Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1891-07-16

he was trying case IN which q witness
swore that he could not fix the exact
time of particular event because he
had left his watch at home accidentally.
The counsel was rather skeptical about
this. whereupon the judge said: There
is nothing unusual in that Why, only
this morning ! left my watch on the
dressing table and did not recollect it
till, before entering the court, wanted
to find out the time" When the Judge
got home he found that messenger had
visited the house. mentioned the judges
forgetfulness, described where the watch
was and asked for it to take to the own
er. Then the judge remembered what
he had said in open court.
THE sNUFFBox TRICK.
The sans chagrin, or ''griefess one"
goes into shop and has brought out be-
fore him a quantity Of different articles.
He then feigns epilepsy, and with the
aid Of bit Of soap be foams at the
mouth He has for accomplices learned
Esculapius. who comes in, accompanied
by friend During the fit of epilepsy
the friend and the Esculapius are ran
sacking the till or otherwise earning
their livelihood
The coup de la tabatiere, or snuffbox
trick, is still occasionally resorted to.
but that ingenious race Of traders, the
French female shopkeepers, are exceed
ingly suspicious Of gentlemen who are
addicted to the practice of taking
pinch" in their presence One OF them
has recently been victimized in an ar
tistic style by swindler Of this sort. He
was accoutered in garments suitable to
the age and character of person devot-
ed to snuffing. and had all the appear
ance of having attained at least his six
tieth year He called for watches and
chains and spoke incidentally of his
granddaughter. for whom he purposed
on future occasion to buy wedding
present at the same shop. He then se-
lected one Of the watches and one Of the
chains-not a very costly one-put them
on and inspected himself in the looking
glass at the other end of the shop.
Returning to the counter he expressed
his satisfaction to the merchande, and
taking out his snuffbox further testified
to his feelings of qualification by indulg-
ing in a good pinch While the box was
in his hands it seemed polite to offer it
to the lady. who did not, however. hap
pen to be an admirer Of the brown dust.
She had hardly declined the offer when
the whole contents Of the box were
thrown in her eyes, and before she could
recover from the shock the would be sex
agenarian was careering along the street
at pace which would have done honor
to Paris gamin or street boy.
TRULY FRIEND IN NEED.
The following is true story which
happened to me and an artist friend of
mine. AT II o'clock p. m. we were
about leaving small house in one Of
the avenues radiating from the Arc-de-
Triomphe, where we had spent the even
ing Unfortunately. however. the con-
cierge Gordon was broken and he could
not find the key. It was impossible for
us to get out BY the door or for those Of
the tenants of the house who were
abroad to get in. The concierge begged
tenant on the ground floor to let us
get out by one of his windows and we
promised to go after locksmith
All the shops were shut, however, and
none Of the locksmiths in the quarter
would take the trouble to answer when
we rang the bell Under the circum-
stances the proper thing to do was to
bail a policeman, but never sergeant
de vile could we find. though we went
a long way down each of the.avenues in
turn Failing to find an officer we asked
where was the nearest police station.
The one in the Tornes quarter had been
shut up for a couple of hours, the one at
Batignolles the same, and at third we
were simply sent about our business.
1t was now o'clock in the morning,
and long line Of benighted tenants was
drawn up before the fast closed door,
We-their would be deliverers-wereb be-
ginning to lose courage when very sus-
picious looking individnal-there were
good many Of that sort about-stumbled
against us. My friend the artist. who
had all his wits about him, stopped the
man quietly, and taking off his hat said,
~ beg your pardon, sir, but you don't
happen to have a jimmy and q set of
skeleton keys in your pocket? Theman
looked at both of Us suspiciously for
moment and then whispered. SIS 1t TO
crack criby' The painter briefly ex-
planned the difficulty and the service re-
quired.
''All right" said the mysterious one,
"but clear off the crowd don't want
to give free lessons"
We returned to the house, announced
that a locksmith had been found, and
begged the benighted ones to give him
wide berth They let him pass, the lock
was picked in the twinkling OF an eye
and the night prowler was overwhelmed
with thanks. | wanted to give him
forty cents for his trouble, but drawing
himself up he with much dignity ex-
claimed. "No, sir. not among pals" -
New York Herald.
People who Soil Books.
Librarians are not the only ones who
complain of persons who habitually soil
books loaned to them by thumb stains
and marginal pencihng That habit is
the heaviest cross imposed on dealers in
rare and expensive books. It is a prac-
tice with such dealers to send such books
out for inspection when requested by
those to whom the dealer thinks there is
chance to make sale. Valuable books
often suffer from the practice. Samuel
]. Tilden, while good buyer of books,
was also great offender in this respect
He thought nothing Of keeping book
for weeks, making dealers send to him
for it several times, and finally returning
it thumbed and dog cared, with a mes
sage that he did not want lit On the
whole, booksellers lost nothing through
Mr.. Tilden. for he did not spare money
when book caught his fancy, and his
library contained many treasures, but at
times his whims were costly and vexa-
tious to those who tried to please him.
Dealers say that there are many men In
this city now to whom his habits seem
to have been transmitted. New York
Times