Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-05

NHS--
time that they found treasure trove. Money
was constantly being unearthed, until we
got so that we used to joke about 1t. When
ever man happened to look at the ceiling,
or anywhere else the rest would shout:
Aha! He sees money!!
Il believe that the money that was found
thus and returned to the old fellow amount
ed to several thousand dollars. Finally he
died. One day, about a year after his
death. one of the proprietors wanted some
kiBdling wood early in the morning, before
up an old soap box that had been used for
footrest in the snuggery for more years
than 1 could remember. Many a time have
l had my feet on it.
The Treasure Chest.
when came in that day the two Irish
men looked actually scared. Look here,
said they. What do We suppose has hap
pened to us?' They trotted out the box
from behind the bar. 1t was filled chock-
a-block with securities. deeds. bonds and
cash. Sure said they, 'whatlf we do
wild it? Think of the risk of havin' a
laShin' o money around like this that
don't belong to u.s..
Il went over the stuff. and my rough
estimate made the value of the find at
least hundred thousand dollars. We got
a cab and took it to the lawyer who mad
the old mans estate. To cut the story
short. the find finally turned out to amount
to nearly $4,000. And do you know, those
two Irishmen got highly inSulted, and
threatened to punch the lawyers head be-
cause he suggested that he would counsel
the heirs to pay them a reward for their
honesty. What said one of them. pay
me for not bein a thafe? nice kind OF
hairpin you must be-.
NOW gentlemen, that story Is literally
true, and. queer as 1t is. II ism any
queerer than a hundred others that you
Ia dow in nv O.
own experience there was real side-plece
to this one. only few blocks away The
same kind of old Irishmen played parts In
1.-two fine old boys, simple as children
and shrewd as old Nick. They arrived
here poor, and started a little cheap res
taurant near Greenwich street, in the prod
uce and meat district. They kept 1t open
dav and night and in the course of years
they got rich. At last one of the Old chaps
died, and it was an ordinary partner
ship. the business should have been liqui-
da tied under the law.
But the surviving partner didn't know
ANYTHING about that, and for a year Or so
the survivor ran the business. Whlch was d
big one by that time whenever the woo"
wanted any money she would send Tor II,
and he'd send her any sum she asked She
didn't ask much. because she was living
almost as simply as In the old days
A Simple Transaction.
AT last the old man got tired, and de-
ness alone So he went to the widow and
said: Now, Ellen. my dear. it's help I'm
needin' in the business. An sure it's me
that's the unlucky man for havin' lost
Jim's services, God rest his fine old soul!
Now. I'm by way of thipkin' that it would
be only fair that you should sell out your
interest to me. What do we say?
why. right ye are, me lad. said the
widow Sure, 'twould be wrong in me
intirely to be lettin' you do all the work
and me DRAWN nothin but money
But how about payin We what's right?
asked the old boy. Me mind misgives me,
but what ye had ought to get lawyer to
look after your rights. and yit l do hate
them fe!lerS.
No lawyer in mine. if you please said
the widow Sure ye ought TO know more
about ii than any one else. Just you pay
me what's right. and God bless ye-'
Then the Old fellow tried to figure out
what would be right, and after a week of
headache he asked me to try 1t for him
When l asked for his accounts l couldn't
get a scrap of paper except pile of bank
books of almost every savings bank in the
city. He didn't even have bills, for he paid
everything in cash. which he was able to
do. owing to the nature of his business
Well. we'll. said he, scratching his
head, when | told him that l couldn't tell
what the value of the business was unless
We opened set of books and got some idea
by watching the balances for few months
Well. well, But I'm afraid of thin book
keepers, And, besides, I could niyer tell
what the books was all about. 1t would be
like giving my whole business into some
one elses hands. and I'm too old to do that
Well, thank ye kindly. l guess I'll be 60
ing uptown a bit ways
Robbing the Lawyers.
And this is what he did uptown. He
went to the widow of his old partner.
Ellen my dear girl. said he. I amt
rightly able to tell ye what the business
be worth, and one of them experts that
l asked he mixed me up more than l WAS
already. But It's worth at any rate some
thing like 100000. And there's in the
neighborhood of 100000 In the bank.
Now, I'm thinkin' that. maybe, considerin'
I've lost Jim's services-and an iligant
worker he was, rest him!-that maybe II
would not be wrong if I was to say to YOU
that III give ye $o5O,0O0, and we'll call 1t
square
g All right. all right. if ye say So said
the widow. Whatever We think is right
will do me-
THAT is the way those two simple souls
arranged the division of business that
would have fattened a regiment of de-
serving. lawyers If it had been settled in
the right way.
They aren't all as ingenious as that
Once | went through the books of a small
manufacturing business that had been sold
to trust by nice. simple hearted Old
chap. The books had showed a snug little
balance, but after he had been bought out
on the basis of. it the profits shrank mys-
teriously, and the bank balance and the
book balances showed a woeful discrep-
ancy.
After poking around In the figures set
down laboriously in the honest scrawling
INST of the simple hearted old gentleman /
found the way in which he had showed
such pretty balance. He had paid him
self fat little dividend each year over and
above his salary. and to avoid showing II
in the cash balance, he had paid it in
notes. Then he had turned around and
loaned those notes back to the business
OF course, the moment he sold out he col
lected all the notes In cash and cleaned out
the whole place.
A Dear Old Gentleman.
when we confronted him with the evf-
dence of his duplicity he had the nerve to
reply that If we said much he would sue us
for interest on the notes originally made
and then for interest on the notes as a loan
or course, he would have lost such suit
but it would have been a black eye to the
IN