Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1896-01-10
The Sturu Telter.
TRAPPED.
A Commercial Adventure.

A Commercial Adventure.
Ten years ago found me not with
the fine business now possess, but
employed as a commercial traveller in
the grocery line. My duties frequent.
ly took me to Birmingham, and if l
am to tell my story truthfully, I must
say 1 was at that period of my history,
to put it mildly, no better than 1 ought
to have been. The life of CONNER
cial is one fraught with very great
temptation, and I was not always
strong enough to keep my feet out of
the midst of the briers which then
beset my path, with which statement
my readers will readily agree when
they read the strange incident I am
now going to relate.
1t was o'clock on an autumn
evening. The streets of Birmingham
were being swept with rain. I had
had tolerably successful day, and
there reposed in my pockets the sum
of EGO which I had collected from
my firms customers. Having moth
ing particular to do, and the torrents
of rain absolutely forbidding all open
air enjoyment, had already drunk,
during the afternoon, more than l
ought to and much more than / need
ed. I called for further supply OF
brandy, and, while slipping it, was
joined by a stranger, who seemed
eager to enter into a conversation
with me.
Nothing backward, and with tongue
fairly set-a-wagging, I talked too, and
believe that before many moments
he had ascertained that l had EGO,
belonging to my employers, in my
possession.
The brandy finished, nothing would
satisfy my new-found friend but that
he should take me to the theatre,
where the well-known play of f"Drink"
was being performed. I remember
we'll how, half tipsy as was, l shud-
dered at the realistic portraiture, by
one of the artists, of a victim of deiir-
um tremens. I remember how the
horrors of drink were delineated, and
was sane enough to remark to my
companion:
"Bosh They are overdrawing it,"
Certainly" he replied, "they are
overdrawing it. But it's only play.
There are drinking bars here; they
are reality. Come, let's 60 and get
something"
So we went and "got something" "
and, to cut long story short, when l
left the theatre, leaning on the arm of
my friend, I was helplessly intoxi-
Gated. =.
The next thing I knew was thie.
The rain clouds had rolled away, and
ftful CLEANS of moonlight revealed to
me that I was in a strange room, lying
on a strange bed. Two o'clock chimed
out from q neighboring steeple. So,
bered with fright, I raised myself, and
then quick as a fash, came the
thought-my money! My clothes were
thrown across the bottom of the bed.
searched the trousers pocket-the
gold was there. =
Then heard voices in soft conver-
sation coming up from below. Nois-
lessly opened the bedroom door and
listened.
"Sure he's all serene? ?" queried one
voice; to which another responded,
"He won't wake till 6, at the earli-
est"
every good" said the first voice.
"Mind if he wakes whilst you are do
ing 1.-THE sentence was punctuated
by the unmistakable click of pistol,
and shivered-not from cold.
"And at 6 or 7, or whenever he does
wake" continued the voice, "tell him
you picked him up drunk in the street
and carried him in here out of COM
passion for safety, and you will easily
convince him that he was robbed out
of doors. But mind, 1 have done my
part in plying him with drink, and in
decoying him here; see you do yours
in gracefully relieving the poor fool OF
his EGO"
Here step on the stairs warned me
to close the door, and I got back to
bed. Hearing the knob of the door
turn, began to breathe heavily, after
the fashion of drunken man, and the
next instant, shading the candle with
his hand, there appeared the form of a
strange man, who was peering hxedly
into my face.
Satisfied apparently with his exami-
nation, my visitor searched my pock-
cts, pounced upon the gold, of course,
and quickly transferred it from its
erstwhile resting place to-where do
you guess? He went to bird cage,
which now, for the first time, I OBJ
served hanging up, drew out its slid
ing door, quietly emptied my gold into
it, replaced the slide, and-undressed
and lay down beside me. He was
soon asleep, and hope sprang up with
in me; but, alas of all the light sleep
ers, he was the lightest l ever knew.
Whenever I moved he appeared to be
on the alert. 1t was impossible to
crawl out of bed without his being
conscious of the fact. Besides, under
his pillow I knew was the pistol, and 4,
in despair, I had, reluctantly, to rest
1