The daily Alaskan., 1907-05-31
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A Woman Collector
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TOrlgnaLl

had a good trade and was obliged to be on the road most of the time. This left the buying to my partner, The trouble was that he wasn't any kind 0f buyer If a salesman came along with a cock and bull story about sick wife and a dozen or, so starving children Shlnn would buy a bill of goods of him whether We wanted them or uot. The consequence was that eV- cry time came in I found the stock growing in spite Of my efforts to re- duce It.
 Well, the result of 1t all was that weeping drummers finally succeeded in turning the store into a Junk shop, and We had to quit Shlnu, as he should have done, offered to stand the loss. giving up all the capital he'd put in. acknowledging that the outcome had been entirely hls fault. If I could have closed up at once his money would have been just enough to square us. with no loss to me but the very day We closed along comes a one leg ged-cummerclal traveller he called him. self-cousumptlve, wheeziug through one lung. and Shinu had to order a 5000 bill of him. We closed the order out at about G0 cents on the dollar, making a dchcicncy Of $lST.+2. This Shiun agreed to pay as soon he was able.
 "Shlnn was a bachelor and removed from his rooms iu an apartment house to a little shauty. sent a man around to collect his indebtedness. but he came back empty handed. l sent another with orders t0 be more persistent, and he came back, reporting that the door had been slammed in his face. l used to see Suiun occasionally on the street. He looked mor0se and shabby One day I saw him give a quarter 10 a beg gar That made me mad. f he had money to give such uulsances he had it to pay his honest debts. hired a reg. ular lighting collector and sent him round Co Shun's shuuty. He came back with his head bauigged up, a black eye and a swcllel lip, to say nothlng of the loss of a suit of clothes.
 -I hired several men In succession tO 70 and get into tho house and stay there tnl Sh.uu came down with the funds. The first one that came back reported he'd been thrown out, the sec 1 oud shared the sane fate and the third and the fourth and so on likewise.
 Then lt occurred to me that I'd send woman. You see, a man can't fight a woman. and there never was woman yet that couldn't get the better of a man # she wanted to. There was no womau's collecting agency in the town, so l told several friends of mine that I'd give half the debt to any woman who'd collectit.
 About a month after making the announcement a young, good looking woman came to see me and said shed heard I wanted a debt collected Of Percy Sb.nn She didn't look like business w0mAn at aI but I concluded to try her. So l gave her an order for the money aud started her out.
 Tt was 8 o'clock when she left me, and I waited with a good deal of anx- lety Co learn how Shinn would meet this new enemy. l expected her back ln about an hour Four o'clock came. but DO collector -5, 0. ', and she didn't show up. In fact, she didn't show ug that night nor the next day nor the next nor the next. X week passed. and l began to think Shinn had murdered her. Funny, wasn't 1t? Ey- err man I'd sent had come back after having been thrown out; the only wO- man I'd sent didn't come back at all.
 Then l CaucleJ maybe the woman had collected the money or a part of It and gone off with 1t. At the same time It occurred to me that had stupldly omitted to take her address. l con cluded to notify the police and started out to do SD, but thought I'd take a look on the way at SLIuu's house. So went a roundabout way and brought up opposite the Shauty. Somehow lt didn't look sO tumbIedowu as before. ! There were white holland shades in the windows and a few flowers In the yard 10 front
 "A woman came out of a house near where was standing. and I asked her who lived in the house opposite. She said. MT. Shinn.' Amy one with him" Ills wife T didn't know he was married. He wasn't short time ago. There's a story connected with it Mir. Shinn owed some old curmudg con some money and sent a young wo- man to collect lt. She was real smart. She told him she was to get half the amount collected; that she was the on ly support OG a widowed mother and seven brothers and sisters. She gave such a pltlful picture that Shiun, who had been a long while starving himself to pay the debt and had just saved the last pauuy, went an got it and gave it fo her. You see somebody had told her what kind of g. man Shinn was She was so cut up by hls lOvable man ner that she told him to keep the mon.