The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-03-11
A QUEER STORY.
Extraordinary Consequences of an
Apparently Trivial Incident.
Chicago Inter ocean,

Chicago Inter ocean,
An accidental exchange of Overcoats at
a local restaurant few nights ago re-
called a queer story to an old lawyer who
was dining at the other side of the room
lone evening in the early '70s'' he said,
"a garcon, hurrying through a crowded
cafe not very far from here, knocked
down two hats that had been hanging
above couple of OvercOats on a wall
rack. He picked them up and restored
them to the pegs and by that simple act
condemned very esumable gentleman TO
four years OF acute mental torment, ana
started another individual, considerably
less estimable. on IA road that led eTentu-
ally to "A suicides grave. The funny part
about il was that the garcOn Cidnt know
either man from Adams house cat. If he
had been told later OF the trouble he
stroke of apopleXy. l remember being
told that he was rather tat.
Il am something of a student of causa-
ton" continued the old lawyer, land
have frequently amused myself by trac-
ing ont the extraordinary consequences
of some apparently trivial incident II
is nearly always the shifting of i peoble
that brings down the avalanche OF social
life, and in this case-but L will briefly
sketch the facts and you many draw your
own conclusions. The fat garcOn, as a
matter of course, hung the mats over the
wrong garments, and few minutes after
ward a young fellow who hada just
finished his dinnerf got up and walked off
with another mans overcOat. BY an odd
coincidence it was so much like his own
that he wore it for a week without dis
covering the change. Then one day he
felt in the inside pocket and e1ulled out
several letters that were strange to him.
| think could repeat their contents even
from memory, but there are professional
reasons why | cannot be very explicit.
Suffice it to say that they put him in pos
session of certain facts, partly of COM
mercial and partly of personal nature.
that spelled absolute ruin for the man
whom they concerned
As 1 have already limited the young
person who stumbled into this informa-
ton was not a very estimable charac-
ter, but he had plenty of nerve and
ShrewdneS, and he began at once to plan
how he could turn his discovery into
cash. Meanwhile the other fellow, who
was quiet middle-aged business man,
had failed to observe that he was wearing
somebody elses coat. may say right
mere that he never found II out, and
died in ignorance of u fact that might
have saved him an infinite deal of worry.
The young man with the discriminating
letters was afraid to act personally, be-
cause he was in rather a ticklish position
himself, owing TO numerous shady trans
actions in the past. and his victim might
easily have turned upon him. So he
maGs a tool of a miserable old drunk
ard. who had once been shyster lawyer
and they proceeded to pun on the screws
The business man had missed the letters,
of course, but he hadn't the faintest idea
of how he had lost them, and magineo
they had been stolen out of his coat at
his Office. and that theory, by the way
resulted in the abrupt discharge of sew
eral entirely innocent and unsuspecting
employees. When the ex-sflyster ap-
preached him ne promptly flew into
panic and paid the first installment of
blackmail almost without protest What
followed was somewhat commonplace,
said the old lawyer, rnusingly, land I
Will merely skeletOnize il.
O. @ @
In a year or so the ex-shyster sue
cumbed to prosperity, complicated with
Jim jams. and the man with the letters
had to get a new catspav lie picked
UP a queer character who had been a sort
of horse doctor and all around fakir.
This fellow knew nothing of the facts,