Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-06-24

CIUoClg az COulu tuo uuhuNIibiuE "
ihe barber at Cotley, of whose caligra
ply had secured specimen.
/ Most of my readers will already havt
guessed why troubled to post thest
pencil addressed letters TO myself a
Cotley, and then, after rubbing out thC
direction, readdressed them in ink Il
Jeanes at Professor Lawrance's estab
lishment at Stanby, but as some may
fail to do so l had better perhaps ex
plain myself.
If a letter for Jeanes should be for
warded on to Professor Lawrance'!
rooms from Cotloy, that letter it woult
be my business, by hook or by crook, tC
abstract. But to do this without at
tracting suspicion itwould be necessary
to have dummy letter with which tC
replace it, and the dummy would have
to bear the Cotley postmark and be di
rected in a hand as much resembling thC
handwriting on the original letter as
possible. How to arrange all this had
puzzled me at first, for, though | Gij
not anticipate any difficulty in hitting
upon a pretext by which to obtain q
specimen of the Cotley barber's hand
writing or in initiating that handwrit
ing when obtained, l could not sec
how to get over the difficulty of the
postmark. A postmark is not an easy
thing to forge without specially pre-.
pared tools, and until the idea occurred
to me of posting at Cotley letter ad.
dressed in pencil to myself ut Stanby,
and then rubbing out the address and
readdressing it to Jeanes, was rather
at loss to know how to effect my pur-
pose. However, the difficulty was now
satisfactorily surmounted, and, armed
with my dummy letters, set out tC
make the acquaintance Of Professor
Lawrance.
He was an extremely unpre2ossessing,
not to say villainous, looking man and
regarded me with what 1 could not
help thinking was asuspioious eye when
I entered. submitted to be shaved and
shampooed, both of which operations be
performed badly, though he regaled me
meanwhile with his views in regard to
the winner Of the Derby, and also of a
prize fight which was coming off that
day.
"By the bye" said as was draw
ing on my gloves, "can one have letters
addressed here?"
"No," be replied shortly, eyer can't.
1t don't pay-on the usual terms"
II know that" said, "or I should
not have asked you. But I'm willing to
pay special terms.
"Is it 'orses?" he inquired gruffly.
eyes, horses" l said, taking up the
cue which he had given me, "but it's a
FOOLS game, and I've lost "a lot of money
over it already"
"Ahr' with a grin. "And yer've got
a introduction, of course. don't take
on customers Of tEat sort without hin
PRODUCTION. Tt amt safe. "
The affair was panning out beyond
my reckoning, but from what had tran
spired felt sure that I should be safe in
assuming he was more Of betting
agent than q barber, and that the wisest
thing for me to do would be by bluffing
boldly to lead him to suppose knew
all about him, SO 1 nodded assent as
airily as possible and as if his question
had been mere matter of course.
"Who is it," he asked point blank.
Morrison" replied without o
moments hesitation, Henry Morrison
Of Doncaster. You recollect him-tall
man, clean shaven and small eyes;
wears fawn coat and brown billy
cock. He said any money l put on with
you would be quite safe.
The barber nodded. Like as not,
though l don't rekerlect him from yer
description. Well, wot dyer want me
to back?"
"Ah, that's what wish you to tell
me, 4" ] said-this time at least with alb
solute truthfulness, for as a matter of
fact did not know as much as the
name Of one of the horses or what was
the race which we were supposed to be
discussing.
Creased Lightning's the lay" he
said. Its dead cert. I can get yer
level money now. It'll be to 3 hon to-
morrow. How much are yer going to
spring."
1 replied that he could put "fim-
sy" OH for me, and after he had entered
the amount and my name-which |
gave as Henry Watson-in a greasy
notebook, / wished him good morning,
promising to call again soon to see if
there were any letters.
The rest Of the day spent for the
most part in my bedroom watching
the customers who patronized Professor
Lawrance's saloon, nor was my vigil
without result in assisting Inc to form
an opinion as to the class of business
which was there carried on. Not more
than dozen people entered the estab-
lishment during the day, and the ma
jority of them had called neither to be
shaved nor to have their hair cut. Ny
reason for coming to this conclusion
was not that had such telescope and
microscopic eyes as to be able to detect
in every case whether the caller had
been under the barber's hand since his
entrance, but because most Of Professor
Lawrance's customers did not remain
inside his shop more than half a min
ute, and because, too, I saw letter in
the hand Of more than one of those who
came out. And as the postman never
passed the door without making deliv-
cry, and the callers were all more or
less horsy in dress and appearance, the
evidence seemed to point pretty clearly
to the fact that Professor Lawrance
CA9ToRTA.
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