The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-03-09
STRANGE STORY OF A CARD
Mans Course of Life Changed by the
Prrsentati on of "a Play.

Presentation of Play.
From the Washington Star.
This play of The Fatal Card we've
been having here lately" said Wash
ington merchant to a Star reporter.
reminds me of a card story"
Not one of the kind of cards that
Washingtonians are most familiar
with, is it ?" inquired the reporter, try
ing to be facetious.
Hardly. But let me tell you the
tale. When L was youngster of 10 or
less, which is now 40 or so years ago.
j hadn't as much money as / have now.
nor did my parents, but we thrived
WELL and j got the best education that
was to be had at the time, owing to the
kindness of a millionaire relative OF
mine, an old chap who died when was
about 20. We never knew the story
until he died, and then 1t all came out
in a letter he wrote and left with his
will.
1T seems that when the old man was
about 20 he went West with a young
man of his own age, who had been
brought up with him by the same peo-
pie, both being orphans. They were as
brothers, or even closer, in their af-
fections, and when they started out to
seek their fortunes they each wrote a
card and gave IL to the other. Just
what the inscription was don't know.
but ii was enough to signify that II one
was in need the other would honor the
card under any circumstances, and
after any lapse of time, IL 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 separat-
ed. For long time they kept up a
correspondence, but as the years went
by that dropped, for in a few years
one was very successful, while the 9TH
er man was not, and you know how
things go under those circumstances.
A quarter of century went by, and by
that time my relative was a million
aire many times over, and the nasti-
est, meanest, stingiest, crustiest old
cuss in 10 states. He couldn't help
that. perhaps. and don't know that he
tried.
Anyhow, one day a ragged and
starving man came into his office and
asked To see him alone. He told him TO
state his business where he was. The
man told a long story of suffering and
want. of a sick and starving wife and
children and the usual comments
of that kind of situation, and then
handed my relative a card. 1t was yell
low and worn and dirty but IL was the
same old card that he had given his
boyhood friend. The old man gave the
applicant a 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 a po-
liceman came to the old mans office
with a note and a card. All the note
said was: Give this card to my boy
hood friend, He will under
stand
THE note was unsigned The card
which the policeman handed over had a
hole through IL as If cut by a knife.
and there was blood about the edges of
the cut. The officer explained that IL
had been found on the dead body of a
man in an attic room in the slums, with
knife driven through II and into the
mans heart. That was all the police
man knew. I don't know what the old
man said. or how he felt. but do know
that from that day forward he was a
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 pa
rents; he organized charities and he Of
fered a reward of 81 900 for the family
of his dead friend. He never found IL.
however, and / fancy the friend never
had a family. / guess he wasn't any
good. anyway. but whether M was or
not. the way he took himself off was a
blessing 10 the old man. and most en-
phatically to all Of his kin"