Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1896-05-14
STRANGE STOEY.
"A mans Course of Life Changed by the
Presentation OF a Gard


This play of The Fatal Card we've
oeeh having here lately" said Wash
| lhgton merchant, reminds me of a
card story"
Not one of the kind of cards that
Nashlngtonians are most familiar
WIN, is it?' inquired the reporter try-
ing TO be facetious.
! Hardly. But let me tell Won tho
| taie. When | was youngster of Il or
iess' "hich is now forty Or fifty years
ago hadn't as much money as | have
| now nor dld my parents, but we thriyed
| Wei, and | got the best education that
| was to be had at the time. owing to
'he Kindness Of a millionaire relative
OF nine, an old chap who died when I
was about 90. We never knew the
story until he died, and then it all came
out in letter he wrote and left with
his will.
II seems that when the old man was
ABOUT 20 he went west with a young
man of his own age, who had been
brought with him by the same people,
both being orphans They were as
brothers, or even closer, in their affec-
tons, and when they started out to seek
'helr fortunes they each wrote card
and gave it to the other. Just what the
inscription was don't know. but it was
enough to signify that if one was in
need the other would honor the card
under any circumstances, and after any
lapse of time, if he were financially able
to do So
We'll, they worked together for
awhile. and then, by business changes
and one way or another, they separ-
ated. For a long time they kept up a
correspondence, but as the years went
by that dropped. for in few years one
was very successful, while the other
man was not, and YOU know how things
go under those circumstances. A quar-
ter OF century went by, and by that
time my relative was a millionaire
many times over. and the nastiest,
meanest, stingiest crustiest old cuss in
ten states. He couldn't help that, per-
haps, and l don't know that he tried
anyhow. one day ragged and
starving man came into his office and
~
to state his business where he was
The man told long story of suffering
and want of sick and starving wife
and children and the usual concomi-
tants of that kind of a situation. and
then handed my relative card. 1t
was yellow and worn and dirty, but it
was the same old card that he had
given his boyhood friend. The old man
gave the applicant dime and told him
to get out and not come back there any
more. He obeyed the cruel command
and went out silently. That evening
policeman came to the old mans Office
with a note and a card. All the note
said was: Give this to my boyhood
friend, -. He will understand
The note was unsigned. The card
which the policeman handed over had
a hole through it as if cut by a knife.
and there was blood about the edges of
the cut. The officer explained that it
had been found on the dead body of a
man in an attic room in the slums, with
knife driven through it and into the
mans heart. That was all the police
man knew. ] don't know what the
old man said, or how he felt, but I do
know that from that day forward he
was changed man.
"He gave to every worthy person
needing help he sought out all his poor
kin and took care of them judiciously:
educating the girls, giving the boys a
start in business, and helping their
narents. he organized charities and he
offered a reward Of 81 900 for the fam
lily Of his dead friend. He never found
it, however, and l fancy the friend
never had family. l guess he wasn't
any good, anyway, but. whether he was
or not. the way he took himself off was
a blessing to the old man, and most en-
phatically to all OF his kin. "-Washing-
ton Star.