Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1900-02-01
Money In the Air.

1
shower somewhere in Oklahoma" OBJ
served the man in the crash suit as he
laid down the paper.
"Huh," CALCULATED the man who had
lust paid for the round, another one
of those newspaper lies. Mud show
ers, red snow storms, airships, kissing
bugs; they're all the same, nothing
but fakes, sir Overweight imagi-
nation of some country correspondent
produced by too steady diet Of strong
liquor and high temperature. Mud
shower Huh |"
"Well," responded the man from
Buffalo, afably, there are good
many lies told in the papers nowadays,
but it's hard to point them out with
certainty. Now l once witnessed a
sight, gentlemen, that outdid anything
ever described in the way of freak
showers 1t was out in Sitting Bull,
Wyo., about twelve years ago. l was
running a drug store there; had a full
assortment of horse liniments, rheu-
matism remedies and plug tobacco,
and was taking in from so cents to so
cents a day. Well, one afternoon |
was standing in the doorway, keeping
lookout for a man who owed me for
a tin of axle grease, when all Of a sud
den it began to blow. Wasn't any
thing alarming. you understand, just
a plain blow 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 e-thousandth
part of second to pick it up. Gen
tlemen, it was nice, crisp $50 bill"
The man from Buffalo paused,
crooked his elbow, elevated his chin
and wiped his mustache dieamily on
his sleeve.
II looked up and down the street,
he continued. There was no one in
sight put that bill in my pocket
and looked around for mole. And l
found them. Inside of half minute
the air was full of them. They blew
in from the east like flock of green
sparrows. filled my pockets until
they wouldn't hold any more, and
then l 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 in money, and every dod-
blasted man, woman and child in Sit
ting Bull was out harvesting.
"Well, gentlemen, l staked off a
claim with four bottles of cod liver
oil and stayed up until 2 o'clock in
the morning clearing it up with a hay
rake. And when l went to sleep it
was with the cheering knowledge that
l was one of the richest men in the
world Every one of those bills was
a 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 began to won
der what it meant. There were lots
Of theories presented, as you may i'm
agine, but none of them proved cor
rect But there was the money, piled
high on every door stoop. One man
went crazy because he couldn't find
out how much he was worth got a
different total every count. As for
me, just counted one soap bo1ful
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.
1T was all explained later, gentle
men. There had been cyclone over
in South Dakota, and a counterfeiter's
house had been leveled to the ground
He lost the proceeds of four years of
honest toll. "
"Did-did you-?'
NtH4eueH, SECRET sINICe oAlOeI
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 a fine of $50 each.
Talk about mud showers, gentlemenl'