The times., 1897-05-30
HE KEPT COOL.
borrowed a Pencil From Foot.
pad and saved His Money.


''If a man gets the drop On you, the
| only thing to do is to keep cool md
make no resistance said Doc" HJrne
There's nearly always some way OF cut
WHITING footpad If you only keep coo
and use your head -Four OF them lad Inc
F, cornered once and thought they were
going to get $4,000, bat fooled them just
the same
.'Was thatin chicago?" asked the dentist
NO. in st. Louis. shortly after tie var
/ had been there several weeks nego,i-
atinS sOnie business for New York parties,
and in that time had become pretty well
acquainted with the Ir,oneyed men around
town, who, at the time, We're inclined to
be rather sporty L gainbIed occasionally
myself One night went into the largest
gambling house with a friend OF mine, and
began to play roulette It's a game I
seldom played. but had fancy TO play
it this night. Well. sir, I lost $500 al
most as fast as l could buy chips. Fl
halIy l had So worth Of white chips left.
and | pushed them over on the doubIe-O.
and, much to my surprise. the dOubIe-0
Game That Was The turn OF my luck
Within an hour I had $4,000 in from. Of
me. lost back To $500. and cashed in
The dealer had to give me an order ON
the proprietor, and as / didn't want To
carry small bills. he gave me two $1,000
bills and one $500 bill. He said he'd
keep the money in the safe FOR me, but L
was accustoInedto handling large SUMS, 80
just took the bifis and put them in my
vest pockets My friend and / left the
place. walked with him 20 the corner
and then started for holne-I then had
apartments In a private house.
on my way home / had to pass through
the wholesale district II was business
part OF town, but very dark and lonesome
at night. But had "a revolver and never
thought OF such thing as being robbed
On This night. hadn't waIked a block from
the corner at which had left my friend.
until saw two men ahead OF me about
half or twO-thirds OF a block. | 50 " thi.in
under lamp, and just as they did 50
they turned to see if was coming While
! was watching them Closely, deterJnIued
that they shouldn't catch me mapping, !
heard FOOTBALLS behind me. and knew
tnat two men were following me Then
began to appreciate ny situation
IF i hurried. the men in front would
stop me II | turned back. the two nleIl
behind would intercept me. They were
so close To me that | could not escape into
side street except by running, aud then
they would have a chance to shoot me
from behind If there was To BE- any
shooting done / wanted to be faced AROUND
and have a hand in it, You can UNDER
stand my predicament Their plan was.
evidently, for the two men in front 70
slacken their pace 80 that / could catch
up with them. and the two men coming
up behind would make me completely
surrounded, four men To one. They evi-
IDENTIFY believed they would have a tough
job, or there wouldn't have been four men
IN IT. / felt sure that 1 could Kill one or
two or them if 1t came To shooting, but
didn't see much chance TO escape il four
opened up on me.
Il had To do something mighty quick
and made up my min d in flash Ireacfl-
ed in my inside pocket, where l always
carried some stamped envelopes an q pulled
one Of them out. l slipped the money into
the envelope, and then. taking my card case
out of my pocket, so as to have something
on which TO rest the letter, felt for my
pencil It wasn't therei 1 remember
ed that | had loaned it 10 a fellow in the
ganItling room Do you know what did?
1 stopped hight under street lamp that
had mail box attached to il and yelled
TO those fellows n front and asked:
= Either of you got a pencii?' They
stopped and seemed Ia be in doubt about
coming back, but they evidently didn twant
IN nv
walked back and asked me whatI wanted.
i told him wanted pencil In the mean
time the fellows who had been folio wing
behind had stopped to see what was going
to happen. They were probably sur
priSed to see ne call this fellow back Is
for him, he didn't know what to do [
told bin I wanted to mail a letter. and
md forgotten part of the ADDRESS and
wanted To put it Oh. as it was important
that the letter got into the mail the 1irst
thing in the morning.
The explanation seemed To satisfy him.
II e came up 20 me, handed me a stub Of pen
Gil, and / rested the letter on the card case,
wrote my st Louis address Oh the envelope
and dropped it into mail box It was a
big chilied-Steel box, put there for the con
venience OF some of the wholesale houses
that sent out quantities of mail
After / had mailed The letter said 20
the man who had loaned me the pencil:
: Are you going down street, He mumbied
something, and l followed along, and we
overlook his partner in front Presently
the two I.lcn behind came up. and the five
of US walled along in silence.
1t was darker part OF the street, and
/ knew they We're about ready TO state
their business, so | stopped all of sudden
and said: en1emen, what can do for
yoU?' They were surprised. but a big fell
low, one OF the two who been behind, said:
You'd better give us that S2,5GO IL YOU
want to get home alive l replied that
had no such sum We know better the
big fellow said We saw you put IL in
your pocket when you left the gambling
house, aud he started tn come at me. Hold
on, said Don't get excited II is true
that had $1,000, but put il into an en-
velOpe and mailed il to myself at that big
box back there.
''OEe OF your party was kind enough 20
give me the pencil, with which I wrote
the address Then / said to them: Gen
tlernen, il you want that money. go and
get it out OF the mail box. II you think
you can break into a steel box which 's
on a corner. under a street lamp and not get
into trouble with he police. why go
and began TO threaten, but said: 1T
won't do you any good 20 attack ire.
You're four TO one. but III kill one Of
you before you can get me out of the way
Then one of the fellows said; WHAT'S