Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-18
p. HUCKLEBACK
Rigger and Householder.


1t was with an evil eye that P. Huckie-
back regarded this unoffending sign. Hang
it, muttered he there amt no money In
this businessmen no more. Folks moves
into a house and out of a house but they
won't move the house itself.
His uncongcnial reverie was disturbed py
something that fiuttered through the win
dow and struck him in the face. He caught
q passing glimpse of one OF Uncle sam
public servants and he maligned him in a
manner entirely satisfactory to himself
The postman merely laughed and retorted
in kind. Mr.. Hucklebaek finally stopped
over and picked the letter up. 1t bore an
English stamp.
Some double-dernsd demand from some
o my old creditors L s'pose," he muttered
Thank the Lord I'm over here, instead o
there. Then he opened the inclosure and
stopped short, for there was that in 1t that
took his breath away. What may have
been the nature of its contents is best sur
missed by n perusaI of the issue of any Bell
port paper of June ., 1862. An extract
from the BuSie will be sufficient.
ONE-LEG GETS LEGACY.
E.WcEieback, the house hustler, is the
Ic&k., man. He gets a cold S1O0,G00 from
Iit1 English relatives by will.
There's the whole story. Make it $4,000
instead of S1coooo and it will be in strict
accordance with the fact Strike out the
will. also, for no living man or woman
or dead cne either-wouid think OF leaving
$4,000 or even $40 to Mr.. Huckleback. Sub
StltUt6 LOT the VIII the TACT tndl tIS Ue-
cedent had inadvertently forgotten to make
q will and cut off Mr.. Huckleback, who had
swindled him out of a few hundred pounds
some years beforehand there you are. Tho
letter was one from firm of London solic-
itors who begged to advise p. Huckleback
that ThaddeuS HucklebaCk, a distant
relative, of Chaplain, S. w. London had de-
parted this life. without other relative than
MI r Huckleback. and that they would
be charmed, if agreeable to him, to act as
his attorneys. for the trifling sum of EGO,
To be retained by them out of the small
fortune due him. MIR. Huckleback, little
Knowing that all the solicitors did to earn
their money consisted of the very arduous
labor in writing to him, readily assented,
and waited patiently for his money. 1t
came after some months, and amounted in
all to the of 80 253 66.
Now, 5000 is not fortune, but it has
within it the markings of a fortune Mr..
Huckieback, though an Englishman by
birth. was a Yankee at heart. So day after
day. up to the time that the crisp English
draft lay within his palm, he sat on the
three legged chair contemplating the future
and his sign.
BY George" he would exclaim hope
fully. there's money to be made in this
bus!neSs-there is, and legitimate, too.
Folks needn't come to me to move houses
If they don't want to. I'll buy house of
my own an move it, see if | don't
In great cities the beggar lives next door
to the baron-the palace looks upon the
hovel. This was true to some extent of
B"llpOrt, a city winch O1Ien aulnllteQ 10
itself that IT pushed New York close for
second place. But there was resident
district in Bellport that was immaculate.
There is no handsomer or more fashionable
district in the world than Chestnut square
in Belport- There nothing poor or
mean within half q mile. Even the vacant
lots were neatly turfed and exhibited no
uEsiShtly signs For Sale
Mr.. Huckleback, the HORSEPOWER, when
he had changed his English into American
money. and had safely banked it, went
down to look at vacant lots in Chestnut
square. There was small lot fifty feet
wide that took his eye. 1t lay between the
handsome residences of P. d. Haggerty,
the silk man, and Mrs Cradlebaugh the
reiict of the railroad man-each of them
a millionaire. Mr.. Huckeback found that it
could be bought for some $4,000. He fig
or even less. He employed one agent. who
employed another agent, who employed a
Very heightened agent, who finally secured
the property at about that price.
But Mr. Huckleback did not lose sight
OF the fact that he was still house-mover.
As nobody employed him to move a house.
fe pros eeGed to move one of his own.
And i was after one particularly dark,
damp, fogEy night that Millionaire Hag-
gerty rose from his couch and rubbed his
eyes and gaZ2d out upon the vacant lot
next doo- And il WAS upon the same morn
ing that Mrs. Cradiebaugh did much the
very same thing. The vacant lot was there
all right-it was all there, and something
more besides. That something was the
house that Mr.. Huckleback had moved upon
the lot that lac had purchased. 1t was not
n large house. 1t Yves. perhaps one story
high more There was no attempt at
style 1t was just plain, simple. ordinary
everyday affair. And upon the front of It,
just above the door there hung a simple,
un8ssuning sign: