The Farmington times. [volume] (Farmington, Mo.) 1874-1902, 1902-07-17
A CLEVER CRATER.

I
state Of considerable eommOiion over tbs
peculiar case Of Q man who had reached tho
place the day before. The man, Il sccfned,
aad one Of those sadden-loss Of identity
eases about which we've been reading %
mHCa 10 the newspapers during the last
four or kve years. lhls found out before
! had seen him. lie had stepped oil a train
hound from Omaha 90 Chicago on the day
before and had engaged the station inastel
IN conversation As soOn a. the train had
pulled out lie had clean forgotten who
b. was, where he had come from, where he
was going, or anything whatever about him.
self the young man told the station master.
The station master, Of c0ursc, vas will.
ing 20 knock of work any time TO talk
With such queer prop0slt.ca as that, The
sisti0nmastcr took the young man 10 the
hotel Of the town and interested several of
the solid citizens Of the town IN the case.
In conversaiion with all Of these the young
VANS manner was exactly the same o. Il
had been when be had tackled the station.
master and told that official Of his sudden
loss Of identity. In a quiet, pathetic sort
ol way aud frequently passing bis hand
In q puzzled manner across he forehead
he told than that he bad no more idea
| what his name wac than that 81 any Of the
events that had led him 10 dropping 81 the
| train into the little town in which ne found
I himself. lie didn't remember ever having
seen the town before. snd what hs pur
poe had been in stopping of there Wa
/ too much for him.
''fhe leading physician q the town uas
called into the conference after awhile, and
he was as much puzzled over the young
mans story a. the solid citizens, He qucs
I toned toe young man closely a. 10 whether
he had recently received any injury 10 his
| head, and the Young man replied that be
/ didnt recall anything Of The sort. The
I medical man examined the young man
| thoroughly and found that he was 10 tip
| top condition physically, and that be was
/ perfectly rational aud leyrl-hcadsd mental
/ ly, cxcep, that al recollection Of every
thing connected with has previous life had
absolutely departed from him.
IAN Of this was on the day before ! got
I IN. When / arrived az sas he.ci the lsnd
| lord pointed The young man oui 10 me. and
/ ! went up 10 the table where he was en-.
/ ioying 3 hearty meal and bad a talk With
I him. He was a chap Of about y or 80
good looking and we'll dressed lie had
landed in the towu withou, 4 cent 81
money and without any papers whereby
/ he could bc identified. but his case seemed
80 extraordinary that the solid citizens had
taken care Of aim and volunteered 10 stand
| for his hotel hill and 90 on, until Il cogid
be decided what to do with him The solid
citizens, a. q matte: % fact, were rather
proud Of the business. knowing as they did
that the story had been wired 10 the papers
hll over the country. They considered that
It sort Of advertised their town.
The townsmen who had volunteered te
Loo out for the young fellow assembled Et
the hotel on the night that got IN for the
purpose Of arriving al some decision a. 10
what should be done with bin. There was
no hospital in the place designed TO cope
with cases Of lost identity. / happened 10
mention az the conference that perhaps the
young man would b. better 81 ia Chicago,
where be could go 10 one Of .hc big hos.
pitfalls for treatment. The young chap came
in at that point with the remark that he
had a Vague sort Of recollection that the
name 81 The place from which he had hailed
begtn with C.
I'm going up 10 Chicago tomorrow
said / to the conference Of citizens. and Il
you gentlemen desire IL, ! could take this
Young fcllow along with me and see that
he gets into the right hands for trcatement'
They all looked on the suggestion ca
, good onc and thanked me for Il. Then
they took up a collection for the young
mans benefit, and raised nearly n hundred
dollars which they wanted me TO keep for
him until we arrived in Chicago. told
them that ! would rather no, do that, how.
ever, o. the youns man appeared 10 be per-
icsiiy rational, and IN share 20 take care Of
the fund himscH. SO they handed the
money over 10 him on the following nora
tng, and gripped his hand ia cordial good.
bye handshakes, and the pair 81 us climbed
aboard the express train bound for Chicago.
we got into the smoker am the young
man pulled oat = handful Of good cirars
and offered me e smoke. Then he pro.
dueed from his valisc a quart bottle Of
lows drug store whisky aud offered me .
itiak. This. Of course surprised me 9
whole bot, bat ! Didn't want 10 take g
chance Of mai ing the man Of lost identity
nervous by submitting inquiries to him a.
TO where, how aud why he had got the
whisky, % ! took nip along with him,
and LEI it go at that Well, to make il
short, he BIT that bottle up pretty hard
within an hour after our departure, and In.
side Of couple Of hours he was pretty
well jaRRed. lie invited me to play a game
OF poker with him. pulling out the gl0C
Wsd that the Holid citizens had donated
to him, and gazing al Il humorously. Il
struck me as something pretty queer that
nan who he'd clean forgotten al about
bis own identity should still remember the
somewhat involved game Of draw poker.
but ! didn't say anything about Il. Then
the young fellow took another large sWig
at hh bottle and Eazed at me in a rummy
sort Of way out Of the slant Of his eyes.
Great graft, pal. amt iiE be said 10
me.
What's a great Rrsfty asked him.
Thish loss o memory scheme, said he
Aad then he went on drnnkcnly. and let the
cat out Of the hag. telling me that be had
been working the dodge right along all
over the country for two or three years
past whenever be vas broke, and that he
got away with a cute little bundle on the
strength Of Il every time. told him that
he was loaier aad a BLACKBOARD aud ssv
eral other things. but he wac too much
loaded to care BY that time, and left the
frUnt cars. lie was still jagged up when l
left the train at Chicago, aud I would sure
y have turned him over to the police n I'D |
been certain that there was any charge
nAfpN Nhten ne eo1AO ne hEtu IN LhfeaEO.
Three nights later I saw that young
man eKeeusing a queer stunt In she much. |
lighted district Of downtown Chicago. A
sireet-piaao Italian was playing bis instru.
Tnent IN front Of prominent saloon, and |
the young fellow, stu very well dressed, |
and pretending 10 be intoxicated which he |
wasn't, then-was taking the crank away
from the D4go every minute or 90 aud |
playing the thing himself, then PASSING the |
has around. His performance 90 .icklesl |
the crowd. vino looked upon the Young Eel |
low a. Thoroughbred in devilment. that
they contributed literally. ! followed him |
about 10 two Of three widely removed
points that evening and he repeated his |
dodge, everywhere getting big noney. |
which be, OF course. split with che Stellar |
oIEan.ss,ader. Al in all. he was about a |
FOXY q Krafter as I ever met up With any. |
where Washington Star.
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HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY.
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