Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-20
IN HOTEL CORRIDORS


found at the patent Office" said A. L. Hart
man Of Havana, ILL.,. at the shoreham. lis
one belonging to a friend Of mine named
Taylor. No patent was ever issued. al
though Taylor's name occurs in the patent
office reports as the inventor of several
other contrivances. For many years he
tried to secure perpetual motion, and, in
fact. did make some rather startling dis
coveries as to motive power. which have,
however. never proved to be Of practical
value. Finally his mind became unbal-
anced. and he bestowed his time upon the
production Of stove that would burn per-
petually without smoke. His theory was
that nothing in nature Is lost, and all that
was necessary was to reunite the sub
stances forming fuel. and thus keep them
constantly burning. He prepared model
with numerous air chambers, but the pat
ent officials declined to issue patent"
II was somewhat surprised not to find a
room in Washington where dominoes were
played" said c. r. Savage of Fort Worth,
Texas. at the Riggs. "In Texas there Is
a law prohibiting card playing in saloons.
which Is rigidly enforced. The enactment
of the statute caused the saloon keepers to
put in domino tables. and there are very
few hotels or saloons where from one to a
hundred games are not constantly in pro-
gress during the day and late into the
night The game has become so popular
that there would be almost universal
mourning among the habltues of saloons
should the law allow cards and prohibit
dominoes. The position of champion domi-
no player In Texas town Is one Of great
honor and Is fought for most assiduously.
l have not seen a game of dominoes since I
left Texas. and have tried in vain to find
any one who plays"
THE most peculiar swindle I ever knew
Of" said A. R. Willingham of New York
at the Ebbitt. and one where detec-
ton Is very improbable is being worked
Ill New York. 1t Is the returning Of lost
pocket books. The swindler works upon
the theory that all men are rascals, and
he finds enough who are not honest to
make a good living He gets an assort-
ment OF cheap pocket books. executes a
bogus draft or two in the mama of his in
tended victim. puts in two or three cuun-
terfeit bills of large denomination, inserts
card with the name of his victim upon
1t. then assuming an honest expression
visits the man he has selected a vic
tim. tells him he has found the pocket book,
displaying its contents, and as the mans
name was in the book he had hunted him
up. Then he tells little story Of being
very poor, and the victim almost nvari-
ably gives him $ or $40. and takes the
book and its contents. OF course, he can
say nothing when he finds that he has
been swindled The man who thus returns
lost money succeeds in catching several
during day and realizes a good living"
1.-The most practical belief in ghosts
ever Knew said A. P. brennan Of Chicago
at the National. lis that of customer OF
mine at Pekin, Ill. The firm is the leading
one In the town handling agricultural i'm
plements and wagons. The business is
transacted under the name of T. 4 H.
Smith. 1 sold them several bills, and on
one Of my trips Mr.. H. Smith, with whom
always dealt. said that he would confer
with his brother that night as to a matter
OF business. / returned to the hotel and
happened to mention that l was detained in
order that the brothers could confer. To
my establishment. l learned that Theis
smith. to whom the matter was referred
fad been dead for twenty years. but was
supposed to return every night and conduct
the business. In case of any doubt In the
mind of the living brother, he goes to the
office and confers with the spirit of his de-
parted brother. The profits of the business
are divided as they were before the death
OF the senior brother
Il bellevs that the number 10 brings me
good luck" said P. T. Thornton Of Louis
Vile at the Metropolitan. II don't know
whether Oh not 1t was because 1 was born
on the 18th Of the month. but 1 have
Is combination in which 10 appears 1t is
a lucky one for me. 1 am as much Of a
crank In favor Of the number Ii as any
one can possibly be against 1t. II am
having a dull BUSH ess on the road. ask
the hotel clerks to give me room humber
Ii. 1t Is remarkable how many hotels
there are that have no room with that
number. ar 1 ON told that am the only
man who ever asks for room with that
m TO haSn
such ROOM
Pipe smoking is on the increase" said
B. D. Axley Of Durham at the Howard
w hen the present period Of financial de-
preston started, three years ago, q great
many quit smoking cigars and began smok-
ing pipes. as a measure of economy The
increase IN the sale of pipes was soon very
noticeable. and 1t was not long before 1t
became common thing to see young men
smoking pipes on the street and in public
places, which had not been done for years
before. The habit has grown until now
pipe smoking has become a fad and the
SAFE or pipes has quadrupled This has
brought demand for a better class of
goods in smoking tobaccos, and for yery
mcch more expensive pipes than could have
been sold five years ago."
II have been over thirty states within
the past three months" said A. C. Durbin
or st. Louis at the Riggs, land 1 have
never seen a presidential year when there
was so little interest taken in the cam
paign. / notice that the newspapers re-
port that there Is but little enthusiasm at
the republican national convention and
there will not be any more at the demo-
cratic convention, If as much. The BUSH
ness men are not taking any interest in
politics. fact which looks well. It is evil
dent that they have confidence in the out
look and are willing to let politics alone.
This being the case, it can be confidently
expected that there will be little or no loss
Of business this season on account of its
being presidential election year. Business
IS slowly, but surely. assuming better
tone. and I look for a good summer and
IA 10