The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-06-24
STORIES In A TRICE
AN INDIANAPOLIS VETERAN WHO
MADE THE MOST OF HIS LIFE.
An Incident I'm N Down Town Poker
Game -"Petroleum," North
Street Institution.

IN lSbl. could scarcely write MS name ana
actually did not know the multiplication
table. He helped clear one OF the new
farms in Indiana and saw little schooling
when he enlisted. He served his term
faithfully. and was about twenty-five years
of age when he was mustered out in rather
poor health. But he set himself TO work
to make I'D for the past with will He
worked and studied. He got the rudi-
ments. became a carpenter, mastered the
drawing of plans, became a builder. was
fortunate in small contracts. took larger
ones and was still fortunate. As the years
passed he built for himself and six years
ago had properties enough to give him
comfortable income. He now lives in one
of the neatest houses on a popular street"
Meeting the man in question few days
later he was asked about these facts, and
said they were substantially true. The
most remarkable thing about it is that he
speaks and writes with precision and with
out the dialect which often clings TO men
who have much better advantages. When
asked how he acquired such facility in
the use of language so late I'm life, he said:
Whatever l have acquired. which can
not be much. / attribute to reading and
founder of the church often called by his
name. At first / could not understand the
meaning OF the WORDS ana the loeas IN
words, and read and reread pages until
1 not only understood the ideas. but had
transferred the words and their meaning
to my mind. Your talk about grammar.
of nouns and verbs. numbers and lenses.
is incomprehensible to me-" And yet one
would get the impression from his CONVEX
sation and the extent of his information
that he had had the advantages OF the
best schools in early life. No elderly man
in the city dresses more carefully.
In the same precinct is another man well
known in business who went early into
the Indiana cavalry. and AFTER discharge
for disability went into the navy. where
he became a paymaster's clerk. He had
had only the advantages of the district
school. He was, however, a mathematical
genius Having the opportunity TO devote
himself to mathematical studies while in
the navy, he was soon able to give points
to the recent graduates from the naval
school who had been assigned to the ship
on which he served: on one occasion three
before board at Washington to be ex-
amined for promotion, but all of them
c quinn not only Dot soive but Which they
| declared could have no mathematical So
luton. In an hour he told one Of them
that he could solve it. and he did. He got
| tables of ''sines and cosines." and with a
| table of logarythms finds amusement In
Calling on him few evenings ago he was
| found reading German. Where did you
learn he was asked nd the
| the study has been in the nature OF
recreation" was his answer. IT can now
| II came across a German translation OF
| Moore's Little Man with a Little Soul
Then he took book
| the original and the translation and read
| both. giving the fine shades of meaning
| has been in a business for years which is
most exacting and in which he has been
successful.
| Some time ago there was poker game
| in progress ir the rooms over a down.
| town saloon. and among those who
| frequented the place an inusr-
| ance man. His friends say that the idea
| of sordid gain is not paramount in his
| poker experiences; rather the excitement
and desire to pass tue time away is the
thing He pays as he goes. and credited
$1,000 to experience during one brief season.
| One night the police planned raid on
the gambling room, but the time was some
what inopportune. for big haul. The in
| surance man, on this occasion, was in the
/ game, which was not enlivened by large
| number around the table. The kitty was
| actually mewing, so few were the sops
| thrown to it. The insurance man. by pos
| sessing a full hand had won a big pot
! just before the police reached the door to
| the stairway leading up to the room. He
| floundered out Of the chair when the alarm
was given, and, clutching his ST worth Of
| reds. whites and blues. hid them under the
| corner of a rug Then he hied himself to
an adjoining ROOM for it would never do
to have the police find him in the place
| The gamekeeper had sufficient warning to
| lock chips and cards in a drawer, and
| when the police obtained admission there
| used in a Police Court gambling case. With
| disgust the police retired and most OF the
| After the coast was clear the insurance
| man came out from his place of conceal
ment, and entering the poker room, found
| German had been ''piking'' during the
| game aging a check now and then, hop
sHave the police gomez asked the in
YAH said the German. "Dey come
| und got few dings and left"
| Did they get all the cnlpS!
! Il wouldn't be SURPRISED" answered the
| German. and the insurance man passed out
| and down the stairs, supposing that his
| chips were taken. He set out for home,
After ne had gone the German reached
| down under the corner OF the rug, got
the s27 worth of chips which the insur-
ance man had hidden, wsnt down to the
! saloon and cashed them. man VINO had
| seen the German ''piking in the game
was surprised, and charged the man with
.Steaiing DEM" blurted out the German.
You don't know vat you tank ABOUT desc
| checks vas contraband
The colored woman who is the culinary
boss of an uptown house had great
taste for ice cream. and often her cray
| ing could not be withStood. III happened
/ that i'm the family where she compounded
| delectables, the family cared not whit for
the popular summer dish, sand so when she
| took her fill she went elsewhere One morn
| ing she was relating her experience or the
| evening before, and she said she was so
| hungry for ice cream that she went out
| and bought some. When asked as TO what
| place she went she said, over here on
| North street, opposite the Blind Asylum,
| next to the Petroleum. The family mad
| heard the woman's building called most
| everything, but had no idea that the burn
| ing utterances which had been heard there
| were responsible at all for its new name.
|
| There were two young women in the
street car, and they were discussing SUPER
stitions Like the woman OF old they were
not superstitious but they would not do
| certain things on Friday or the 18th of the
| month. Among other things which came
nm in the course of the conversation was
| the fact that while one OF the Wednesdays
| of the present month had come on the 18th
| there had been no weddings. The case was
| cited of one wedding that had taken place
| in another city that day, and before the
week was out the groom died Hundreds OF
persons will declare that they are not the
| least bit superstitious, but there Is an old
verse,
sIt gives a pleasure to the strongest mind
| four-leaf clover in the grass TO md,
The wisest would, IL the truth were told.
Ger his right shoulder the new moon
behold.
IL n. uffll