, picked out of the works of
my watch. AS I went out another man
came in, and it seemed that this chap
grabbed five rings from a tray and broke
for the woods. The jeweler had mefresh
in his mind, and when he described the
thief he even told of an abrasion OF my
face. This was at 2 o'clock p. m. As !
came out of the supper 0 at the Max
well house that evening a policeman took
my arm from either side, and n of them
kindly whispered:
Snow, then, come quietly, or it Will be
the worse for you