Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-07-26
DAILY SHORT STORY
The Sleek Mans Revenge
[Copyright. 1902. by c. B. Lewis.l

| n.
ting up shop in small town. It's al
ways a mistake, because You have at
least one old drugstore to buck against,
and there are cliques you know moth
ing of until too late. This town was
in the west and it seemed to me to be
good opening for hustler. There
| was only one druggist, and he kept dry
goods and boots and shoes as we'll and
hadn't the ambition to hang q sign in
the window. l got Il corner store, fit
| ted Ii up in modern style, and when /
opened up my place was novelty to
all and something for II country town
to feel proud of. The old druggist had
| it in for me- of course, and, as l had no
whlskers on my chin, he found plenty
of people to believe with him that it
would be a risky thing TO trust me
with u prescription. There were four
doctors In the place, and of course it
was my business to work them. ! got
one around all right, but the others
wanted 10 wait and see how things
went. The one l got happened to be
the one who had the least practice,
and he wanted an even divide ON prof
its. Not only that. but he helped him
self to my wine and brandy.
LAS q stranger" continued the sleek
little man, Il didn't know that If
went to board with Mrs. Brown on
Wilson street Mrs. Green on Ash
street, together with her friends. would
be down on me. l went to Mrs
Browns, and there We're twenty fam
lilies in the town who wouldn't enter
my store In consequence. 1t was social
rivalry. you know, and they carried it
into business. l was getting n good
room and board for 81 per week, and
Mrs. Green sent me word that she
would do better by me for 50. / used
TO be called II fair singer, and l used
to attend church every Sunday. l
started out haphaZard and brought up
in the Presbyterian edifice. From the
moment l was seen to enter its doors l
was marked man. Not 4 Methodist
or Baptist in town would even glance
into my show windows. If l had al
ternated at the different churches, 1t
might have relieved the strain, but be-
ing invited to Join the choir l stuck
to the PreSbyterianS and sealed my
fate. Several parties Were given at
which l showed up, and this intensified
the bitterness. They wouldn't let me
stand neutral. but | must stand or fall
with the clique. If it was so In re-
ligion, it was far worse in politics. !
had never voted and didn't care u tink-
er's funk which side won, but from the
way both sides got after me you'd have
argued that my single vote was to de-
eide some mOmentous question. didn't
want to make any more enemies and
therefore refused to register, and, 10,
both parties We're down on mel
ought TO have done trade of $50 per
day, but owing to the combination /
often had less than So to count mp at
the close of business.
~ told you about the doctors hang
ing off. 1t was we'll enough for them
to be sure of capabilities, but that was
not what kept them from throwing
business my way. Each had Il mar
riageable daughter, as l finally came
to know, and each was waiting to see
whose daughter l was going to shine
up to. i made selection without
knowing anything about the little
scheme, and I'm that way l won over Il
doctor, who sent in Il prescription now
and then. The other two were dow
on me, however, and l could figure
out that every time 1 put my arm
around that girl was SO out OF peck
ct. 1 had no idea of marrying her,
but one half of society congratulated
me and bought toothbrushes and por-
Gus pIasters, while the other half look
ed askance and wouldn't have sticky
fly paper at u penny sheet. 1 was
running behind expenses every week
and wondering where could find an
other opening when made the worst
Of oIl n
ing school in the town hall. l ought
to have had sense enough to remain
in the store, but as there was no
business doing 1 locked her up and
went over to the hall. Both sides
wanted me, and the side 1 went on
beat the other. Indeed, 1 was ass
enough to be the last one up, and that
was something the people didn't pro-
pose to stand from any stranger.
when realized that 1 was knocked
out, feeling of revenge took posses
sion of me. 1 made up my mind to get
square with that town or leave my
bones in its graveyard. With all its
faults it was sporty town, and l took
that as a basis to work on. l knew
a horseman in Chicago who was up to
tricks, and l went up to see him. One
day week later tin peddler arrived
in my town and began to blow around
about the gait of his old horse. He
Dragged and bluffed until two or three
men became interested. and the result
was q race on the county fair grounds.
They had two or three trotters in town,
and when the thing got started the
crowd went in with a whoop. After
the tin peddler had put up 5000 of the
long green n few of the people began
to- smell a rat, but when the race was |
called our dark horse stood to win or |
lose enough TO fit out two drugstores |
like mine. The odds were 10 to l |
against him at the start, and it wasn't |
even money till he came out on the |