Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-05-10
DAILY. STORY,
THE BLIND MAN.
Copyright, 1896 by \. Whitehead.l

go. / was standing In the big door, key
in hand, when u man turned in from
LarkiS street and came forward. ] felt
| that he had business with us and wait
ed for him. The man was of middle
age. tall and powerful, and he had a
strange way of staring when lie spoke
| 10 one. L remembered afterward that
ne was not the one TO speak first and
that he seemed bit embarrassed until
l addressed him. Then he replied:
boy, | have an order here for a
trunk. Is it too late to have it attended
to-"
l replied that it was. He put his
hand into his pocket us if to produce
the order, but did not do so. When |
told him that he would have to come in
the morning he hung in the wind for a
moment and then said:
1.-The trunk was left here four years
ago when / went away to Russia. l
suppose it is all right, but if | could
see it once and make sure | should
sleep better tonight. If that trunk has
been lost then | am Il pauper."
I asked him TO describe il. We had
500 trunks upstairs, and of course
many of them were alike. l had never
received orders to cover n case of this
kind. and | certainly did not suspect
the stranger of any evil intent. In my
desire that he should not worry and
thinking to show off bit at the same
time | offered TO take him upstairs
and see if he could identify his trunk.
He thanked me over and over again
and suggested that | lock the lower
door to make things safe during our
absence. The shutters had already
been closed up stairs and down. and /
had TO light one of the lamps. The
man followed after me, and when we
reached the head of the stairs he turn
ed his head about in a helpless way
and remarked:
What sort of place have we here
boy? Is it full or empty?'
About two-thirds full. SIR 1 re-
Piled
And where are the trunks
Down at the far end. Come down
this alleyway."
Yes: all right"
He followed me. but l noticed that
he bumped on either side quite fire.
quently and tapped with his cane on
the floor. Before we reached the pile
Of trunks l began to wonder if he was
not blind. l stopped before the heap
of them and asked if he saw one re-
sembling his. and at the same time |
noticed that his fingers were gripping
his cane and that he was preparing to
use it as Il weapon. l stopped to put
the lamp in n sheltered position, and as
I did so his cane whiStled over my
mead. The force of his blow threw
him up against the trunks. and before
ne could recover was twenty feet
away Had | run directly for the
stairs l could have got down first and
trapped him, but took Il contrary
direction. OF course he had heard my
movements. and, standing with his
face toward me. he said:
Boy, L want n trunk out of here
marked e. Jacobs The tag is tied
to the handle. Get that trunk for me
and III give you Il guinea. If you re-
fuse, then look out for yourself I'm
a bad man when crossed
l made 10 reply, but began retreat
ing. | moved like a mouse, and yet he
heard me. 1t was only when we start
ed to follow that L was sure he was
blind. He did not pick up the light to
guide his footsteps, and neither could
he avoid humping into various objects.
L knew every inch of the big room, and
even in the dark | had no trouble in
getting about. My idea was to reach
the stairs, but he knew what l was
after and kept heading me off. He
stumbled over and picked up piece of
iron, and with this for weapon he
was no mean adversary. After offer
ing me the guinea it was five minutes
before he spoke again. Then he broke
out into fierce cursing and threats of
vengeance and warned me that if l got
downstairs and outdoors | would find
man ready there to put knife into
me. He increased his offer to gum
cas-, and when did not answer him he
fell 10 cursing again.
If the thing had not come upon me
SO suddenly ! could have outwitted
him the sooner. l was lodging him for
fully twenty minutes before l got hold
of small parcel from one of the
shelves and gave it toss that landed
it twenty feet away. The blind man ut
once moved in that direction, and | got
down on hands and knees and made
for the stairs. He fell over a box, got
up and banged against box and yet
reached the stairs as soon as | did.
His bump of locality was wonderful.
We were standing ten feet apart when
he cried out:
Il hear you breathing! l know just
where you are! Boy, get me that trunk
or I'll be the death of you in one min
ute"
1 involuntarily shrank back, thinking
he was coming for me. He reasoned
that 1 was sneaking downstairs, and i'll
his haste to seize me he let go of pru-
dence. Three steps carried him to the
landing, and at the fourth he stepped
Into space and went headlong. When
he brought up at the foot of the stairs
I waited awhile to see if he would call
out, and as he did not / got the lamp
and descended. The blind man lay