The Western news., 1903-08-19
AN HONEST PORTER.
Dollars for Being AcoOmm Oda-
ting and Honest,

]
world" remarked a commercial tray
eler to a Washington Star man.
They may have pretty fierce way
of drilling for tips, but when it comes
| to the matter of honesty l know one
! OF them that's there with the gooHs,
as the saying goes.
| II left San Francisco, or, rather.
Oakland, on the Santa Fe line for
| Chicago at 8 o'clock in the evening
a couple of weeks ago last Sunday.
, The gang that l met in Frisco had
| been rather too enthusiastic in Civ
ing me good time of it out 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 coppers whole lot warmer.
The nearest, in fact, the first stop
at which l would have a chance to fix
those hot coppers out was Mojave,
and so l hustled into my clothes to
be ready to hop off the train during
the stop at Mojave for one of those
katzen jammer alleviators.
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 train
"''lled into MO.ave, and instructed
he man in charge of the bar to rig
ne up on Of those long. long damp
things. He went at the Job in pret
ty scientific manner and the pee. ,..
rare tim" to find rig alongside
vt the California desert. It vas such
fine and 4"rctive creaticn in fact,
that | asked him to fra,re M an
other one, and ! got away with this
with equal iny. Tfen 'r:surelv
strollcd tr the door to take look
at my train-and saw the end of it
curling away in he rarefied ciiStnnce
on its way ward we lanl IF the
risin" sun. 1t had null = OF wiz: ~:
n"tifvin" me. I hustled into ,.t
ticlct office to oel- the man i'm the
window WI en- I'd be able to corrnl
'n@t,er e"stNound train. ana he said
'"t 1t nd I've along at s o'clock the
'"Nt morning -th" mate to II train
at hi '",urt:G without me. there
as oniv one of the overland en-
''as$e" o.. "'rm. So there saw nv
Hlf t'1",' IN Moiave Cal the mott
'a'le little sand drnh ON the
~'"' f"r ful' ~ rtv four hours.
"'n- 4h"t ~" = I'VE worst Of +
hah left NV Ci"l. tone bnr v-ide
on Nv h"n'' wiz, my wearing
.'rN"""f t''"~'"n arn"nl the section
'"'"'- 81. VIZ" ana in the rng !
"' ''h,""" "n g nir1t before 5000
= Cd "Hin tie stuff being too
'tavl to carry around in my pockets
with any comfort.
1--WE got a chance of getting the
bag back said to myself, but what
the black porter'll do to those 5000
in gilt money will be something
swoopingly scandalous.'
Il had no idea on earth that I'd
ever see a dollar of that money.
figured it all out that the porter
would corral the money and then
stuff my wearing apparel into the
bag and hand it over to the conduct
Hr. | knew then | wouldn't be able
to prove any such fact that | had
5000 in gold money in the bag. and
! gave it up for gone ! told the
tation agent at Moave about the
bag, and he Immediately telegraphef
TO the next station to be made bv
my lost train along the line a place
called Barstow. n. Mex. directing
that the bag be shipped back to Mo-
ave on the ,West-bound overland.
'fhe bag was returned to Moiave
on the west-bound late that night,
and | eagerly opened it up to see
what had left in the bag. Every
thing was there, including the stack
OF gold money. | counted the gold
roll, and it amounted to an even $3.50
The porter. | felt certain. had appro-
priated Just one of the $40 gold pieces
to compensate him for his trouble
IN packing the bag. and | afterward
found out that I was right in this
supposition.
II caught the train east on the fol-
lowing morning, and when | got to
Kansas City | got off to take a bit
OF rest at Il hotel As | was get
ting oft | met the porter of the train
that had left Mo,iave 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 gol' piece. but All
Suah couldn't fin it nowheah' and
then he burst into happy darkv
laugh and slapped his thigh ioyously.
| told him how welcome he was to
the $40 piece that he had pinched ont
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 swipng $40 |
from my Gladstone bag. but under
the circumstances, considering the |
chance he had to grab it all. and CON I
Sldering, too. the nature of Pullman