The St. Johns herald., 1895-12-07
DEBT LODGING.
Devices and Schemes of Debtors
 to. Avoid Collectors.
Uurno-s of Peculiar Phase of Life in thu C.sy -SweIls Who Put on Fine Appearance at tho E- -1ense
 of Their Taslo-s.

There is now and then margin of real huraor, if of doubtful description, cdc I about the shifts and devices used by persons to avoiI paying their deb ;. No doubt such debtors might be distinguished roughly: Those who through misfortune cannot cope with thei- liabilities. and those who syste- Inati ally dodge their creditors because it is not in thcra to do the other thing pay: but, says the Boston Traveller. thev a-e Identical in the sense that both try to escape consequences by the exer- else of curious kind of wit.
 A indignant furniture dealer recent ly t.c,.icd tl,c risiblc faculties in po- lice court by his statement of how in- credibly he had been triclzcd bya debtor of long standing. Having obtained writ for distrGint upon the goods sup piled and not paid fer. he and his legal ag mt reached the debtors house, to find it apparently abandoned The lower windows were blotched with whitewaSh, and upon one of them was tr-ceI the legend: ''To Let" Natural ly con cluding that his bird had flown the neighborhood to avoid him, he promptly expended quite a considerable sun in fruitlessly trying to trace the delinquent's whereabouts.
 Finally it occurred to him that his debtors late landlord might be able to supply hint. and to him he went. Im- a~ine his anazement when he was coc.ly informed that the house in ques- ton had never been ito let" and that he debtor was certainly still within it, as his fthe landlord's) agent had called for and received his rent only a few days previously. They went at once to solve the problem, and then the ele- ment of mystery dispersed. It appeared thlt the willy occupant. having timely warning of his creditors coming, had shifted hls family and his goods to the top rooms, smudged the windows and iinparted general air of emptiness to the house, and remained snugly aloft until, as he imagined his creditor would give up the debt as a ''bad' one. Being cornered. he had to pay, and was now sued for the costs of the hunt which, as no attempt at fraud in legal sense could be proved, he managed to eicape.
 Rather neat. too, was trick of diff ferent kind played recently by swell, who was wanted" in the matter of an outstanding tailor's debt. Tapped on the shoulder as he went to enter a city restaurant with party of friends, he was informed that vehicle waited at IL fo k H.. vile. The situation was awkward, but his wit and experience made him equal to it. He left his friends with a cool aside to the effect that he would return and dine with them in few minutes and was as good as his word.
 He simply requested his captor to drive to ''his fathers office" where, he loftily said, the trumpery debt would be settled to full satisfaction. Accord ingly they drove to the office indicated. The officer entered with the warrant and his myrmidon remained at the en- trance to guard against surprises. But the debt was rot settled on that occa- sion. The defaulter eoolly opened the door of the first room he came to, ushered the other in, whipped out the key from the inside, slipped out, locked the door, quilted the building by an- other exit, and drove off to keep bis ,pointment.
 The rooted objection. to put it mild ly, that some people evince to squaring pecaliary accounts until the law steps ia and compels them is sometimes in- comprehensiblc. one man of this class, H Il known to the writer as person able to pay for his extravagances, spent half his time in lodging and lll1ing creditors to whom he owed comparatively trifing sums-purely, it seemed, for the love of such dodging. Some Gime back several writs were out for the arrest of this person, but for weeks he Succeeded in eluding the holders by all manner of unexpected tricks
 It so happened that one day, how ever, while leading one warrant off, cer a dance in the network of streets. he ran into the arms of another, and was immediately clapped into a cab and driven to jail. On the way thither he begged to be allowed to get some light refreshment before tasting prison fare, and as he himself sug- g.sted that his coat sleeve should be securely fastened to that of the officer, the latter consented, and accompanied him into hotel for that purpose.
 The sequel, in some respects, was a highly farcical one. One glass tap pGrently without design) led to another, and the defaulter spent almost as much money in making both cab-driver and c2psurer intoxicated upon whisky as would have enabled him to settle the debt in the first place. That done, he cut the fastenings and quietly walked or.