The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-26
WITH A LOCAL SETTING.

There is on South Illinois street a res
taurant at which the messenger boys do
ing all-night duty eat at early morning
hours. In the restaurant is a telephone.
and the proprietor became annoyed at the
frequency with which the boys used the
telephone for other than official business"
The boys money was good he said. and
he didn't want to drive them away. He
tried several days to ''pursuade" them to
leave the telephone alone, and finally in
desperation. called up the exchange and
asked for suggestions for remedy. The
operator was equal to the occasion and
told him to have a sign printed saying:
Don't drop your nickel in until the opera
tor tells you to- IN order to make the boys
was adopted and the following night when
one of the boys called. the operator, after
realizing that II was just a continuation OF
nickel in and ring the bell" That was a
new one for the boy, but he asked sew
eral questions and finally left the phone
saying he, could not find the place to put
the nickel. For several nights the tele-
phone was used only for Legitimate" bust
ness. but the lads finally "tumbled." and.
through that phone, persist in calling the
operator and after. saving: oh. never
mind. now. I'll call after while, they
hang up the receiver much to her annoy
ance. All the boy patrons are In the game
and the operator is figuring on schemes to
FIX" them.
A report in New York papers several
days ago told of a man who. after long i'll
ness and unsuccessful treatment by sew
eral doctors, was "cured" by new doctor
who took him into Delmonico's and gave
him hearty meal, afterwards sending in
a bill for $500. which was paid after an ex-
PLANTATION that he had diagnosed his case
as starvation by doctors" from which he
would no doubt have died. The story sug-
gested to local physician another which
occurred about year ago in Iowa. where
a doctor went 500 miles to give man a
drink.
One of the county officials was taken
suddenly iii and for several months he was
confined to his bed under a physician s
care. During all this time he was fed on
liquids and grew constantly worse. and
fears Of resulting death caused the attend
Ing physician to call in other local doctors,
and finally holding consultations with
nearby. Finally the man thought he was
going to die, and last resort, asked
that physician of his acquaintance, liv-
ing in the far corner of the State be called
to see him. The physician was summoned
and appeared soon at his bedside. The To-
cal doctors were not in the house upon his
dTrlNdf, anu Wnlle taking with the De0-
ridden man the doctor put his hand on his
forehead. 1t was very hot and he said,
You have fever; perhaps you'd like a
drink?' The patient feebly replied that
he would and the doctor went out and got
pitcher of icewater. Raising the man
with his arm he held a glass of water to
his HIPS. The doctor was surprised to see
him drink the contents Of the glass without
once stopping or taking breath, after which
he said, .Oh, Lord, how good that feels. -
He asked for more and IL was given 10
him, and he turned over in bed and passed
on into sound sleep which lasted for
about fifteen hours. Two days after the
man was out of bed and local physicians
were dismissed for cause What
caused the cure no one knew. but water
was the only thing given by the new doc
tor who had Travelled 500 miles to see him
I'D like to know what the finish of that
was" said man yesterday morning after
telling the following story: II was down
town about o'clock this morning, and
after making telephone call picked ur
the directory. to look for another number
While looking some manipulation of the
wires and connections allowed me to hear
a woman say, evidently to some one In the
gas office. My gas Is out The man, with
voice indicating he had just been awak-
ened from deep sleep, said, Well, why
don't you put IL back Just then I was
cut OFF. but thought that an awfully chill
ly response with the thermometer z below
zero"