The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-01-02
A EUN OF BAD LUCK.

sou 1aQ IuSb bak6n = 0AbAA 0E4AA 110 Was
at a melancholy stage of his cups. and as
he unpouehed the fell jewel Benson shed
few tears.
/ 'fThat's an opal" remarked Benson to
the barkeeper, at the same time soaking
up a tear with his handkerchief.
ssThat opal has blighted my whole fam
lily. I've only had it month, and during
that month my horse ran away, lost my
place, and my wife skipped out with an
other man. I'm going to think up some
way to get rid of it. I'd throw it into the
sewer, only I'm afraid it would ruin the
drainage system of the city,
'fGet on the Alexandria boat and drop
it in the river suggested the barkeeper.
ssIt would do up the fish if I did, said
Benson. ''That opal would kill every fish
in the Potomac. I'm confident of it as
I am that I live. I've seen that stone at
work No; if I had some blood enemy,
I'd make up and saw that off on him. It
would blast his every hope"
"Give it to me- said the barkeeper,
after looking at it. He, by the way, was
of q hardy spirit, and not at all a slave to
superstition. "Give it to me if you don't
want it. I'll take chance with it if I
lose. What's she worth?'
s'That opal ought to be worth $780,
said Benson, passing it over. But if its
value was measured by the ruin it has
wrought there would be no figure you
could put on it,
So it was that the barman came into
possession of the opal. He admired it
and finally fastened 1t in his scarf.
'tIt's dead funny to me- - observed the
barkeeper a bit later to a race horse tout
with whom he did business. ~'fhow super
stitious some of these marks be. sNow
there's no more harm in that opal than
there's bite in stuffed dog. Betcherlife it
don't scare me. I'll wear it, and there
won't nothing happen to me. I don't get
the worst of it once. See?''
Thus boosted the barman in his dark
ness and his ignorance. He little knew
the future.
In less than ten minutes he had charged
a caustic cynical man 20 cents for rickey
and had been commented on with the
bung starter.
Not only did the overeharged stranger
smite the bar1nan hip and thigh, but in
the general spirit of destruction which
seized him he went on and wrecked the
place That saloon was as mixed a mess
as the grab bag at church sociable when
the wronged one of the rickey rested from
his labors.
At the Emergency hospital, where busy,
skillful doctors Strengthened the kinks and
set the broken bones of the devastated
mixer of drinks, a newsgatherer looked
on.
The battered man of bottles attributed
his darkened destinies to the opal and told
its story. He said he must get rid of it.
He was certain to de- he said, if he didn't
''I'Il take it., said the newspaper man.
sFThe opal isn't built that can throw me
down.
That evening the newspaper person was
actively present where five people were en-
gagged in the pastime known as draw pok-
er. He was one of the quintet. To show
his contempt for such fiends as might at
tend upon the opal he brought it into the
game.
What happened to himP Not much
truly. The other four didn't do thing to
him but beat a flush, full and three of
kind twice, which he held, and all in
rapid succession
He was shy S3O-his fortune-and had
given orders on his pay four weeks ahead.
Thus stood the newspaper man at the end
of the first hour. He was bew shed by
the opal.
I'm bag ridden, - he said, getting up.
ST cam win splinter until get rid of
this opal. Play four handed awhile, and
I'll go out on the street and b. ak it off
on some fellow I don't like. I'll come
back as soon as do and see if can't win
myself out of the hole
So the newspaper man left the four
lucky ones to play on.
Before he had walked a block from the
rooms where the game was going on he
had found his man. 1t was a friend who
just then trembled on the brink of we'd
lock.
81 don't want you to keep this opal,
Bill, said the newspaper man, because
it would down you. It's bad luck and
has caused three deaths, a confagration
and a bankruptcy in the last three
months. But here's what you do. Take
this fatal opal to a jewelers. and trade it
in for clock and half a dozen spoons for
the lady. It's worth 90 cases, and you
= l1vn3
keep it. It'u saw your leg off sure.'
Bill was very grateful. He wasn't
much afraid of an'opal at its worst, and
certainly it couldn't do much harm before
he'd get to the jewelers. with it,
'..But you might better go now, re-
marked the newspaper man. 1.-The stores
are still open, and L wouldn't give it any
time to get in its work. That's pretty
swift opal and gets into action rather
lively
Bill concluded to go at once. He would
act on the suggestion and get a clock. If
there was anything over, spoons would do.
Bill wheeled into the store and submitted
the venomous opal to the man in charge.
He plared the opal in his experienced
hands.
tYou amt afraid of opalsP'' asked Bill.
mot at all, - declared the jeweler.
"Then what'l you allow me on that in
| trader"
| The jeweler looked at The opal critically.
| "Il give you nothing at all on that, }"
responded the man of trade. f'That's not
an opal; never was; never will be.
"What, then?' said Bill, somewhat
crestfallen.
Its just glass; replied the store
| man, mere glass. -
And such was the fact and the truth
! Washington Post.