Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-01-20

beggar II all his gules, ana nave
often seen the nan who wishes to bor-
row a small amount of money to buy
food, or lodging, or a railway ticket,
and has lost or mislaid his purse; he Is
the son or other relative of friend of
mine, and has often heard my name
mentioned in terms Of the highest es'
TEEN. l have met the individual OF
polished manners who mistakes me for
Mr. Blank, Of Blankville, "one OF our
leading merchants, and after aPologiz-
ing for his error, wishes me to look at
prize he has just won in lottery.
have also been visited by q pretending
namesake in search o. another namesske,
from whom the stranger might borrow
the price OF ticket to Albany or Bo'-
ton. The list might be extended, but
ths foregoing must suffice.
The stories that are poured into my
ears are always plausible, aud l have
yielded to enough Of them, and found
afterward that they were utterly false,
TO convince me that the heart of man IS
deceitful above all things and despar-
ate'y wicked. For decade or so l
have considered myself familiar with,
aud proof against, all the ways in which
designing men seek to obtain money
under pretenses more or less false
generally more. But quite recently |
encouu tered a new expert in this field of
enterprise, aud am sure the reader will
share my opinion that his ingenuity de.
serves the honor Of publicity.
One day, about a month ago,
stranger presented card on which was
written: rs. NJ. Crosby, first officer
steamship GlanOrgan, Liverpool, Eug-
land" Wondering what his business
could be l consented to see him and met
A medium sized individual whose garb
indicated the mariner, as it included
blue coat of FREEZER pattern aud blue
Goth cap. He was bronzed and certainly
looked like one who had spent much Of
his life on the water and had recently
been IN the tropics for a considerable
period. As soon as we met he repeated
the declaration on his card. that he was
the first officer of the steamship Glamor-
gan, which had recently arrived at Phila.
delphis from Australian, japanese and
Chinese ports.
"Have you any advices, - said he, "Of
. box from China By our steamerl"
~ have not, answered.
"There is box for you on board the
GIamorgau, he responded, (which was
taken on at Shanghai or Hong Kong, 1
am not sure which. 1t contains Chinese
and Japanese curios to the value Of about
three hundred dollars. 1t is addressed
to you st New York City, but there is
no street or avenue named, only New
York. We have been inquiring, and you
are the only man of the name to be found
in the city. We presume it is for you,
As there is the word ''authOr' upon the
box in addition to your name, and I'm
tod that you are al author. We want
to be quite sure of your identity aud that
the box is fer you, as it is valuable
one."
replied that I was the only in1ivi-
dual in the city Of exactly that name,
and my profession was that of author
ship, but certainly knew Of no box on
its way to me.
"It is strange that you have no ad-
vices concerning IT," said Crosby, "but
after all II may not be so strange. |
understand it is intended for present
and perhaps the party who sent 1t
wanted to surprise you. Quite likely
you will find a letter in the box that
will tell you who it's from. There's no
freight to pay on il; it was put on
board by our own agent either in Hong
Kong or Shanghai for some friends of
theirs. The agents explained that 1t was a
present, and said they told the sender there
gould be no charge for freight 1t