The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-05-06
SKELETONS In CLUBS.
THE QUEER PERFORMANCES OF THE
TWO BLANKS or NEW YORK.

Mystery Of the Man Who stole Food 1t
Free Luncheons-Another Man with .
Historical Name who Took To Wearing
Old Clothes and wss Dropped.
A decently dressed man, with a sham
bling gait and a shifty eye, walked down
Broad street one afternoon last week and
attracted the attention of a broker who
was standing in his Office window. The
broker watched the man closely until
the fellow had disappeared around the
corner into Wall street. He had called q
visitors attention TO the man.
Have you ever seen that fellcw be-
fore?' he asked.
",;is face is familiar. and / am sure
that l have seen him somewhere, but l
can't place him. Who is he?"
John Blank" said the broker. men,
ticning q family name that vas we'll
known IL am q member Of three good
clubs" continued the broker, naming
three tina. one would naturally place at
the head Of the list Of New York clubs,
land in the course of a long experience
with the management Of them l have
seen some curious club skeletons. They
are unpleasant. Blank was a skeleton in
the - club until we finally got rid
If him, and to this day hone of the men
who knew the facts about his expulsion
has ever had any explanation Of them.
$50 far as family connections are
concerned, Blank is eligible TO any club
in this city, and we always understood
that he had a good income. 1t was about
i've years ago, when / was a member of
the house committee, that my attention
was first called to Blank. A member of
The club came to me N day and said:
"'See here. I've got q disagreeable
iuty to perform. You know that re-
freshments are served at every regular
meeting Of the club, and l have noticed
for several months back that John Blank
has slowed away a lot of things in his
pockets on every such occasion
why, that is absurd, l replied,
and / suspect that he has been drinking
too much. You know hat these month
ly lunches are free to the members
"'That was the view that l took Of
it the first time that / noticed it, he
replied, but l watched this man at the
last meeting very closely. He was not
intoxicated. He ate his lunch. and then
l saw him wrap up q piece OF chicken,
some lobster salad and a brick Of ice
cream in separate packages, put them
under his overcoat and leave the club.
It's an amazing proceeding, and think
that il is high time that something was
done about it,
This mans complaint interested me,
and l investigated it. Some Of the club
walters told me that Blank had occa
s~ionally taken articles Of small value
from the club, and that he always car
ried away q package after a free supper.
There seemed to be no reasonable ex-
PLANTATION for his little steals. He was
and is "a lawyer in good practice, and,
as you know. he lives very comfortably.
I consulted with some of the other
house committeeman, and we decided
to look out for Blank at the next sup
per. He turned up promptly. and, sure
enough, we saw him stealthily make up
a package from the lunch table and
walk out with IL. There was nothing
left for us to do but to ask for an ex-
PLANTATION.
Charges were preferred against him
and = formal notification was sent to
him. Blank paid no attention to it. We
thought that he might not have receiv-
ID il AID we sent him another notifica-
ION and made sure that 1t reached him.
Blank ignored il. and then we dropped
him for conduct ~unbecoming q gentle
man. Blank never came rear the club
house after his first notification, and so
far as / ! know he has never given an in
dication Of r~esenting our action in drop
ping him. Now what do you suppose
was the explanation Of his thefts? I
never have been able to find one that
was satisfactory. 1t has been asserted
that despite his large income he is nat
urally a very miserly fellow. but that is
merely gossip. I meet him occasionally.
and he is always affable. 1t was q disa-
greeable affair, and to this day an in
applicable one."
A man who had listened attentively
to the brokers' story said:
II a equal that with an experience
in my own club. The man in question
has recently died and 1t is only charita-
bic to say that he was probably insane
for several years before he died. He was
Arthur Blank"-mentioning a histor-
zeal name. About three years ago this
man began to wear very shabby clothes.
He had always been very careful in his
dress, and this change was surprising.
He came to the club and sat around,
looking like a tramp. His linen was
ragged, and even the walters looked
askance at his clothes. knew that he
had money, but it was not a pleasant
task to suggest to him that he should
get some new clothes. He was an old
bachelor. and he had rooms in an ex-
p~ensive bachelor apartment house. Hi
condition was . disgrace to the club
and as a last resort half a dozen Of his
old friends got mp q purse Of 800 and
went to his tailor and ordered a new
suit Of clothes for him. They told the
tailor that il was in payment Of Z