Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-08-21
AN ELECTRIC BLUFF.
HOW A GENIUS RsASSURED THE Ho-
TEL MAN AT JAYvlLLE.

| phone, Which the Landlord Had Not
Been Acquainted With Very LonS-Draft
Casiie,l and Dinner Thrown In.
Ibid ever tell you about the great
bluff l invented and worked Off on a
country hotel proprietor?" asked Meek
In, the lazy inventor, as he tilted back
bis chair and lit his pipe. 1T would
| have been blamed inconvenient for me
if hadn't brought my inventive facul-
tics to bear on the subject, and if had
neglected to observe the Few telephone.
1t came about like this: was making a
flying trip through the west in search of
q man who was said to hav, invented
process for tempering copper by electric
ity. One evening about dinner time
reached an Indiana town which I'll call
Jayville, as the town is still there, and
SO is the hotel proprietor. I rushed into
the only hotel in the place, asked fo1
some dinner and was shown to the din
! ing room after had registered. Iwant-
ed to catch the 8 :l3 train for Indianap-
oils, so / could spend the night there.
When had finished my meal, fshed
around in my pockets for dime to tip
/ the waiter with. I found I hadn't
blooming cent in my clothes. You know
I'm careless about money matters, and
never think Of lucre until I m out of it.
Well, l hadH' t any cash, but had a $50
draft on New York in my pocketbcok- I
| let the waiter go without his tip and
walked out to the office, where 1 found
the landlord. ostentatiouslystook up
pen, asked the landlord his name, and
made the draft payable to him.
Now said I, If you'll kindly
take ont the price of dinner and give
me the balance of this $50 I'll be
obliged.
1.-THE landlord read over the draft for
ward, backward, sideways and upside
down. Then he held it up to the light.
! At last he looked at me sharply and
said:
"'Your name MeekinT
"'suro thing said L
| "'T. J. Meekin:'
! "'Sure.'
"'HCw 90 l know it?'~
"'You don't, but I'm telling you,'
/ said !.
"'How do I know you amt one O.
these yere film fiammers:'
! Du uOl l. DO LUX Ilko q Hill
! flammeri'
! "'Waal, We mought an We moughtn't,'
! was the landlord S encouraging reply. 1t
was getting near train time, and was
getting nervous. Ii glancing around the
/ Office with the faint hope that I'd see
some ore 1 knew, my glance fell upon
| long distance telephone over in tbo cor
To-. R.-l:t here was vice I il, cnted
/ my blur :, ..,-yi,to a: 8 - p. IN.
/ $3.50 here NJ. Nh sad - tLo
, landlord, 'yJu l'iuw :. od.lk draft vl.cn
! yoa see il, ,!3i.'t vC;.? Wen, ,..,'s
bank daft. Now, it CON; mae any
| diiioi cice to yCu Who I an e can
prove that the draft $ good. does it? All
right. see you have q telephone Can
I use it?'
eye can If ye know how to work
the thing. Just put her in yistiddy. an I
| amt on to the game yit.'
"'All right I replied Now you
come over here to the telephone with
ME, and I'll soon satisfy you that your
suspicious of me and this draft are oil
| wrong
I'VE went over to the phone; the
landlord leaned up against Tie wall
watching my every movement. Luckily
no one was around but an old man
asleep near the stove and a stupid Ger
man porter. I picked up the receiver
without ringing, and this is what the
landlord heard:
"'Hello, central! Gimme New York.
Hello! This New York? Gimme 1888
Cortlandt. Hello! 1888 Cortlandt9
Manhattan Exchange National bank?
Mr.. CrandeIl there? Hello! This YOU,
Crandall, old man? This is MeelsiI
NJ. .double-e kin. Yes, Meekin, T. J.
How are you? Say. I'm in Jayville,
Ind. Hotel man says your draft number
347 Oh my account is no good. How
about it? Well? Good for s., ,OOO, is it?
Sure: You are, Ell? Good joke on your
old bank, amt it, Crandell? Cost yos
q bottle when get back. Sure it's good,
arc you? Ha, ha! That's good. Well, so
long. See you next Monday
with that hung up the receiver
without ringing off, and turned to look
at the landlord. His eyes were bulging
out, and when asked him if he required
any further proof he gasped out:
'Waal, swum to gracious! Ef that
ain t the finest thing l ever see! Talk
ing to New York, eh Waal. never
thought to see it. Here, come over here
and get yer cash. The dinners on me.
Never see anything SO wonderful since
the circus was here last.
81 took the money, thanked him and
nearly laughed myself into Mysteries all
the way to Indianapolis. Electrical
Review.