The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1905-10-07

bred man and said:
Here, loan your friends each an
other two dollars. and hurry up be-
fore close these POOLS"
AS II comp etely under his control
the old darby handed 1t over and the
CRATER handed each sn5th:r electric
belt.
BY this tine he was r, ady for more
$40 investors. and soon had at Leaf
dozen OF them. Then h, wanted u
larger pool of IS investors, and as II
In duty bound to contribute their
share, several who had stood out to
the last came forward.
AS 1t now began to look as II he
were closing up at least 20 men came
forward with from one to two dol
lars, and were lined up where they
belonged.
Suddenly the CRATER, IS /, hearing
some one In the GRO yd making re-
marks, said:
Whats that? Was that meant for
me?"
And looking iltenily in one direc-
ton, as though gre lilly wrought up:
$50 you are going to cut out my heart,
are you? Well. now, we'll see about
that
Reaching In his valise, he brought
out an ugly looking corn cutter, with
blade fully Is inches long, and care
fully feeling its edge, he reel ed the
Razor poem, as follows:
You know gun shoots fast and
loud,
But razor is the real thing in a
I crowd
l could have used 1t better than a A,
II they had only fought with razors
in the war"
Then, corn cutter In hand, he coolly
crawled down from the buggy, aud be-
gan walking slowly through the
crowd, carefully scrutinizing every
face as If trying to locate the man
who had threatened to take his hearts
! blood. The glitter of the corn cutter,
and the terrible look of vengeance
on his face had the desired effect, and
when he climbed back into the car
riage. every man stood as IL paralyzed.
They seemed to have forgotten what
had happened, or what was expected
to happen.
Immediately the CRATER signaled
the driver to start, he himself remaining
standing in the carriage as If terribly
agitated and repeating:
Il would like to see some man cut
my heart out; would just like to have
him try it," at the same time feeling
the edge of the big knife, as If to see
that 1t was sufficiently sharp.
The team went OF at a trot. The
grafter's hotel and livery bills had
been paid in advance, and no stop
was made until they had reached a
small town 20 miles away.
The CRATER was $500 or $500 to the
good. AS the carriage moved away
the dupes still stood in line, staring
sheepishly at one another, with ten
cent belts dangling from their hands,
The old darby who had been so obe-
dent was the only man who had the
courage to protest.
"See yher," he yelled, you gener-
GUS white man, what my family gwine
to do fer sumpin to eat? Gin me
back ma ten dollars, or top you
buggy over, you schoundrel!"
So saying, he and his two colored
companions rushed toward the car
riage, when an officer who stood con-
veniently near said:
What you niggers lettering around
here for? Go on home, or I'll run
you in"
Eventually, of course, this clever
CRATER landed in states prison.
A Chicago man once made a great
deal of money out of the sugar graft.
With an old horse and a covered
peddlers wagon, he started out with
load of sugar, put up in tin cans,
| each holding $l.SO worth at retail.
The wholesale price was about SLIPS.
After remaining in some county
seat long enough to get line on the
town." he would start out and call
upon the farmers of that county, with
a proposition to sell one of his 30
pound cans of white sugar for SIPS
in cash. He would represent that he
/ had recently moved to their county
seat, where he expected to reside in
the future, and would make regular
80 day trips, enabling them to re-
plenisn their supply Of sugar at the
lowest possible price.
Sugar, being a staple article, and
there being an actual saving Of so
cents on every purchase, he had no
difficulty whatever in making sale
at the house of almost every thrifty
well-to-do farmer. Many q farmer.
who wondered how this man could af-
ford to sell sugar so much cheaper
/ than the cheapest grocers in many in
stances paid for It several times over.
The graft was more like thieving
than grating. When selling can
of sugar for $1.25, the CRATER would
almost invariably be handed q i've.
ten, or even twenty dollar bill.
Having become very skillful in
palming, he would always keep
palmed in one hand one dollar bill.
nicely folded In such a way that the
figures would not show on either side.
Should farmer hand him a larger