Arizona republican., 1899-10-05
MONEY IN THE AIR
Remarkable Result OF a Tornado In
the South Dakota Country.

Il see that they've had another muo
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 these newspaper lies. Mud show
els, red snow storms. airships. kissing
bugs; they're ali the same, nothing
out fakes, sir! Overwrought magma
Iion OF some country correspondent
produced by toe. steady diet cf strong
liquor and a. high temperature Mud
showeri HUH
Well" responded the man from
/ Buffalo, affably, there are a good
many lies told in the papers nowadays.
but it's hard to point 'em out with GER
talnty. Now l once witnessed a sight,
gentlemen, that outdid anything ever
I described in the way of freak showers
1t was out in Sitting Bull, Wyo, about
twelve years ago. 1 was running a
drug store there; had full assortment
OF horse liniments, rheumatism rene
dies and plug tobacco, and was taking
in from go to 80 cents a day. We'll
one afternoon / was standing in the
doorway, keeping q lockout for a man
who owed me for a tin Of axle grease,
when all of sudden it began to blow.
Wasn't anything alarming, you under
stand, just a plain blew; no need to
get into the cellar.
presently something futtered down
onto the sidewalk right at my feet. 1t
was kind Of green, and awoke tender
recollections in my breast; aad. well,
1t took me about one-thousandth part
of a second to pick it up. Gentlemen,
1t was nice, crisp $50 bill"
The man from Buffalo paused,
crooked his elbow, elevated his chin
and wiped his mustache dr;amily ON
his sleeve
I looked up and down the street
he continued There was no one in
sight. put that bill in my pocket and
locked around for more And l found
them. Inside of a half minute the air
was full of them. They blew in from
the east like flock of green spar16ws.
filled my pockets until they wouldn't
mold any more, and then l ran into the
store and got three soap boxes and
key. By that time the street. for three
or four blocks was ankle deep in mon
ey, and every dod-blasted man, woman
and child in Sitting Ball was out bar-
VISITING.
Wei, gentlemen, I staked eff
claim with four bottles Of cod liver Oil
and stayed up until o'clock in the
morning clearing it up with a hay
rake. And when went to sleep it was
with the cheering knowledge that L
was one CT the richest men in the
world. Every enc of these bills was
brand new, crisp $50 gold certificate,
signed sealed and delivered at the
door, gentlemen.
'"The next day, when every one had
their money put away in trunks,
boxes and gunnysacks, they bsgan to
wonder what it meant There were
lots of theories presented, as you may
imagine, but none OF them proved cor
rect. But there was the money, piled
high on every mans door stoop. One
man went crazy because he couldn't
find cut how much he was worth; got
a different total every count AS for
me, just counted one soap boxful and
estimated the balance; l had about
81, 100000"
And them" asked the man in the
crash suit, as he sighed and drained
his glass to the very last bit Of lemon
peel.
st was all explained later, gentle
men. There had been a cyclone over
in South Dakota, and a counterfeiter'
house had been leVeled to the ground.
He lest the proceeds of four years Of
honest toll"
''DId-did you-?"
Gentlemen, secret service officer
with fourteen deputies rode into town
one day and arrested every last resi-
dent for passing counterfeit money.
Because of the unusual circumstances
we got off with y fine of $50 each. Talk
about mud shower gentlemeni" Chi
cago Inter-Ocean.