Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-07-03
AN UNLUCkY NUMBER

J One beautiful evening" in the summer
/ Of s. was seated with my friend, Cap
! tain p, AZ the open win dow of his room
when the door was thrown open and in
walked an old soldier of iho name Of sang
He showed us "a lottery ticket, which he
said he had found secrcted In the back OF
a book which he had bought the day be-
fore AT one OF the bookstalls | took the
piece Of paper ard examined 1t. II was fol
/ 800 600 and would be drawn for in five
weeks time.
Captain r., leaning out of the window
with his chin resting on his hands, had
scarcely noticed the entrance OF the ole
man but when | called him and held tht
scrap Of nimsy paper out toward him ht
turned terribly pale and sank back intS
his seat.
"No. 53l he urmured aEhast.
Not another word could we get ont o.
him. He sat pale and dumb. like ono
turned into stone. Mr. sang placed the
ticket inside his pockctbook and muttcrec
loud enough for Us TO hear
Zone hundred thousand dollars Why
that is "a fortunc But an old fool like me
will never win.
"You will win" suddenly cried the
captain in strange, low tones, which mads
rs both start
GLOW can you tcllY" whispered the cid
man eagerly
- want YOU to get rid Of that ticket, fol
as sure as We are living men you viii be
the loser IN the end ~
"Ah! Perhaps You would like 10 secure
.he ticket, said the old fellow with a
peculiar smile,
The captain only shrugged his shout
lers and turned 10 the window
Il know, said sang, THAT l could get
good sum for this ticket if it were known
| had it for sale. However as the captain
is SO positive it will bo drawn | Will retair
the ticket aud run the risk of being the
loser one hundred thousand dollars
Why, ! see what il is-the captain is zeal
Gus Ha, ha!'
He went out, and as he descended the
stairs heard him mumbling;
"You will be the loser in the end
What can the captain mean, ! wondery"
He gained the street, and l could hear nc
more.
turned 20 Captain p. He was standing
silent and mOtionless at the window.
For long time l sat watching him,
standing there - pale and silent, all the
while racking my brain how to account
for his strange conduct on seeing the
number of the lottery ticket--No. 90
What painful recoil"Ctions did these two
figures recall TO his minds asked myself
the question over and over again, but ]
still remained in the dark.
All at once he closed the window and
simply said ~ if speaking TO himself:
There can be no doubt about it No.
53 j. an acCursed number
Il DO not understand you, captain,
said, for began 10 feel curious.
He remained silent for some time as if
in deep thought and | did not interrupt
him.
"Listcu." he said suddenly, land you
can judge for yourself as TO the truth Of
nly statement. 80 He lit "A cigarette and
d,vw Lis chair 10 the table
"i.lyycu years ago, he began my
father, although considered TO be "a very
sens lie man. invested IA sum of money in
lottery. III, ickct was drawn, and he
became pos,, s>od of 100000 He was
fortunate. 80 everybody said l. too,
thought 50 at the time. one evening he
entered one of the gambling saloons, and
becoming fascinated 10y the play he lost all
his ready money in few hours. Then
al his property went, and when he arose
from the table at midnight he was a beg
gar. Maddeued by his losses and rendered
insane by the knowledge Of the grief of his
family he shot himself through the heart.
His ticket was No 90
Yet ! cannot see how that goes &c
prove your statement said THE
same thing could happen with any mum
Der.
True, he replied. II attached no i'm.
portance to the number at the time. Four
years went 10y, and had almost forgotten
No SO, when friend of mine in poor cir
culnstances managed to buy IA lottery tick
ct. He won. like my father, 500, 600.
Poor fellow 1t was the price of his reason.
The Sudden rise 10 wealth turned his
brain and he is now an inmate of an asy-
lum. Now you will understand Inc when
/ tell you his ticket was No. 53l'
l shuddered, but remained silent.
You can have AN idea, he went on,
'as 10 the state of my feelings on seeing
poor sang In possession Of lottery ticket
bearing the fatal No 53!'
l could answer nothing. To me IL
seemed incXplicable
The day of drawing slowly came round,
and the captain had foretold Sangs
ticket was drawn. No. SO was announced
the winner,
When the captain heard of it, he shook
his head ana murmured:
wait Watt
Sang fCrsook Hooley street and bought
for himself "a nice little villa. He was
talked of a. being lucky man and was
enyied by all except Captain Z.
You will Toe the loser in the end, the
captain had said But now l began to
think he was mistaken,
one morning scarcely three months
after the drawing Captain F. placed
newspaper before me and without a word
pointed out certain paragraph. l read
with almost stifled heart that "a thief had
entered Sang house the night before and
while searching for the money which was
believed to be secreted in the house. he
aroused the owner, whom he stabbed to
death.
The captain was right. Sang was the
loser
There is "a solution to every mystery
Can you solve the mystery of No. 53'
Captain p and myself confess ourselves
ballled. Exchange.