The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-07-15

Gaming on eacl OF the Victims ana lnQ-
ing out what / could without giving
myself away. Four of the ten women
who had been hurt enough to get their
names in the list of the injured lived
in Chicago, and I determined to hunt
them up first, and, if successful, go
after the others later, leaving those
farthest away for the last. 1t was a
delicate operation this of going about
calling on strange ladies, asking how
many fingers they had on hand, and,
if they didn't have enough, did they
want another, and so forth, and as I
rang the door bell at the first house
/ was obliged to hold myself together
with all my Will to keep from going to
pieces and absolutely running away.
THE house was a very good one, in
/ the suburbs, and in response 70 my
knock q fat lady appeared. l asked
for the lady whose name 1 had down,
and the fat lady said she was the one.
L made up my mind then and there
that my romance was ruined, and that,
either one way or the other, the finger
was no more TO be worshiped, for if it
was hers / didn't want to keep it, and
if she took it I certainly didn't want
the rest OF her. 1 began to ask her
about the accident, but before l had
gone far she showed her hands, so to
speak, and L saw plainly that she had
all the fingers she had room for and,
with some kind Of specious lie, l prom
ised to call again. and got out.
THE next place was a boarding
house. and the landlady had been in
the accident. She was about 40 years
old and mighty good to look at, and
l began to have hopes and dream
dreams right away. When / began to
talk about the accident, saying / was
lawyer looking for the persons who
might be entitled TO damages, she said
she hoped I would be successful, for
she was a poor widow with six chill
Gren to support, and she needed every
cent she could get The hand in her
lap had its full complement Of fingers,
and as she put the other up to her
eyes, quite pathetically, l noticed that,
too had as many as could be accom-
modated with the space at command.
Then l told another lie, and got out
as gracefully and kindly as 1 could,
Tor l really liked that woman.
Inc next one was a colOred lady,
and as soon as / saw her [ knew she
was not in the deal, and asking if she
was Mrs. Brown, which was not the
name | should have asked for, and she
said she was not, l apologized and left.
The next address was at an apartment
house. with an office on the ground
floor and a reception room for callers.
1t was u pretty swell looking place.
and hoped that my finger would find
stopping place there. whether | ever
did or not. | sent up my card with a
mere on business written in the cor
ner' and word came back presently for
the gentleman to state his business.
knew then l was suspected of being
some kind of an agent or other, so [
wrote a brief note, saying it was con-
m W
the lady had been injured. In a few
minutes handsome gray-haired wOm-
an of 90 or more, with her arm in a
sling, appeared in the reception room,
where | was waiting. You see, she
did not know who I was, and she pre-
ferred to talk to me where she could
call on the clerk if necessary.
Il saw my romance go tumbling all
in heap as she entered, but / was
glad that the finger was going to fall
into such good hands, and in a very
businesslike tone l began 10 make my
statement of finding the finger, my
preservation of il, though without any
of the decorations, and the serious re-
suits of the accident to myself as the
reason of my not having sooner pre-
Sented myself.
81 guess / must have made a very
good impression on the lady, because
she smiled at my story and did not
seem to think l had done other than
what l should have done in keeping
the finger, but it was not her finger.
Again my romance resumed sway, and
l began apOlOgizing, when the lady
said her forearm had been broken. but
that her daughter had lost the finger.
] said / had not seen her name in the
list of the injured, and the lady said
she had inadvertently given the con-
q 90 I'd nf q
waukee, for which ample apologies had
been made. She told me her daughter
had suffered more from shock than
from anything else, though consider
ably bruised Just how the finger had
been cut off they could not tell, as the
hand had been only slightly confused.
She explained that her daughter was
not at home, but would be the next
day, if l would call then with the fin
ger. 1t was at the doctors Office, where
had left it for him to see if it was
being preserved all right, and l told
the lady that any time which would
suit her convenience would suit mine,
and she appointed o'clock in the next
afternoon
Il went away without a word about
the daughter, except as to her owner
ship of the finger, and wondered what
she was like and if she had a husband,
widow without any, or spinster Of
sour temper, or rOly-poly old maid
that would be joy forever, and when
| saw the finger at the doctors Office
L took another good look at it, and
concluded that the lady was roly-poly,
whether maid, wife or widow. The
doctor guyed me a good deal, and in
sisted on going with me next day to
see that l was not buncoed or bad
gered or something. but L flouted at him
and promptly at the hour 1 was sending
up my card, A.nd had the precious relic
l was soon to lose in a plain bottle in
my pocket. as if it had never been any
thing more than an anatomical speci-
men preserved in spirits. 1t was
very prOsy looking affair, but OH what
poetry had been in all my thoughts
of it
This time the ladies did not come
down, but / was asked to go uD to
see them, and l was met at the door
of their apartment by the mother, who
introduced me to her son-in-Iaw. Once
more nv romance was knocked out,
and, without waiting for any explana-
tons. [ handed the bottle to him, as
the legal representative of his wife.
Here, Mary he called; here's
something for YOU and a good-looking
woman came out, and l was introduced
to his wife.
'Ugh!' she exclaimed as he gave it
to her, it's poor Kate's,' and she went
into another room with it, and pres
entity returned with a very pale lady,
whose hand was IN a sling.
This is my daughter Kate said
the mother, and sfrom that / imagined
Kate was neither wife nor widow. and
my romance got on its feet once more.
for Miss Kate, though looking a good
deal the worse for wear and wreckage,
was handsome woman, somewhere in
the thirties, and as gracious to me as if
l had been comforting favor upon her.