Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1905-11-14
Hank Scrubbins:
Confidence Man

81 HAD sold large invoice to the
/ proprietor OF the general merchan
disc store in Chicago City and we wer,
sitting in the shade In front OF the
store waiting for my train to arrive
at the little station close by. Not
wlthstanding the fact that the entire
place consisted Of a railway station, a
general store aud post Office and sew.
eral wretched frame houses that smut.
ted the adjacent landscape. the village
exulted in It's metropolitan name and
often used 1t to tantalize rival towns
who could not boast such lofty titles.
The shade OF evening was falling on
the hot dusty Kansas prairIe--a cool
relief from the burning sultry sun that
had baked the fields all day A light
breeze started to blow. causing the
corn fields to rustic and the wheat
fields to sway in graceful Rhythmic
waves
had been watching a wagon drawn
by two large black horses approach
down the long road leaving low
cloud of dust behind; the lone driver
was an old man, typical old settler.
AS he tied his horses to q fence my
companion exclaimed:
"Gy guml There's old Hank Scrub
bins Gets more letters about green
goods and getrch-quick schemes than
any other fellow in the county"
Does he ever bite?" asked
Don't know about that. People al
ways called him a pretty smooth cuss
till all the green goods men in the
country got to warmth up to him like
he was an easy mark
After Mr.. Scrubbins had been intro
duced to me he read letter handed
him by the postmaster. When this
was finished he elevated his feet to
the railing, took bite from a plug OF
tobacco and said;
well, reckon. boys. you hain't
heerd about the turnin' confidence man.
have you?"
mo, how's that?" asked the post
master, all attention.
Jest like this Las fall when
sold my wheat I heerd that the old
Dobson Salt Marsh could be bought
by payin the delinquent taxes. There's
a quarter section to 1t and salty as
rock salt. and when it's dry its as
smooth as a billiard ball. Won't no
body have it because nothin'll grow
on 1t; and as it joins me on the north
| thought | might find use fer it, Lie
was dead set against 1t fer awhile. But
after | promised her one of those new
tangled washin' machines she was all
right, and so hitched up and we went
over to the county seat and got 1t
dirt cheap. The boys all laughed at
me fer buyin' it. but<a Teller who has
Jest sold 1000 bushels of wheat has
to spend part of 1t anyhow.
well, after had 1t fer six months
and found the land warn't no earthly
account to me Lie and my daughter
Marthy got talkin' about movin' to
some city where there was college.
Lie seen in her 'Fireside Helper as
how we could get mimi stock, money
or some good business store for our
whole plum farm and they kept nag.
gin me to do something So writ to
one of the fellers at Chicago and in
a few days got letter from a Teller
in Kansas CITY, who SEE he was the
other feller's agent Well, we kept get
tin letters and papers, some of EN-
from fellers that said they used to
know my old dad back in Ohio. So
after awhile writ to one Teller in
Kansas City to come and look at the
farm.
"Well, the Teller came | met him
there at the depot, just as it was gettin