Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1899-10-26
MONEY IN THE AIR.
nado in the south Dakota
Country.

81 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,
sir! 0verwrought Imagination of some
country correspondent produced by a
too steady diet of strong liquor and
high temperature. Mud showerl
HUH"
''Well," responded the man from Buff
falo, affably, there are a good many
lies told in the papers nowadays, but it's
hard TO point 'em out with certainty.
Now once witnessed sight, gentle
men, that outdid anything ever de-
scribed in the way of freak showers.
It was cut in Sitting Bull, Wyo., about
~ years ago. I was running drug
store there; had full assortment of
horse liniments, rheumatism remedies,
and plug tobacco, and was taking in
from 60 cents to so cents day. Well,
one afternoon was standing in the
doorway keeping n lookout for man
who owed me for a tin of axle grease,
when all of a sudden it began lbo blow.
Wasn't anything alarming, you nnder-
stand; just plain blow5 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; and, well.
it took me about one-thousandth part
of a 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.
Il looked up and down the street,
he continued. There was no one in
sight. I put the bill in my pocket and
looked around for more. And found
them. Inside of half a minube the air
was full of them. They blew in from
the east like a flock of green sparrows.
1 filed 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 III money.
and every dod-blasted man. woman and
child in Sitting Bull was out harvest
ing.
well, gentlemen. I stalced off a-claim
with four bottles of cod liver oil and
stayed up until two in the morning
clearing it up with hay rake. And
when 1 went to sleep it was with the
cheering knowledge that I YVES 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 jan trunks, boxes
and gunnysac1s, they began to wonder
what it meant. There were lots Of the
ories presented, as you may imagine,
but none of them prov ed correct. But
there was the money pill ed high on every
door stoop. One man went crazy be
cause he couldn't find ut how muchhe
was worth; got diffe rent total every
count. As for me, Just counted one
soapbox full AZ ID estimated the balance;
1 had about $1,000, ,OOe."
sand ther p" asked the man in the
crash suit, as he sighed and drained his
glass TO tn e very last bit of lemon peel.
1T was all explained later, gentle
men. Tb ere was a cyclone-over in South
and a counterfeiter's house had
been le'.eled TO the ground. He lost
the prf,ceeds of four years of honest
toll"
''DTd-did you-?-
Gentlemen, n secret service officer
WITH II deputies rode into town one
day and arrested every last resident for
counterfeit money, Because of
the unusual circumstances we got off
with fine of $50 each. Talk about mud
showers, gentlemenr" - Chicago Inter
Ocean.