The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-03-25
He RAN INTO The WRONG MAN
CROOK WHO SURELY PLAYED IN
HARD LUCK.
Falls in With the Man Next Door
Who MAZDA the Worst Kind of a
Monkey Of Him.
Wa Shin-ton StarN

washington Starr
Inc meanest man ever see" said
the ge1tlenanly ex-hotei sneak. "vas
a chap falls in on in a room in the
Palace Hotel, San Francisco. I stud.
led the makeup Of the hanmen.s pla-
toon in that outfit for q. week or ter
days, watching for absentees bsfore
got chance to do anything Their
the tAlrd floor front mailman turned mn
olDe afternoon missing. S'pcse he Wa
SICK, or on a drunk, or sometbinr- liI-s
that 1 figured that they couldn't 90
ancther Mailman to take his DIsca ba
Iore the next morning, and so con-.
oluoed TO co q little business along ms
me OF the third floor front right away
happened 10 know that there were
some good people located in that end al
the house, and I took a rubberneck
at the key rack and saw that a lot nj
them were out, their keys being pig
eon-holed- All I had 10 do was "a
Jake the front elevator, ride I'D TO the
Lhlro moor, step of, and the third floor
front nah was mine for operations !
went up. and theirs was no third floor
front Mailman 1t looked too easy. -
This is like taking candy from a
enid, thought. as I rubber-shoed
Gown the hall in the direction Of a Ger
tain suite OF rooms that had in mind
a prinla dOnna's suite. the key 20 the
MAN ooor or which was in the Office
rack Inc number of the entrance
door TO this suite was S.. It was Kind
O. dark down that way. and I'm \ hI+
HearSiShteo, anyway and so. instead
81 getting hold o. the knob Of No. IS
door-feeiing of my bunch O. Skeletons
with the other hanG-what do l do bur
give the quiet twist on the handle of No
DO! The door was not locked and I
KneW right of that somebody was in
SIDE the room. was all ready with nv
beg pardon-nlade a mistake'-when 7
heard Come in uttered by some guy
with deep base voice
Wen, 1t was ny bet, and in 7
stepped 1t was a handsome room. and
over by one of the WINDOWS a big. good
looking duck was standing in his sbirt
sleeves II front Of a small satchel glass
shaving himself
he didn't turn around at all as I
entered, but 1 guess he was piping me
on, ali the same in that little shaving.
glass; He went right on scraping his
face. though.
IN have to ask you to excuse me. >
l began, standing up straight ana
throwing cut a Ssniow vest for a bluff
The twists and turns OF this
The chap lowers his razor and turns
around and hand me the winning
smile.
Cut that, pail said he, wise like
Don't pass me that kind
What do you mean% 7 asked him
1t looked from his style that he was a.
phony, but 1 didn't intend TO be baited
into any trap with my lamps open.
He stood gTinnine at me-
Guess you were after the sing
stress stuff. hey, Bud says he to me
and IN the dark you got mixed on the
rooms? Well she's out, all right. and
SOS her maid. I'd ha' gone after her
gear myself. burt that kind o. works a
bit out o my line and I'm clumsy AT
It Sit down. She's singing at a matt
nee, and you've got lots Of time. Much
doing?'
We'll, this looked pretty much like he
was q member Of the craft in some
branch Of it or other. He had the nal
ter down all straight. Moreover bis
grayfsh hair was cut pretty short. and
II struck me that he might be a Iag
who'd juSt finished a stretch over the
road. so that his hair hadn't had time
to shoot out to the rigsht length for
such a good locker But I didn't pro-
pose to nibble until I had the game
COPIED dead to rights.
Look here, my friend, said I. doing
a heavy I-oon't-get-nex stunt. what
the deuce are you talking about?'
Well, sir. he just threw his head
back and hollored
You've set your business down all
pat, pal, said he when he was able TO
Talk fer his chuckling. However. den't
make me yisgie- I've got the earache.
Just switch that parSon end of II. and
deal from the middle or bottom. You're
working the halls. Well. that's moi nv
lay, but every man to his own graft
Have a ball?'
He went over to his dresser. picked
up quart bottle Of the correct goods
and couple o glasses, handed me the
layout on a tray with the water bottle
and stood chuckling while poured ont
a hooter and threw it in. Then he
took small drink himself and went on
with his shaving. I was keeping up a
heavy line o thinks. This gezabo
might be passing me the counterfeit
spseL ] thought, and I, wasn't looking
for any corral.
He finished his shaving, washed his
face, rubbed Eeme sceHty stuff on IL
powered it with q block o chalk. hand
ed me the bottle and glass again, took
one along with me and sat down on a
rocking chair
Ever do anything in the crib-crack-
Ing liner he asked nc, twisting his
and looking as calm as a mill
pond
No. said I. that's off my beat. It
was plain to me that he was g phonv
ana ehucked UP the bluff I'd been
Lii