The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-09-06
GOT
HEAD OF ALLEN
GOOD JOKE ON PosToFF tcE In
sREcToR WHO ]vlstTEpgPREs-
TON IlLLER or THE SOIL.

" ! : y & .tf u ~
United States Postofice Inspector
e. L. Allen went up against 1t good
and hard a few days ago. He had
an experiment he will not soon for
get. Although a government Off
ctal he was made to toe the mark, and
it was an unsophsticated mountain
farmer who brought him to time.
Mail Pouch tobacco tags frequently
get people and Incidentally figure in
Mr.. Aliens province. A recent case
was that Of A. j. McGinnis, a farmer
residing two miles east of Tunnelton.
On the occasion Allen met his match,
1t was McGlnnls he had gone to see.
The latter was busily engaged on the
mountain side harvesting his hay.
state Senator Sam. B. Montgomery
and Col. Allen drove out from Tunnel
ton in buggy to where McGlnnls lives
and found him on the mountain side.
Inspector Allen automatically ex-
planned to McGinnis that an act of his
had made him indebted to Uncle Sam
TO the stupendous amount OF ten dol
lars. That act was the sending of a
written letter to Bloch Brothers in a
package of tobacco tags. Written let
tiers are first class matter, while tags
are of lower class, and McGinnls paid
the lower class rate and thus laid
himself amenable, with the penalty
$40 as stated. All would have been
we'll had not the letter been detected
within, and then it was Mr. Allen
was delegated to collect the fine.
That was his mission to McGinnis'
place. But McGlnnis talked "sas-
sy" and expressed himself in mar
ner that meant he would not pay.
The inspector then told him 1t was
his duty to arrest him, II he did not
pay, and SO on. At last McGfnnfs
not having the needful forthcoming
got time from Allen and gave his six
ty-day note.
All was well and Col. Allen and
Senator Montgomery babe McGin-
mis- good.day with the hope that we
gould get along nicely with his har-
vest. All was lovely, but the dove
of peace soon took her flight, for the
genial inspector and Stale Sc ato'
were too htch absorbed in dis
cussion as to whether the note would
be paid cheerfully or were too
ratified over their experience to notice
good-sized haystack, such, as are
built on mountain sides, 10 steer clear
of IT with their buggy and over 1t top
pied.
They thought little OF tails aid were
about to proceed, when McGinnls call
ed and beckoned them to stop They
obeyed. 1t was not the note or the
fine he now talked about but in stem
Lorian tones such as are Characteristic
of an irate mountaineer he command
ed Allen to rebuild that haystack. The
Inspector hesItated, but he soon real
lied it was now his turn to pay the
penalty. The farmer even made him
go two hundred yards tc a barn to get
a fork for the purpose. He went And
he put up that haystack, too.
McGinnts chucEled and Montgom-
ery laughed outright, and the inspec-
tor worked like an old hani at the
business. 1t may have afforded him
pleasure, but the only real pleasure
he seemed to get out of it was his
retort to the farmer, when he got
through stacking the hay, that re had
done that same thing for sixteen
years, but whether Inspector Allen
spoke truthfuly about himself In this
particular 1t is a dead sure thing he
worked In the harvest field that day
the same as Maud Muller the day the
judge rode by.