Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-23
MIXED ON THE ROLLS"

II
The other nighf." said q washInzton
man. who. as he journeys through life. lives
| By the way. II saw man IN cafe furtiveIy
making q plant That Is to say. he was
| getting his roll under cover. He was o
bit 20 the bad from over-dlning. but he
| had his foxiness left. So he slid down to
| the end Of the bar. pulled his little wad
out Of his vest pocket and proceeded to
/ stick the bills under the sweatband of
his hat. He wasn't going to take amy
chances on being rolled that was plain.
and he felt, too, that the psychological
moment had arrived for him TO pinch out
something for the morrow.
"An OF which reminded me Of little
thing. I'm a great chap to make a plant
myself. Il made one down In New Or
to attend the Mardi Gras. that had a ridic-
| ulous sort of an outcome.
II arrived in New Orleans on the night
before the beginning of the Mardi Gras.
and went to. the st. Charles. where I'd al
/ ways put up on my previous visits. / knew
the head clerk of the st. Charles we'll. But.
when got In found there wasn't a room
to be had In the house. My friend the head
clerk seemed to be sorry. and no doubt
4 was. but there was no way to FIX 1t.
i was keenly disappointed.
lin my disappointment went out to
the bar to look for assuagement. found
It Along toward midnight was SO COM
/ pletely assuaged that I wouldn't have left
the st. Charles If they'd have asked me
| to sleep on a billiard table.
/ so I tackled back to the head clerk
| Told him I wanted to stay right there.
| Asked him If he couldn't fix me out some
| old way. Didn't care how he doubled me
| UP. IL he'd only give me some kind of
place to lay my assuaged head.
! We'll, I'll tell you,' said the head CLERK
! There's a room on the second floor that's
occupied by pretty good-natured sort OF
faItn tsr7o in
I'll just take a chance on his getting sore
| and send you up there till can make some
| other arrangement for yeu.'
That looked all right to me, and up
went with the bell-hop.
when 1 got into the big second-focr
| room with the two beds In 1t the other tel
4 low had already turned In. From the dis
! arranged looks OF his clothing and the
disorder OF the rather handsome room, It
/ seemed obvious to me that he'd been cele-
brating little himself before turning In.
| He was sound asleep and breathing heavily
when got In, and my movements didn't
! wake him UP at all
IT decided that I wasn't going to take
| any chances on a stranger, even IL was
| sharing his habitation, and so looked
/ around for some place to plant my roll.
! had about $3.50. and didn't calculate on
/ giving anybody chance to shred me OF
my little Mardi GFas expense money roll.
1.-THE best-looking place to make a plant
seemed to me to be under the Turkish rug.
! SO pulled out my bundle. fattened 1t sos
/ 1t wouldn't look bulgy, pulled up one end
! of the rug and planted the little wad there.
| Then I turned in and slept the sleep OF the
sFeit just a teenchy little bit to the bad
/ when woke up at broad daylight the next
/ morning, but / remembered where + d made
| the plant all right. The other fellow, the
real owner of the room, was still sound
asleep. So, the first thing I did, soon as
! got my trousers on, was to spring that
| planted roll. Found the bundle OF money
/ under the corner OF the rug, stuck 1t into
| my trousers pocket without looking at 1t
or counting It, finished dressing and went
down stairs to sort of Timber up and look
/ the gray world in the eye before undertake
| ing to insert some breakfast into my sys-
! tenn.
/ First thing necessary, of course. was a
I life preserver, and strolled into the bar
to get one. Found the head clerk before
| the bar just about to order his own MORN
| ing cocktail, and invited him to join me,
which he did. We stood and chatted for
| a bit while he slipped the drink, and then
I pulled out my wad to pay for the cock
| tails.
seWeIl. when, caught a fash at that
| bank roll and counted 1t came near fall
| ing down.
1.-THE wad consisted Of eight $1,000 billsI
| II rubbed my forehead in feeble wor-
ried sort Of way that caused the clerk to
| ask me what allied me.
!" oh, nothing told him, .only-say.
/ about how much money did 1 have when
| I got that last drink with you last night?
well. didn't count it, replied the head
clerk laughingiy. But I should say that
you had something like a couple of hun
| dred. by the looks of your ROLL
'Uh-huh,' said I. Well. what the dick
/ ems. then, dye suppose I'm doing with this
| bunch? and showed him the wad of S.
600 in 81 900 bills.
1.-THE head clerk didn't have any time to
/ frame up reply to that question.
| I'VE heard big uproar outside the cafe
swinging door. and then the swinging door
burst open, and a man in a marvelously
| unfinished state of dress slammed in. He
was my room mate of the night before.
| His shoes had just been pulled on, and
the laces were Tapping with every step.
/ He had just drawn on his trousers and
/ shoes, wrapped his raincoats around his
| pajamas, and then clattered down the
/ stairs, and four at clip, to the office.
where he was told that the head clerk was
In the cafe getting an appetizer.
| Say, I've been frisked for my bundle!
| the excited man painted. as soon as he
! caught sight of the head clerk chatting
/ with me. Get busy! Start something!
There eight thousand in the wad. I
| planted it underneath the rug last night.
before turning in. and when go to get it
minute ago l find this chickenfeedr and
| no produced my little bundle of $50 and
| flashed 1t on the head clerk. Start some
thing! don't stand to be rolled like that
| In house like the st. Charles. Who dye
/ s'pose could have nailed the wad. anyhow p
| by this time the head clerk was hang
] ing to the bar with both hands and
/ Laughing HI TO QlSiOcdIe MS lids, ana was
| having lot of fund out of the situation my
| self. But the man with the missing 5000
! roll couldn't see the humor OF 1t for shucks,
| and after the head clerk had allowed him
| to get good and cussy, we both pitched in
| and explained the thing to him. and 1
/ handed him his roll. while ne slipped me
| mine. I explained how 1t had happened
\ how l had gone to his room to sleep in
! that assuaged shape the night before, how
| I had planted my roll under the rug, and
so on OF course he had planted his roll
! in the same place before turning in, and in
| going after mine / had accidentally got
/ hold of his.
I'VE had drink over it. and 1t was all
| right. The man whose roll I had acciden-
| tally sprung was a. prominent New York
/ bookmaker operating on the New Orleans
| track. and he was SO pleased over the way
! the thing came out that he took me in
| hand and let me in on several powerful
/ good things that were pulled off at the
/ track during the Mardi Gras festivities, and
| came away from New Orleans with about
FIVE times as much money as I'd started
! down there with, exclusive Of expenses"
Circulatory Failure.
4