The Oskaloosa herald., 1893-12-14

QSas1ET Amarkable dinners, but tn
CKE dinner given on Christina
night, 1892, by Mr.. and Mrs
US= Cornelius Van Tassel I
their friends, Mr.. and Mrs. John Girar
and Mr.. and Mrs. Vincent Cowles, a
their Gramercy park home, viii prob
ably pass into history as the most n
markable dinner Of all.
The table was cheering sight as til
guests entered from the drawing room
its polished mahogany top cleaning her
and there between the snowy, weblik
doilies, its glistening china and cut glass
its bright silver and its floral decora
tions, forming under the soft glare o
the electric lights picture that scenes
eloquent in its augury of good things Il
come.
Candelabra with dainty yellow shade
and vases filed with golden hued chrys
anthemums stood at opposite corners o
the table, and one of the fluffy yellow
flowers lay at each place.
The maid had announced dinner jus
as the grandfather's clock in the hal
sounded the hour of z, but when tht
guests and their hosts We're seated she
failed to appear. Mrs. Van Tassel was
annoyed and surprised, for Betty was al
ways alert and had never failed her wher
dinner was to be served in state. After
waiting several minutes Mrs. Van Tas
sci touched her foot to the button be-
meath the table and rang the electric
bell, but no Betty appeared with the
belated Blue Points.
The conversation was tagging, as il
will when host and guests are conscious
that the household machinery is not NOV.
ing smoothly, and Mrs. Van Tassel's
annoyance and Indignation rapidly in.
creased as she rang again and again in
vain.
Finally, concluding that Betty must
have tainted, Mrs. Van Tassel excused
herself, with very manifest modification,
and started for the buffers pantry to
solve the mystery of the maids nonap-
pearance.
As she opened the door she screamed
and ran back toward the table. A
masked man, with a revolver in each
hand, stood in the doorway. He swept
the company with the leveled weapons
and then pointed one of them at Mrs.
Van Tassel.
Don't exercise your lungs again like
that, madam, please" he said politely,
''or shall be under the painful neces.
sity of perforating them with a leaden
pill, don't you see. The other ladies and
gentlemen present will also remain quiet
or these pistols may go off by accident,
don't you know. There's going to be a
big movement in silver here pretty soon,
as we say down in Wall street, but don't
be at all alarmed.
mo one will harm you if you are not
ungentlemanly or unladylike enough tc
insist upon making a scene, don't you
know-a thing which, of course, you will
not even think of doing. But pardon
me for not having introduced myself be-
fore. 1t is a trifie late for Santa Claus,
but here am-Mr. T. Brown Jones, al
yoUz service-silver service, don't you
know. Ha! Ha! Pardon the pun; but,
as you are aware, the iniquitous habit OF
play upon words has gained a strong
foothold, don't you know, even among
the exclusive circles in which we al
move"
To say that the Van Tassels and their
guests were astounded by the advent OF
the masked Mr.. T. Brown Jones is q
very conservative statement. His sud,
den entrance, his daring GOODNESS and
matchless impudence, his polite manners
and his excellent English, fairly stunned
them.
Not long before desperate fellow had
held up and robbed a money broker in
his Office on Broadway near Trinity
church at midday, but his audacity paled
into comparative insignifcance beside
that of Mr.. T. Brown Jones, who had
coolly held up an entire family, their
guests and servants, in the heart of a
fashionable New York residence quarter
at o'clock in the evening.
The ladies were deathly pale and on
the verge of fainting. The gentlemen
had half started to their feet, but sank
back into their chairs with dazed faces
as the reYolyers covered them. The bur-
glars chin and mouth beneath the edge
of the mask had a resolute, but refined