The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1895-12-18

A SEALED ENVELOPE TRICK.
It Gave Considerable Trouble to Two Ho-
tel Clerks.
Talking about thieves" said the
hotel clerk, meditatively chewing
the end of a pencil, ''but you never
see them TO such advantage as we
do"
"How's that?" said the reporter.
"Most everybody says we have the
inside view of life" 1-..
Everybody is wrong then"
The reporter knew that the hotel
clerk was fishing for an opening,
and so be kept quiet and waited for
him to tell the story that was sure
to come. BY and by the hotel clerk
resumed:
Funniest instance Of attempted
thievery that ever came to my no.
tioe occurred one night at q hotel Of
which I was clerk. Twas standing
behind the counter when two men
stepped up to it and spoke to my as
sistant, One was a gambler of the
name Of Smith. He was under bonds
to appear before a, court on q orimi-
nal charge, and I was one of his
bondsmen. The other fellow I didn't
know. Smith said to my assistant
that he was a, friend of his. He
wants to, deposit q, small sum with
you for safe keeping, he added.
Can't you accommodate him?' Are
you a guest?' asked the assistant.
Certainly answered the stranger,
and he pointed out his name. on the
register. OF course no objection
could be raised to taking his valua-
bles, and SO the clerk handed him
an envelope, into which the stranger
put very large roll of bank notes.
l was watching casually and noted
that the outside bill Oh the roll was
a 20. He moistened the flap, sealed
the envelope and tossed it carelessly
to the assistant, who, without glanc-
ing at the packet, tossed it into the
safe and locked the door.
1.-Two OF three hours later the
stranger came in and asked for his
money. My assistant opened the
safe and took out the envelope. I'm
agine his astonishment to find it
open. The stranger got very angry
when he saw the flap open, took out
his money, counted it and then OK
citedly exclaimed that he had been
robbed. Some one has stolen the
bill / had wrapped around the out
side of the roll, he said. But, sir,
it is impossible. l haven't opened
the safe since You were in hero last,
and no one has been in here except
myself protested the clerk. Then
you've robbed me of $780, shouted
the stranger. AS soon as he said it
Il perceived that it was clever swim
die, and that, although I could not
see how the envelope had been open
ed, he was trying to beat the hotel.
So Istepped up to the counter. How
much did You say that bill was
which you had wrapped around the
outside of your roN?' j asked. "A
800 bill, he answered. We'll, sir,
l answered, there is one way for
you to get it-that Is, through the
courts. You can sue us, and if you
win we will pay you.
II thought that would bluff him
off, but it didn't, and the next day
he brought suit. Well. it looked aa
though we would have to pay the
800, as ! was positively sure that
my assistant was right and not to
blame for the loss, though how to
prove that the stranger lied about
the size of the bill he used as wrap.
per did not know. I was pretty
sure it was a $50 bill. He claimed
it was q 800 bill, and SO there we
we're. Well, one night l met Smith
and got him drunk. Then I threat
ened to quit his bond unless he told
me how the trick had been worked.
To make long story short, he was
frightened into confessing 1t seems
that the stranger knew that lot of
bills rolled up very tightly could be
put into that receptacle and sealed
up, but that the moist glue would
not be able to resist the pressure of
the bills as they swelled and unroll-
ed inside. 1t would therefore burst
open in q few minutes after being
sealed up"
did you ever try it?" asked the
newspaper man specifically.
Certainly. We put Smith on the
stand, and he told the story. Then
we tried the experiment., and it
worked to charm. We won our
case hands down. New Orleans
Picayune.
Dumas Aphorisms.
Alexandra Dumas wrote a good
many aphorisn1s. Among those
- l. To- II