The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-12-26
A CHICAGO yIGNETrE.

IT have always maintained" said
Mr.. Hardware, sagely, that it is policy
to regard every man as villain till he
has proven himself to be otherwise.
and today I gave myself the satisfac-
ton of knowing that l am justified in
holding such an opinion"
He swallowed his last spoonful of
soup with a gurgle of contentment and
looked at his wife as though daring her
to contradict him. Mrs. Hardware re-
garoed him detiantly from her safe dis
lance at the other end OF the table and
took up the cudgel in defense OF ira
duced mankind.
1T seems to be rather an unchari-
table MAXIM she remarked. I'D
rather pin my faith to something OF
higher sentiment"
Higher sentiment be blowed," he
retorted. "If you were a man in bust
ness and modeled your conduct alter
such truck as that you'd be poorer
than Jobs turkey in less than no time.
We got into just such discussion as
this at the Office today. | made the
assertion that if / were to drop a pock
etbook in the street ninety-nlne people
who saw it fall would pick it UP and
make off with it if they could escape
without being detected and never make
an effort to restore it to me, even
though they were positive [ was the
loser. The hundredth man might, per
haps, be actuated by some impulse OF
what we term hide-bound honesty and
return it to me. Williams took the
stand you do and contended that hu
man nature is founded on "a higher
plane. We determined to settle the
dispute by a practical test. [ filled a
good sized leather pocketbook with
blank papers and then we started out
TO lose it.
s'At the corner of Madison and La
Sale streets we found man whom
Williams thought would be a desirable
victim. He had one of those dreamy,
spiritual faces seen in pictures and VIII
1iams was delighted with him.
II wish you'd give that fellow a
trial. he said, L wouldn't be afraid to
bet 10 to l that if he saw 100 pocket
books all stuffed with money he would
MT so much as touch one of them if
it didn't belong to him L laughed for
L had seen dreamy, spiritual faces be-
fore and knew that they are not al
ways indicative of angelic natures, but
l didn't say anything.
we walked fast and passed him.
Down by the x Y z building we found
an opportunity to test him. [ took the
! book from my overcoat pocket and
cautiously let it slip down under cover
of the garment. 1t fell directly in front
of the dreamy young MAN. Williams
Z had sidckened his speed "a little and
took a position where he could see
what happened. The young fellow has
tily picked up my pocketbook, follow
ed me hesitatingly a step or two and
then, after looking furtively around
him, he turned cover and fed down
Clark street toward Adams. And
that's the last we shall ever see OF
him. Williams theory was knocked in
the head by a man Of his own selection
and he had but little to say in defense
of his lost cause. 1 knew it would end
just that way. That young man may
have been a first-rate fellow in every
other particular, but he couldn't with
stand the temptation of a loaded peck
etbook. man must be almost super
human who can There's a streak of
rascality, I tell you, in nine-tenths Of
the human race. l fixed one of the
tricksters in pretty good shape, though.
He will think twice before he steals off
with "a pocketbook again"
Half an hour later Mr.. Hardware got
ready to take his after dinner walk and
before starting repeated for Mrs. Hard
wares benefit the little comedy Of how
the thing was done" He had walked
across the room once and had started
on his second trip when suddenly he
drew his hand from his inside pocket
and howled in anguish.
What is the matter?" cried his wife,
in genuine alarm.
"This-this pocketbook," he STAN
mered, holding out before her a tight
ly stuffed leather wallet. I'm done
for Maria" ne groaned bitterly. j
dropped the wrong pocketbook and that
fellow with the dreamy face is just
s4S.65 better off than he was at o'clock
this afternoon
Mrs Hardware sighed.
Yes" she said sententionsly, 81
guess you fixed him all right