San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-05-11
A DRAMA OF DRINKS.
The @ ueer Experience of the Rem
lniscent Stranger.

Inc stranger ndu Deen SlCIlHS III
the hotel Office for an hour with
out saying a word to anybody,
says the Detroit Free Press. His
chin was chucked into his bosom,
and he looked like a man strug-
Cling with a great mental prob
lem. The clerk came arou nd and
sat down by him. 1t was after
midnight, and business was slack
behind the coun ter.
81 had a queer experience last
night" said the stranger, rousing
himself. 81 was just thinking
about it and trying my best to
work it out"
"Tell me what it was," suggested
the clerk, land maybe can help
you with it,"
The stranger pulled himself to-
gether, looked steadily at the clerk
a minute and began:
81 was coming in from lansing"
no said, "and L met man who
said he was from Chicago. We
talked for some time, and he got
out bottle and offered me drink.
/ didn't ask him what it was, hut
it wasn't long till 1 didn't know
what was the matter with me-"
"Loaded, perhaps" suggested the
clerk.
The stranger resented the impu-
tation vigorously.
allow could l be?" he said. 81
only took one swallow, and that a
small one. Anyhow, l didn't know
anything, and thought was float
ing around in the sky and every
body around me was an angel. l
never felt that way before, and l
can't understand why l did last
night"
avery possible the liquor was
drugged," said the clerk.
"That's what / was thinking"
continued the stranger, but wheth-
er it was or not, when the train
stopped | never said word when
conductor asked the man to see
that / got to my hotel all right.
You see, | knew the conductor. He
and l went to school together in
Saginaw. He was in the army,
and was shot at one of the fights
before Atlanta. The chap that shot
him was a Confederate captain,
whose home was in Atlanta and
whose father had been a colonel in
the Mexican war. At the battle of
Chapultepec he was wounded in
the breast by piece Of shell, and
rich Mexican lady had taken him
to her house for better care. In a
month the colonel was GONZALES
cent, and the lady introduced him
to her brother, who had been inter-
ested in a, Georgia plantation some
years ago, owned by Judge Smith,
a friend of the colonel's. The judge
had gone into the Uuion army
when the war broke out, and had
been captured at some fight in Vir-
ginia, and had been taken to Rich
mond.
"Here he met a brother Of his
who had gone to England ten
years before, and had invested in a
gold mine in Australia, and had
been there long enough to marry.
the daughter of an English official
who had passed number Of years
in Africa, where he had acted as
interpreter at the court Of Kaftir
king, whose prisoner he was. This
king had vast possessions of gold
and diamonds, which his grand
father, a great chief, had captured
from the dwarf chief, in the heart
Of the Dark Continent, since de-
scribed by Stanley. Stanley had
gone there under direction of -"
excuse me-" interrupted the
clerk, as he struggled to get out Of
the tangle the stranger led him in
to, "but may / ask how many
drinks you took before that one on
the train, and how many since :"
but the stranger did not reply; he
had another relapse, and the clerk
kindly called the night Waterman
and had him put to bed.