The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-05-30
CUTLERY GROUND FREE.
saIOonkeeper'S Joke That Made
Business Lively
(From the Kansas City JournaI.l


The most original joke I ever heard
/ OF, said an cld-timer to Topics" yes
/ teTday, was that Of q salooukeeper- at
Kit Carson IN the very early davs- Car
son was a typical frontier settlement II
( had drawn within its boundaries a mixed
population of hunters. gamblers, soldiers
- SIezlGars; fran women. and loafers. with
occasionally an Industrious man who was
"Ll!ng 10 Work Tor his living In the
summer Of III fhe town grew fripFtfr1II,y
dg! and the boys had plenty Of time IN
winch TO practice the favOrite Western
amusement OF practical joking. One day
Old sam RAE, who kept the Afharnbra s,,--
loon ana danCe hall. was accOSted by 4
man VINO professed to be DESTROYS of OBJ
tanning employment
Want work. dyer said Sam. Wen
you don Iooa ike man that wanted it
But I do persisted the man. and
am willing to 90 anything
KIN Ncu turn a grindstone2' 0uerjed
sam. as the bright idea struck him
: certainly kin RESPONDED the stren
ger; WHeTe-pOn Sam closed a contract
with MN 70 stand IN front Of the AIhaT1-
I IiS , LOT tnlTty Gays turning grindsto2e,
Hls pay 70 De at the rate of SIS a day
ne next morning all Of Carson drffraj
lioIIlu 20 witness the curious spectacle Of
man turning grindstoue- sam sent
Out word that anybody who had axes
Knives. or tools of any sort to sharuaTi
could have 1t done free at the AIhambra
Inc news quickly spread. and soon the
SatDOn and the sidewalk in front of II
were crowded with a miscellaneous coTIec-
lloh OF dull implements. The hUruOr of
the situation Went home to everybody,
ana period Of couviviality was fnaugJi-
rated such as the town had never known
before Day after day the patient man
at the SrIndstone tOiIed at his task. and
day after day the bar of the AIhamhra
DID whopping business. The first dav
more than enough was made TO pay for
the whole thirty days OF g-rindstOne turn
ing The other saloonkeepers began to
gTumble. but still the circusa the Al
ham continued to go on When the news
had spread uD and down the road. visit
orS from abroad began to pour in. New
NE was infused into the waning spirits of
the population There was great spU-t
IN hOrSeracinS, gambling and the other I
sports Of the border. A new store or two
came along, and lot of new buildings
went UD- The ridiculous circumstance of /
a man turning d grindstoue had given the /
town boom Old Sam Tate simply coined 1
money, and his dance hall was crowded /
all the time The patient and taciturn
man who ground away with that grind /
stone became something of = popular
hero. One night a lot Of jewellers emptied !
the water out Of the little box which kent
the stone moist and filed il with silver
of then. At other times he
was, given presents, and when his thirty
tasf5 had expired he found himself richer
by several hundred dollars His logged
Dersistency at that grindstone laid the
foundation for quite a fortune made lat
Pr in the cattle business The griudStOne
man and Sam Tate were the only ones
who really prOhted, for Kit Carson was a
doomed community. the word having gone |
but that her railroad branch TO Las Ami |
mas must be abandoned and taken up