The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1906-1907, 1907-03-25
The Two OVercOatS.


Right after that along came man OF
my acquaintance, and we had talk
lasting half an hour. Then went to
the desk, paid my bill, handed In the
check for my coat, put It on, and, going
upstairs for my grip, l proceeded to
the depot. | saw that 1t was my coat
all right and took particular notice OF
the papers in the pocket. left them
there that might look them over after
getting on the train. You are prepared
to hear that when / got ready to
glance over those papers | made dis
covery. In the first place, 1t was not
my overcoat. The strap bore the name
of a tailor in Cincinnati, while mine
had been made in Baltimore. In the
next, the package Of papers proved to
be letters written by woman to
man. In brief, they were love letters
and twelve In number, and on the en-
yelopes were notes, evidently made by |
a lawyer. The two garments were
made OF the same material, trimmed
alike, and 1t would have been impossi- |
BILE to tell them apart The check boy !
had made q mistake.
/ was thirty miles out of Chicago
when l woke up to the fact that a
blunder had been made, and / left the
train as soon as possible and took my
way back. The check boy denied hav-
ing made any mistake, but finally ad-
mitted that II was just possible he had
| passed my coat out to some one else.
But who was that some one else9
There were over 300 guests in the ho-
tel. Perhaps not one of them would
have checked his coat for a couple Of
hours, as had been the case with me.
It was more likely to be some one who
had simply entered the dining room
for a meal.
The letters were addressed to man,
old or young, In village in Iowa and
were signed "Gussie." The latest Of
them was six months old. Each one Of
them proved that the girl was in love
with the recipient, and 80 took 1t that
he was a young man. Obviously the
thing to do was to write to him. was
SO anxious about my own papers that
did not wait to write, but telegraph
ed. An answer was returned that
James Fairfield was no longer resi-
dent OF the place. Then made jour
ney TO the village to discover that
James, after being engaged to the girl
for a year or more, had skipped out
rather than marry her and that she had
threatened him with a suit for breach
of promise. Where he had gone no one
but his widowed mother knew, and no
information could be got from her.
then advertised In the Chicago and
} New York papers every day for a
week, but the result was nil. l watch
ed the papers for the next two weeks,
hoping that the other party would ad-
J vertlse, but he did not had to go
over the ground again and get as much
information as could. Meanwhile the
suit had to be adjourned, and some Of
the parties had seen before could not
be found the second time. The evil
dence had at first gathered would
} have won the suit right or the reel,
, but now the matter was very doubtful.
had finished up In Chicago, and six
weeks had elapsed when l brought up
In Detroit on the same business. had
only to see one person there and there
4 AOAT hAt AAON NehC q AOOAh at LAAC hOlCt.
: / had arrived In the morning, and !
, handed my coat to the check boy and
was seated at the table with another
0 man. We were both inclined for con-
a versation and talked as we ate. |
? learned that he was a lawyer from a
D small town In Wisconsin, and the
breakfast passed or very agreeably
When we went out OF the dining room
? both of us walked to the window OF
a the cloak room and presented our
a checks. l received my overcoat first
: As he received his he invited me to
take cigar, and 1t was after we had
lighted up that I rammed my hand In
my pocket for my gloves, pulled out q
n pair not belonging to me and said:
4 "Well, this beats the Dutchi The
;. boy has given me some one else'i
n overcoat. This Is the second time thi:
' winter that the mistake has occurred
}. The stranger instlnctively put hi!
hands In the pockets of his overcoat
" and out came a pair of gloves that
Z instantly recognized as my own.
n You have got on my coat" he sai(
q as he looked at the gloves In my hand
4 ''Then you have got on miner
.. That proved to be the case. We turn
Y ed to the boy, but he stoutly denie,
that he had changed the checks. Ii
fact, the western man checked his Goa
fifteen minutes before did. and l ha(
a taken my coat out first. and II wa
/ hard to see how a mixup could hav
> taken place.
y Have you been in Chicago this win
Il terT' asked the stranger as we stoo,
: staring at each other
- Il was there about six weeks ago,
he replied.
:. "Did YOU stop at the Blank HouseP
!" 81 did"
y "Dld you get another mans overcoa
- by mistaken
y 81 did. and some one got mine, an
= | have been made a lot OF trouble o