The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-05-20
A WATERS ROMANCE

gather there after their days work for COS
sip and midnight lunch. The only rule
observed by this jolly Bohemian gathering
is a rigid one. The party always sits at the
same table, in a far corner, and must al
ways be served by the same waiter, for
id faced young Dutchman with sandy
hair and thin, yellow mustache, who went
by the name of John in the present in
stance. None suspected their waiter had a
story until on one occasion a guest of one
of the regular habitues told of an escapade
he had had the previous summer at Ant
werp. John" stood by, listening; seemed
to enjoy the point of the story hugely, and
then told some things about Antwerp
that showed he knew the place well. Il
ought to, - he said Il was born and raised
there, and expect to go back when save
$780, This aroused our curiosity, and,
with little pressing, John told US his ro-
nance.
His father and brother, he said, were
manufacturing jewellers in Antwerp, and
the family were rich. Hans-for that was
this real name-had been apprenticed I'M
der an elder brother as a goldsmith, in
tending to make jewelry as his father and
brothers did, and his grandfather before
him. The young fellow gained a good foot
hold in his craft, married and settled down
in home of his own. Three months later
a sudden glut in the jewelry trade made it
necessary for his firm to dispose of their
surplus stock, quickly and for cash, or be-
come seriously pressed for funds. The
United States was chosen as market and
Hans for the salesman, as he only could
speak English. The chief profit of the
transaction was to be in smuggling the
jewelry into the states by way of Canada,
thus avoiding duties and obtaining the ad-
vantage of cheaper European labor.
Hans said he undertook the journey for
his wife's and fathers sake. The venture
was successful and very profitable. The
financial crisis was safely passed. Then
the firm induced Hans to try it again, and
after that he took frequent trips to Amer
lea. The salesman smuggler would land
at Halifax and take a train to little town
close to the border line of the states. Ar
irving there he would seek lonely spot,
generally in thewoods, where he would bury
the jewelry, incased in a stout oilclOth
bag Then he would cross the line, have his
baggage inspected, stop at the first sta
ton and return and disinter his stock of
merchandise at night The miles of will
derness along the Canadian borders of the
states and the impossibi1ity of patrol1ing
it by customs officers made the evasion of
duties a comparatively simple matter,
Hans said, for he only had to take the sim
pie precaution of choosing different and
widely separated points each trip he made
across the line.
About two years ago the salesman found
nearly $500 in cash, the proceeds of his
last insta1lment of jeweIry. He started
out to see the town, and late in the even
ing was imprudent enough to show his
wallet of money in drinking and gam
bling resort where he had been carousing
Then he left for his lodgings with some
what unsteady gait. Suddenly he thought
he heard a step behind him and was about
to turn, when an oyerpowering blow was
dealt him on the head, and he fell forward
unconscious.
The next thing he remembered was in
hospital bed in Denver. He had been there
three weeks and was slowly convalescing.
The doctors told him that memory, mind
and almost life itself had deserted him in
the interim, but that his crushed skull
had been trephined and that he would
probably recover.
His money was gone, of course.
AS soon as he was able he wrote to his
relatives in Antwerp, telling them what
had happened. After weeks of waiting he
received a reply His father did not be-
lieYe the story, and intimated that he had
stolen the money. His father, they said,
had influenced 1.-The firm not to prose-
cute, and the firm had decided not to
do so upon condition that Hans should
never leave the States, or least never re-
turn to Antwerp unless he brought the
money back with him.
But inclosed in the letter was another
that made the invalid's heart leap. 1t was
from his wife. She did not believe him
guilty, of course, and was about to sail,
with her 2-month old child, for America.
This would take all her available pin mon
ey, so she expected her husband to meet
her in New York city. The date of the
ceipt of the letter showed, when compared
with the sailing day, that the vessel would
reach New York in about ten days
Hans was penniless and in a hospital,
D l. 70, Il
waiting for him, alone, and a stranger in
a land whose very language was unknown
to her. The young husband was almost
frantic, and the worry affected his condi-
ton SO seriously that finally one of the doc
tors asked him to unburden his mind to
him. To this stranger Hans told his story.
The doctor had heard many rOmances, and
his position made it impossible for him to
assist the invalid personally, but he gave
the story to a reporter on one of the Den
YER papers, who published long "display"
article about it. Four days later a letter
came for Hans postmarked Cripple
Creek. 1t contained a crisp, new $50 bill,
and a scrawl, written in lead pencil, in
which ''Bill'' said that, although he was
id hard up when he took the wad, he
was no hog and returned enough there
with to enable Hans to reach his woman
and kid
In this way Hans reached New York and
found his wife, and together they began
their struggle against fate. After a few
months they drifted to this city almost
penniless. The wife took in plain sewing
and in the daytime Hans worked at his
trade. From s in the evening until mid
night the husband was also extra" waiter
in the restaurant, earning for that So a
week and tips" Every spare cent not
needed for household necessaries went into
a savings fund.
1T is pretty hard scratching sometimes"
the waiter concluded, but some day she
and win go home to Belgium together,
and I must take back the $500 to prove m
an honest man and no thief.
Weeks passed after this recital, and most