The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-15
Wooden Legs Have Their
 Points of Advantage.
They Can Be Pawned, Even If They Are Taxable and They Can Be
 Utilized VariousIy.

| New York Times
 For the first time since I began to wear a wooden leg I have become recon- l ciled to its infiexible curves" said the man at the end of the table. q have just realized it's possibilities With a wooden leg I stand some show of win ming fame. or at least notoriety; with out 1t I should be doomed to obscurity. ''The advantages of a wooden leg have been impressed upon me by noting the importance that wooden legs other than mine have assumed in report of the cur rent news. No fewer than a dozen men have received attention in the newspapers recently. not solely because they owned wooden legs, but because those artificial appendages figured in experiences that would be impossible to a fesh-and- blood limb
 '"To start with. take that man at the Rossmore Hotel who pawned his leg to get money to bet on a horse race. consider 1t a great advantage to be able to do that. like good warm race myself. and have seen times when I could have feathered my nest for life if I could only have raised little money to put up on a sure winner. All those opportunities came to naught, however. because had not the collateral to swap for the necessary cash. Thank heaven, I'll never be in that fix again. I'll always have my wooden leg to fall back on..
 Wooden legs seem to stand high in the estimation of pawnbrokers as security. X recent trial before a west side Magis- trate proved that. In that case the owner of the leg brought suit against his wife for the restoration of his make shift limb. She had stolen 1t. and even when hauled to court refused to produce the missing member The Magistrate sympathlzed with the legless plaintiff.
 His wife Chopped It Up.
 !" Madam" he said. what have you done with your husbands iegT
 CT chopped 1t up,' the woman con- fessed.,
 Mercifui heavens cried the Magis- trate; what did you do that for?
 "'So he couldn't pawn it, said the wo- man. John used his leg for a regular drinking fund. He put 1t in soak every Monday and took 1t out every Saturday night as regular as clockwork. With the proceeds he managed to lay in enough llquor to keep him tuned up most all the week.
 .'The Magistrate finally came to the conclusion that the man was better on without his leg than with 1t. and the wo- man was discharged, but before that equitable arrangement was reached the lawyers ellClJeQ u Duu6St OA tOttiAOaaS to the effect that Johns case was by no means exceptional. and that wooden legs are the medium with which many a jag is purchased.
 Another chap who found wooden legs a profitable investment was thar young Nelson who got stranded in Chicago-all of him, that is. except his legs. They here when he went West. They were somewhat out of gear, and when Nell son made arrangements to go to Chica- go he decided to get his legs fixed up pe- fore he went He sent them around to the factory with instructions to have them done by a certain date. Unfortu- nately there was a strike on at the fac tory. The day for Nelson's departure came around. but his legs did not come. They had never been touched. Nelson was a man of his word, if the factory people were not Having made up his mind to go to Chicago at certain time, he went But he was disappointed in the town, There are many things you can get along without in Chicago, but legs are not one of them. Nelson needed his badly. He wrote to the factory and told them so. They replied that his legs were all right; and would be forwarded by express upon receipt of $2S. That letter nearly finish ed Nelson. He had not even 28 cents to his name, and without his. legs he saw no prospect of earning It. t1naIly ne ex- plained his predicament to Mayor Harri- son. The Mayor has keen appreciation of legs, and he promised to help Nelson out. He did it by reversing the moun- tain-and- -Mohammed principle. Instead of bringing Nelson's legs to him he sent Nelson to his legs. which was cheaper, and was probably what the young fellow was working for all along. At any rate the experience would have been impossi- ble to a man with real legs. have been stranded in Chicago. myself. and nobody ever offered to send me on to New York Next time I'll know what to do.
 Prevented from E1Oping.
 Some of the funniest incidents in which wooden legs figure prominently have taken place right across the river in Jersey City. One man over there who begged along on two wooden stumps,