Morning journal and courier., 1891-07-13


Tells How He Did 1t Untntention-
ally.
From the Buffalo Express
Talking of raising church debts" the
man who had been everywhere said, 81
cleared up debt for church in Deadwood
once in spite of myself"
"Yes?"
"It happened this way: had been play
ing poker the night before in great luck.
Came out cool $4,000 winner. Then
kind of remorse came over me, and made
up my mind it will be a good time to re-
form. I resolved to quit poker and be re-
spectacle, and thought good way to be-
gin would be by going to church. So 1
fixed myself up and walked into the biggest
church in the place. My intentions were
really good, but I hadn't slept any that
night;
went to sleep. After the sermon the par
son explained that the church was little
in debt and he thought this would be
good time to pay off. woke up just in
time to hear him say: we must raise five
thousand dollars
"Well, you see, I was half asleep,
thought I was still playing poker, an
hearin' that put me on my nerve The
deacon with the plate was right beside me
in the aisle. pulled out my roll and
yelled out: I'LL see that five thousand
dollars and go five thousand dollars bet
ter With that put my whole ten thou
sand dollars on the plate.
"They were used to such talk out there.
They thought l was a gambler who had
got religion, and before was well enough
| awake to know where was the whole con-
gregation was singing, and the minister
was praying for me. l wasn't going to
back water then, so 1 let the money go.
| Got complimentary notice in the Dead
wood papers, posed as a philanthropist
and all that Good joke on me, wasn't
| it?"
"First rate, and did you really quit gam
blings"
Eyes, sir, quit for good and ALL" he
said And then he added: "By the way
have you got any tips on to-day's races'"
Won MoItke,s Foresight illustrated.
| From the st. Louis Globe Democrat
Paul Wolff, of Washington, D. c., says:
1 was lieutenant of engineers under Won
Moltke. Let me give you q chapter from
my personal experience to show how thor
oughly the German war department pre-
pared for emergencies. One day a mes
sage came to me at the barracks bidding
me report in civilian dress at the railroad
station and receive orders. 1 went to the
station. A man approached me and ad-
dressed me as Meyer. l said, "My name
is Wolff" ''No," said he, "your name is
Meyer. Here is your bag of samples.
You are selling whisky. L am selling
wine. We will go to such and such city
and call on Mr.. So and So and Mr.. So and
So and try to sell them some goods. We
went, and made an effort to sell whisky
by the samples, but didn't sell any, of
course. Then we proceeded to another
city and tried to sell goods there. After
we had visited several merchants and had
returned to the hotel my companion said
to me: "We will take a walk and go
across the bridge. We will not return TO-
gether. On your way back you will pace
the bridge, and going and coming you will
keep your eyes open to observe all of the
points you can about the bridge" Then
for the first time began to have a suspi-
cion of what was really wanted. / strolled
down the bridge and leaned over the edge,
looking at some workmen who were max
ing holes in the abutments. I observed
the plan of construction from various
|
After awhile 1 started back, and on my
way paced the bridge, arch by arch. In
the engineer corps we are trained to pace
distances with great exactness. 1 can
walk block now and tell the length of il
within six inches. 1 returned to my hotel
without having made note, but with my
head full of the plan of construction. My
companion joined me. "Now," said he,
"you will return to the place from which
we started, and you will make as complete
description of that bridge as you can,
and turn it in" 1 carried out the order
and heard no more of the expedition. A
considerable time after that war came, and
the German army marched to the frontier.
AS the advance drew near, that bridge ]
had reported upon was blown up and fell
in mass of ruins. The army halted.
A train of freight cars came forward, and
from those cars were taken the prepared
material with which new bridge was put
together in a few hours, and the army
marched over the river and into the enc
my's country. Every timber and every
piece of metal was ready for immediate
use. A new bridge had been constructed
throughout for that particular crossing,
| based upon nv report