Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-25
TROUBLES ON The MIDWAY
Wild Scramble Of the Nations for Share Of
Mike Gabrels Stock.
THEY HAD sTAKtD A FELLOW MERCHANT
Prince of the orient starts n Run on
Mikes Bank nnd Leaves Him
Pcnniicss and with
out Goods.

Two lone men stood in the center OF a
jostling, jabbering, gesticulating press OF
people in the International building at the
exposition Monday afternoon and listened
to such a wild confusion of tongues as man
has never heard since that summer day when
supernatural incident happened at the
tower of Babel. Swedes elbowed Italians,
excited Fronchmen shreked high above the
mutterings of slow Turks, Greeks pushed
against broad -shouldered Germans to get to
the center Of the crowd and when the uproar
was at its height Long Sing Lee came run
ming from afar, shouting Chinese profanity
backwards.
The men at the center of things were
Constable Hardy and his interpreter, the
former holding in his hand the slip OF paper
that represented the authority of the law to
stretch out its strong arm and seize Mike
Gabriels stock of silver llagree work, ci-
garette cases. perfumed wood and the thou
sand and one other things that make up a
stand of oriental goods. But it was not
really Mikes stock, but that OF fifteen or
twenty other dealers who had "staked" Mike
because he was penniless and honest.
Mikes principal creditor is Habib ]. Farah,
who is known on the Midway as the Prince
of the Orient" and is the helpful patron OF
many a swarthy skinned merchant OF the
White City. Habib is the man who supplies
all the dealers on the exposition grounds
with oriental goods, and on account Of his
willingness to furnish the goods for new
start in business he is universally beloved
among American orientals. 1t was Habib
who did the most to set Mike Gabriel on
his feet with a select stock OF articles in
the International building and it was largely
on account of Habib's confidence in Mike that
the other concessonaires gave him goods to
sell on commission. Mike had no capital
of his own, but his fellows were willing to
trust him and he was started in business
with stock contributed by Germans. Ital
ians, Greeks, French, Turks, Egyptians,
| Swedes and Cinnamon.
For a while Mike seemed to prosper.
Habibs face was serene. and the Others
watching Habb had faith in Mike. But as
| the end drew nearer and nearer, and Mike
was still unable to settle the scores, Habb
| became uneasy. He believes in encouraging
| the under dog but at the same time his
property is his own, and so finally he sued
out an attachment on his goods. And 1t was
when he went to serve this attachment that
| Constable Hardy learned the words Of all
| languages that express grief and consterna-
! tion.
The watchful eyes that have been on Mike
! detected the man of the law on his entrance
and the rumor Of his intentions spread like
the tidings Of a plague through the building.
| There was rush for Mikes stand and forty
hands were stretched out to divide Mike $
stock and claim their own portion. But JUS
tice can hear, if she is blind, and she inter-
posed.
Constable Hardy left his man to stand
| between Mikes stock and the nations OF
the earth while he called up Habib's lawyer
| Habb was willing to let the claimants take
their goods If his lawyer was and the lawyer
replied that If Habib would be satisfied with
what was left a settlement out of cour
would be the best thing. Then the ecu.
stable marshaled the creditors in an orderly
line and one by one they picked out theii
own goods and left. AS each did so ht
signed a receipt.
Habib lost money on the deal, but as HI
knew the risk from the start he had NJ
complaiut to make. Mike is busted" bu
yet he counts himself more fortunate thai
he might have been, for he still enjoys tn,
respect and confidence Of his countrymen
They know that selling souvenirs at the ex
position has not been the royal road II
, aff1uence this summer.