The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1897-07-03
STRANGE sToRY.
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PreSsntatloh Of Card.
''This play Of The Fatal Card we've
been having here lately" said WASH
iRgt0h merchant, reminds me Of q
card story"
mot one Of the kind Of cards that
Washingtonians are most familiar
with, IL it," inquired the reporter, try
ing to be facetiOus.
Hardly. But lee me tell you the
tale. when / was a youngster Of is or
less, which is now forty or fifty years
ago. hadn't as much money as have
now. nor did my parents, but we thrived
well. and got the best education that
was to be had at the time, owing to
the kindness Of q millionaire relative
Of mine. an old chap who died when /
was about 20. We never knew the
story until he died, and then IL 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 with him by the same people.
both being orphans. They were as
brothers, or even closer, in their affec-
lions, and when they started out to seek
their fortunes they each wrote card
and gave 1t to the other. Just what the
inscription was don't know, but it was
enough to signify that IL one was in
need the other would honor the card
under any circumstances, and after any
lapse Of time, II he were financially able
to do so.
well, they worked together for
awhile, and then. by business changes
and one way or another, they separ-
ated. For long time they kept up a
correspondence, but as the years went
by that dropped, for in few years one
was very successful, while the other
man was not, and you know how things
go under those circumstances. A. quar-
ter Of a century went by, and by that
time my relative was a millionaire
many times over, and the nastiest,
meanest, stingiest, crustiest old cuss in
ten states. He couldn't help that, per-
haps, and don't know that he tried,
Anyhow. one day 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 long story Of suffering
and want. of sick and starving wife
and children and the usual concomi-
tants of that kind of situation, and
then handed my relative card. It
was yellow and worn and dirty, but it
was the same old card that he had
given his boyhood friend. The old man
gave the applicant 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
policeman came to the old mans Office
with a note and card. All the note
said was: Give this to my boyhood
friend, -. He will understand
1.-THE note was unsigned. The card
which the policeman handed over had
a hole through 1t as If cut by a knife,
and there was blood about the edges Of
the cut. The officer explained that it
had been found on the dead body of q
man in an attic room in the slums, with
a knife driven through 1t and into the
name heart. That was all the police
man knew. 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
parents; he organized charities and he
offered a reward of 81 900 for the fam
lily Of his dead friend, He never found
it, however, and I fancy the friend
never had family. Iguess he wasn't
any good, anyway, but, whether he was
or not, the way he took himself OF was
a blessing to the old man, and most en-
phatically to all Of his kin. Washing