The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-10-08
STORY OF MAN WHO WAS
 BROKE IN SAN FRANCISCO

CT ohjected to several seats the head waiter picked out for me and wks pretty
 messy in general in getting what I want
 ed. told the head waiter that l wanted
 tha right kind of a waiter-no pinhead or
 laeeard-and he picked out the best man
 on his staff and sent him to me.
 q went through that Palace cafe menu
 from eanape to crackers and 1 doubled
 on my tracks in couple of instances and
 sent back for more
 "I'll be within the shelter of the Five
 Courts in something under half an hour
 I reflected, with considerable calmness of
 spirit when I had ordered the waiter to
 hrinr me three mild Reind VIctorias for
 s1. and had just tossed off the last pint of
 ehampagne and stood ready for the cog nae and coffee, but l was liablf to'Ve turned up there sooner or later, anyhow, with that appetite I had; and, at that, the Five Courts isn't bad olu sort of place to strike with a replete stomach.
 .,rhe waiter fetched me my cigars anu coanae anu couee, ana It one uf lne
 relnas anu started in to smoRe peace fully.
 ".I S pose it'll get into the papers, l mused now the chap With the harvey lzeu nerve walked lnto the ralaee caIe ana oruered and consumed aDout sl3 worth ot sonus ana wet things, ana then cQl1l-
 placently aamItted ms napnlty to nqdl- aate-buI m too busy enJoying tnis to- pacco to bother aDout Lae great white ngnt of pupllcity, and proceeded to nx
 up phony name to sve when 1 snouid ue yanheu De1ole the uesk sergeant. Il was pursuing thls line ot tnlnks with all the ease Ill Iiie, lily Waiter m the mean- while slanaing oil at d respectful dIs- tance waiting for mt to asn Iof my Lab and to toss nm couple-uollar bill as Up, when 1 nollceu man with Van
 ayke beard seated al d tapie about thirty
 feet to my right, gazing pretty hard at me- lie Just lookeu anu looked anu look- ed at me.
 That fellows probably the house de- tective,' l thought to myself, and he has got wise to the fact, probably that l Ill apout to swing the house for some Slv
 worth of vianus and turntables. How eyer, let him detect 1t doesn. make any difference to me whether m yanked It the Five Courts by hotel detective or by a.
 Just them l got to that point of cogi- tation. however, the Nandyke man who had been gazing so hard at me got up from his table and strolled over to mine. His face gradually lighted up as he came closer to me. and it was one broad grin when he held out his .paw to me and said:
 Hello, there, you old knock about. "l knew nm then flBnt away. ile WaS a chap I'd known back in Buffalo good many years before. Right then 1 was carrying in my clothes, among other no-account-seeming scraps of paper, his I 0 U for $200 poker debt that he'd been , owing me since my Buffalo days | 'I'd always felt kind O sore on him for making no apparent effort to square up that little card tab, and I'd had it in mind for a ling time after quitting Buffalo to say things to him if 1 ever met him again.
 But he'd sort of drifted out of my mem ory.
 .'I received him with calm cordiality,
 however, and he immediately began to
 explain to me about the $200 poker debt,
 while he looked sheepish Said that he d
 have fixed that thing out long before, only he'd never been able to get track or
 my movements after left Buffalo. "He was having all kinds of prosperity on the slope, he told me, and asked me
 how things were breaking for me. Never better, I told him, and then he pulled out his wallet and slipped me two nice e | papers.
 "That was the only piece of bull-headed | luck l ever had in my life, and the only | time ever got out of a town I'd gone
 broke in without working my way out. | And the easy break l got that one time doesn't in the least smear up the fact l that San Francisco is the craggiest town ! in the United States for man to go l broke in"