The morning times., 1896-11-22
Wonders in Easy Chairs.

o'clock Saturday night. MOnds morning,
when the bartender opened the 'front.' door,
there was the safe wide open and tie cash
register spilled over the floor and the
money gone. The thief was cool one,
too, and took his time. He knew good
liquor when he saw it, and had all The
best brands out on the bar and had sam
pied 'em.
He got a pretty fair haul from the safe
You see, there had been Il couple Uf high
flyers in the night before, and they made
a bet about something and put the stakes
in the safe. Altogether, counting receipts
and the money LETT on the bet, there was
over ST 900, and Mr.. Crook had nahbrd IL
all. Well, the funny thing about il, and
what puzzled me. WAS that nothing had
been broken Every door and lock and
window was -. X. and didn't show n
scratch. OF course, had a talk with the
proprietor and then pumped the bartcnd-
crs and couple or colore'l walters. II
was no use. though; they all told a straight
story and there wasn't suspicion against
any Of EN-.
The job was mighty neatly done, and
as far as / could see there wasn't a clew
Every Indication pointed To the fact that
whoever did IL was mighty familiar with
the run Of the place and knew something
about the way things Were shut up every
night ! got list OF every one who was
there when the hct was put up, and went
to work on the Theory that some out slider
had been tempted by the money. Then We
fired out everybody but the proprietor and
Jack, the bartender, and went over that
saloon from top I" bottom
Jack had closed up Saturday night,
and when | got right at him with the ques-
tUnS he finally admitted that he had for
gotten to lock the safe. Y0u see, they We're
pretty strict then about the closing hour,
and everybody had to get out at midnight
pretty sharp II was Just before liccnSt.
time, and Jack had been little lat,.
that night, 81 he just dumped the money
In the safe and slammed The door, but
didn't stop To lock IL
'rf course. that explained about the
safe, but | couldn't zee for the lif,. of Iu,.
how my man bad got into the room W..
vent around Ia all the windows, and then
| climbed W. on the bar and took a iCok
at the skyiight
Right underneath the rIlsS. ON the
edge of the sill, We're four finger marks in
the dust. They looked pretty fresh, and
| thought Id struck something hut until
l saw the >p and paddock Just above 'em.
1t was locked fast enough, and the pro-
prietor said il hadn'. .heen opened since the
summer; 50 | had run up against dead
wall that time
Il started IL get down off the har and
put my hand rn the cork puller that was
fastened To the counter to steady myself
when | saw something lying b,.>lne IL uuat
made my eve Jump. ia X said /. do You
smoke oh, Il cigarette, sometimes
SAYS lie.
Mr.. So and So says to the pro-
prietor, viii You have a cigar: Don't
smoke or drink, bu. I've got s0m, good ones
here II you'd like Ia Try en-. s., vs. nr think
ing / was after graft. Well, what's
this sa " |. p kins up Il hdif-snioEed cigar
that lay beside the cork -pullcr. Il think our
rianl left something Well, boys he hadlcft
1t, and that c.gar finally did the business
1T was the most curious weed l ever
ran across. There's a good deal in cigars.
and il Mrs. Joe will fill 'em up again III
tell YOU about this one. You see. most
people smoke n cigar round and chew he
end Of 1t. They move il about in their
mouth and yuu can see the teeth marks on
the stump. But this cigar was different
The man who smoked il hadn't touched it
with his teeth at al. but his lips had flat
tened out the end until it was as thin Ill
most as piece OF paper.
We'll, You can bet ! WIS interested.
figured it out tina: my first theory WIS right
and the man who dih the JOB WA a regular
customer OF the place and was probably
pretty good people. Tn" only thing to sIo
was To wait for him to come in and hung
Jhht tN'IN way ~ Wttk- IL
was great graft. We used 10 take a
drink about every Ten minutes. iust Il an
excuse for being there. You know.
Well, one night got him There was n
crowd came in AMI ston'l up against the rail
drinking and swapping YARNS for half an
hour. l saw one "f 'em light cigar and
watched him. | knew had my man the
minut e he heganto smoke He held his weed
between his forefingcr and his thumb. ten
derly like, and only pat IL in his mouth tn
take long draw now anG then When he
went out he put the stump down on the bar,
and You ca IN bet grabbed it, Yes, sir. the
end Was as flat as Il pancake
went around to see him the next night
Wien he came in the partor and saw me