Anadarko daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 1901-190?, 1902-04-19
HAD LOST HIS NERVE
PATHETIC STORY OF A HAS BEEN'
WHO WAS PLAYED OUT.
Once Layer Down" for an Outnt OF
Forgers, He Had Reached the End of
His Rope-His Nerve Ills Only Real
Asset In Life.

Asset In Life.
| had met the man in theaters, res
taurants and Broadway cafes for the
last ten years. Never mind his name
He was always well dressed, always
had plenty of money and never seemed
to be busy or worried about anything.
From the men ! saw him with | be
lieved he was engaged in no legitimate
business. and | placed him in that in
determinate class which many years
ago we called Broadway statues" and
nowadays most of us dismiss from
our minds with the thought, 'Oh, well.
he's a gambler or something of that
sort" There are hundreds Of this kind
of men to be seen along the line be-
tween Twcnty-third street and Forty
second on Broadway any pleasant af-
ternoon and every night. They toll
not, neither do they spin, but their
tailors are artists.
He shambled into the big. red-car-
peted cafe Of the Rossmore the other
night looking twenty years older and
twenty-five per cent to the bad. His
clothes were evidently readymade and
Enthusiastically he was not the original
purchaser His head dropped a little
and his eye met mine and then sought
the floor. 1t only needed a glance to
see that he had gone to the Has Been
class. We sat down at a table, as we
had done before occasionally, and |
suggested that he wasn't looking in
form. He sighed and said he was
down and out"
Not for good" said encouraging
ly.
Yes, for good he returned. I've
lost my nerve and that was all had
| ordered cigars with the drink ana
the Has Been was grateful, and he
told me his story, a common enough
one fancy, only it is of the sort that
the general public seldom hears.
You never knew what my line was
! suppose, did you?" he began. Lots
of men have rubbered and tried to find
out since I've been flying high around
this town. 1t was an easy line and
| it paid me well. Until | went sick and
had to go to the hospital for four
months / never knew what it was to
have to look for a couple of hundred
in my clothes without finding it. I've
had fifty thousand at one time and
spent it royalty too but | never expect
to see a hundred dollar bill again be-
| fore | croak They've got me skinned
to death at last.
For years | was the layer down
for mob of the greatest outfit of
forgers that ever worked the country
Most of them are working yet but
I'm out of it, My whole stock in trade
was my nerve.
Il used to present the goods at the
bank counters or in the brokers' Of
| fee. You know yourself that | looked
prosperous. None of the men in the
| front office had any line on me. No
body ever saw me in the company of
/ the sort of crooks that get their pic
lures in the Rogues Gallery. You've
met me yourself along the line for
the last ten years and I always trav-
eled with pretty good people, didn't |?
| High class sports they all were, and
! | was supposed to be one of them.
They never asked me what my line
was any more than you did, Well,
my line was to present forged paper,
get the cash. turn it over, and get out
of town for few weeks. I've worked
in o. big city in the country.
When | got out of the hospital
discovered that I'd lost my nerve.
don't know how or why, but it was
gone | felt that II | walked into a
bank to turn a trick they'd spot me
for a suspicious character right away.
| went to the head of my push and
told him. | said | knew I'd run like
a pickpocket If an ordinary bank
watchman batted an eye at me; that
my nerve was all gone. He knew
what | meant. IT, comes TO the best
of us sooner or later We said good
bye and I've been dead one even
since. What am | doing? I'm work
ing in a poolroom taking two-dollaI
bets, and il Jerome or any of those
people ever make a raid I'll probably
faint away. And yet I've taken $780,
coo in certified checks out Of bank
not a mile from here without turning
a hair and on paper that wasn't worth
as much as a Chinese laundry ticket. v
New York Press.