The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1899-10-19
MONEY I'm THE AIR.
Remarkable Result of a Terrible Tor-
nado In the south Dakota
Country.


IT see they've had another mud
shower somewhere in Oklahoma" OBJ
served the man in the crash suit as he
laid down the paper.
"Huh," calculated the man who had
just paid for the round, another one
of those newspaper lies. Mud showers,
red snowstorms, airships, kissing bugs;
they're all the same, nothing but fakes,
sirl Overwrought Imagination of some
country correspondent produced by a
too steady diet of strong liquor and a
high temperature. Mud showerl
HUH"
"Well," responded the man from Buff
falo, affably, there are good many
lies told in the papers nowadays, but it's
hard to point 'em out with certainty.
Now I once witnessed sight, gentle
men, that outdid anything ever de-
scribed in the way of freak showers.
1t was out in Sitting Bull, Wyo., about
.12 years ago. I was running drug
store there; had a full assortment of
horse liniments, rheumatism remedies,
and plug tobacco, and was taking in
from 60 cents to so cents a day. Well,
one afternoon / was standing in the
doorway keeping a lookout for man
who owed me for tin of axle grease,
when all Of sudden it began to blow.
Wasn't anything alarming, you under
stand; just plain blow; no need to get
into the cellar.
Presently something fluttered down
onto the sidewalk right at my feet. 1t
was kind of green and awoke tender
recollections in my breast; and, well,
it took me about one-thousandth part
of second to pick it up. Gentlemen,
it was a nice, crisp, $50 bill"
The man from Buffalo paused,
crooked his elbow, elevated his chin,
and wiped his mustache dreamily on
his sleeve.
81 looked up and down the street" !"
he continued. "There was no one in
sight. put the bill in my pocket and
looked around for more. And ] found
them. Inside of half minute the air
was full of them. They blew in from
the east like flock of green sparrows.
I filled my pockets until they wouldn't
hold any more, and then / ran into the
store and got three soap boxes and a
keg. BY that time the street for three
or four blocks was ankle deep in money,
and every dod-blasted man, woman and
child in Sitting Bull was out harvest
ing.
"Well, gentlemen, staked off claim
with four bottles of cod liver oil and
stayed up until two in the morning
clearing it up with q hay rake. And
when went to sleep it was with the
cheering knowledge that 7 was one Of
the richest men In the world. Every
one OF those bills was brand-new,
crisp. $50 gold certificate, signed,
sealed and delivered at the door, gentle
men.
The next day, when everyone had
their money put away in trunks, boxes
and gunnysacks, they began to wonder
what it meant. There were lots Of the
ories presented, as you may imagine,
but none of them proved correct. But
there was the money piled high on every
door stoop. One man went crazy be-
cause he couldn't find out how much he
was worth; got different total every
count. As for me, just counted one
soapbox full and estimated the balance;
had about 1000 .o00.''
"And then-?' asked the man IN the
crash suit, as he sighed aud drained his
glass to the very last bit Of lemon peel.
1T was all explained later. gentle-
men. There was d cyclone over In South
Dakota, ana a counterfeiter's house had
beer. leveled to the ground. He lost
the proceeds of four years OF honest
TOLL sf,
"Did-di you-7H 3,
nGentlemen, secret service officer
with IA deputies rode into town one
day and arrested every last f<sIdent for
pressing counterfeit mousr, Heeaueeof
the unusual cIreuzn6fances me- got on
With d flne 81 15o each. Talk about mud
showers. eentiez1enl = Chicago Inter
- UncIs hilI,s Ieees. 49,
Some men are like feathers; they
never rise until some one puffs them
Women talk against time because