Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1903-05-08
AN HoNE-T PORTER.
He Helped Himself 10 TIP of Ten
Dollars for Being Accommo ds-
tirg and Honest.

tiers are the recipients of good
many knocks from press and phbiie.
hui they are not the worst In the
world,n remarked commercial trav-
eler to Washington Star man.
"They may have IA pretty fierce way
of drilling fer tips, but when it comes
to the matter of honesty | know one
of them that's there with the goods,
ms the saying goes.
II left San Francisco, or, rather,
Oakland, on The Santa Fe line for
Chicago at o'clock in the evening
couple of weeks ago last Sunday.
The gang that met in Frisco had
been rather too enthusiastic in Civ
ing me good time of it ont there
on the day of my departure, SO that
when ! woke up on The train along
toward o'clock the next morning
the sleeper bunk felt pretty warm
and my coprers n whole lot warmer
The nearest, in fact, the first stop
ut which | would have a chance to fix
those hot coppers out was Mojaye,
and 40 / hustled into my clothes to
be ready to hop off the train during
the stop at Mojave for one of those
kataen TANNER aleviators.
81 asked the Pullman conductor
how long the train would stop at
Mojave, and he replied that the stop
would last ten minutes. | raced into
the station cafe when the trnin
pulled into Mojave, and instructed
the man in charge of the bar to rig
me up one of those long, long damp.
things. He went at the job in n pref
ty scientific manner. and the piece of
wet work Chat he set before me was
rare thing to find right alongside
of The California desert. II Was such
fine and effective creation, in fact,
that I asked him TO frame up an
other one. and | got away with this
with equal joy. Then ! leisurely
strollcd to the door to take n look
Mt my train--and saw the end of ii
curling away In the rarefied distance
on its way toward the land of the
rising sun. 1t had pulled out without
notifying me. / hustled into the
ticket office to ask the man in the
window wien I'd be able to corral
another eastbound train, and he said
that 1t nd be along at s o'clock the
next morning-the mate to the train
that had departed without me; there
Was only one of the overland ex
presses per diem. So there | saw N.Y.
self stuck in Mojave, Cal, the most
miserable little sand dune on the
globe. for full tive y-four hours.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
! had left my Gladstone bag wide
omen on my bunk, with my wearing
hpparel thrown around the section
every which way, and in the bag |
had placed, on the night before, 5000
n gold coin, the stuff being too
heavy to carry around in my pockets
with any comfort.
"'Fve got n chance of getting the
Rag back said to myself, but what
i'e black porterll do to those S210
N gilt money will be something
rwoopingly scandalous.
81 had no idea on earth that Ia
ever see dollar of that money.
figured Ii all out that the porter
would corral the money and then
'suff my wearing apparel into the
bag and hand il over to the conduct
or. | knew then ! wouldn't be able
to prove any such fact that | had
$500 In gold money in the bag. and
gave II up for gone. | told tn
tation agent at MoiavA about the
bng, and he immediately telegraphetl
10 The ssoxt station to he made by
my lost train along the line a place
called Rarstow, N. Men, directing
that the bag be shipped back to Mo
jave on the west-bound overland.
THE bag was returned to Mojave
on the weSt-bound late that night.
end ] eagerly opened it up to see
what ! had LEFT in the bag Every
thing was here. including the stack
az gold money. | counted the gold
Joll, and it amounted to an even 500
The porter, felt certain. had aprro-
priated just one of the $40 gold pieces
10 compensate him for his trouble
in packing the bag, and | afterward
found ont that / was right in this
supposition.
~ caught the train east on the fol-
lowing morning, and when got to
Kansas City got off to take bit
Of a rest Mt hotel. As was get
ting off | met the porter OF the train
that had left Mojave without me. He
was walking about the station. wait
ing to go aboard his car for another
western trip. He saw and recognized
me as soon AS ! recognized him, and
he grinned broadly when he saw me.
"'Boss.' said he, coming over TO me,
.Ah suah did look eve'ywheah TO dat
othuh ten dolluh gor piece. but All
suah couldn't fin il nowheah.' and
then he burst into happy darby
laugh and slapped his thigh ioyously.
] told him how welcome he was to
the $40 piece that he had pinehed out
for himself, and I'm not certain that
didn't give him another couple of
dollars to show my appreciation of
his honesty. 1t might not sound like
honesty to speak of his swiping $40
from my Gladstone bag, but under
the circumstances, considering the