The Portland daily press., 1901-02-16
TRAPPED BY A TOOTH.
A Bat D. with a Burglar Which Had
An Odd SEOUL.

81 had an experience in the mining
business once that was somewhat out of
the ordinary and rather interesting, said
n Seattle man who has made n good thing
out OF Caps Nome. "In 1880 | was do
ing fairly well In the commission busi-
ness In Chicago. One night my bachelor
apartments were entered by a burglar
who awakened me by his movements.
Being somewhat of an athlete and a slug.
ger, I jumped out of bed and went at
him. We hit and clawed and clinched
In great shape, but he got loose somehow.
He left no clew TO his identity except a
front tooth that l evidently knocked out
with my fist. had heard his voice, as
he had not been at all delicate in his ref
erences to me as we scrapped, but beyond
those few items we had no means of
Identifying him.
Ten years later, with pretty fair
sized wad, | went TO the Pacific coast to
try my hand in the mining business. One
day an old claim showed signs, and with
In a month 1t was turning out the dust
at the rate OF 500 day with prospect
OF going to 1000. Naturally i was elat.
ed, and when | had an offer of 100000
for the claim began to feel like nabob.
Then my trouble began, for when | at
Ie0lDItU 10 sell n ICAlQN Wnbm VIII NAh
Fry swooped down on me with a title
which he contended was better than mine
and at once sued me for the claim. My
lawyers told me that / was likely to lose
the case.
zone day I had talk Of half an hour
with Fry in bis Office, when he lost his
temper and swore roundly at my attor-
ney and incidentally at me. Something
l., 80 Nho h. he uaad m a.
picions going, and l Immediately came
TO n conclusion fraught with important
consequences and involving a considera-
BILE quantity Of good cold nerve. told
my lawyer what my suspicious were and
what / proposed doing and invited him
TO 90 with me the next day to call on
Fry at his hotel, where we could see him
alone. Ny lawyer was ready enough for
anything to beat Fry, and he accepted
my invitation willingly. The next morn
ing we were at Fry's hotel and sent up
our cards. Word came back presently
for US to come up, and we took the ele-
yator. When we knocked at the door.
we were told to come in, and there we
found Fry lying In bed reading the morn
ing paper. He was very much surprised
at our appearance. and not until we ex-
pIained that we had sent up our cards
did II occur to anybody that the boy had
evidently taken the cards to some other
room. Luck was on my side that II
should have so happened, for Fry was
not attired for the day, and in a glass OF
water on his dressing case | noticed
tooth, and in his mouth was q vacancy
which It occupied during business hours.
He wanted to know what had brought
us around so early In the morning.
"'I hope he said to my lawyer. with
O sneering smile, that you have conclud-
ed to accept the offer l made you aud
give up the property
"'My client has the case. Mr.. Fry,'
responded my lawyer politely.
"'Yes,' T said, a little neryously aud
sticking my finger into my pocket for
something had there, 4 have charge Of
the case now, Mr.. Fry. and before ac-
cepting your offer desire to make a few
remarks. Skipping the legal aspects of
the case, / shall come at once to the per-
sonal matters involved. You will par
don me. l hope, FOR alluding to your
toilet, seeing that we unintentionally sur
prised you before you had prepared your
self for our reception, but may l refer
to that tooth In the tumbler on your
dressing case, Mr.. Fry7 must COM
pliment your dentist on the skill be has
displayed In supplying the loss OF your
natural tooth, but think he would have
improved the job II he had called on me
before undertaking the entire work him
self. Here taking from my pocket the
burglars tooth, is a tooth think world
have beer even a better fit than he made
for you. l got 1t one night in Chicago
about a dozen years ago. end u | mis-
take not you might he able to recall soms
of the incidents OF the OCCASION
"By the time / had got that far In my
speech was so badly ratified that could
not stand still on my feet. but Fry was a
good deal worse, and | don't think he no.
ticed what condition | was in. although
he stared at me as II he were looking
into the face of ghost and were slowly
turning into stone. He had not apparent
ly had the faintest suspicion OF what l
was coming at, aud not until l took the
tooth from my pocket did he fully real
ize what was springing on him. Then.
instead ocgutting bold face on the mat
ter and bsating down my bluff, be coli
iapsed utterly and got as white as q
sheet-whlter than the hotel sheet under
which he was lying. He tried to speak.
but could only gasp out a few inarticu-
drink Of liquor out OF bottle on his ta-
Bile before be could recover sufficiently
to say anything. Then he threw himself
on my mercy and begged me for Gods
sake not to expose him. because he had
been living q fairly honest life for six
years and had q wife and two children
who knew nothing of his past and loved
him. The result after that was plain
enough. or course. l agreed to keep still
IL he would throw up his case against me.
for had no wish to ruin him utterly IL
he kept his hands OF what was mine.
but warned him that II ! heard OF his
getting mixed up in any more dirty work
would tell my story. He promised me
that he would not. Whether he ever did
or not l cannot shy. but know that he
died years ago leaving Sl50.0OO to his
wife and two daughters. and the newspa-
pers In the town where hs had been liV-
ing devoted several columns TO him as
token of their esteem for q distinguished