Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-09

York Press.
about his work as usual and yet re-
main unrecognized by even his closest
friends. It's a life-and-death PROPOSE
tion' he said. III n certain party sees
me before do him I'm q goner' I took
him I'm hand and worked on disguises
for him for three days. Some time
afterward he came In looking tlckied to-
death. He conhded to me that his dis
guise had worked like n charm and that
he wouldn't part with II for small
fortune.
zone day there came in young fell
low who gave me n part of his life
story and said that his father had dis
inherited him because of his wild ways.
He had been driven from home and
his father would have no more to do
with him. Now, his father was critical
ly Ill and he wanted to go visit him,
yet remain unrecognlzed. | provided
him with a wig and side whlskers. He
went to his home. sent word to his
father that he had come as a mes
senger from his wandering son, and
was admitted to his bedside. He told
his father that his son had settled
down and was doing well. He had re-
pented of his past life and wished
to assure his father OF his affection.
The old gentleman was so pleased that
he changed his will and at his death
learned afterward that the son ran
through with 1t in n few months and
proved himself to be entirely worthless
Crooks have got disguises from me,
too, which they have put to good, or
rather bad, advantage or course, /
had no way of recognizing them, as
they were smooth, of good appearance
and had plausible excuses When /
Ia lad N,N,,
where I was born, a man came to me
one day and bought a complete dis
guise. Being young, | was easily taken
in. l learned afterward that he was n
notorious crook, and his complete equip
ment had enabled him to walk right
by the noses of the police and get safe
ly out of town.
Besides wig and toupee making, at
which L keep forty persons employed, |
do a pretty considerable business In
human hair. This establishment Is
wholly given over to It, along with
hairdressing and manicuring. l keep
hair valued at 100000 in stock all the
time. Most of this hair is imported
from Europe. A large part of II comes
from France, and some from Germany
and Italy. The best hair comes from
Switzerland. The hair of the Swiss
girls is fine and delicate and we'll kept.
The converts are the great source for
hair. When woman enters a convent,
of course, she must part with her hair,
and there are various European con-
vents that derive considerable part of
their income from the sale of this hair.
A good head of hair can be bought for
$50 in Europe. After treatment it is
worth five times as much. We get
some hair from America. too. mostly
from the converts. A Chicago man
once made a small fortune out of a
convent there. He bought the hair of
the girls as fast as they entered and
sold it to dealers. But by far the great
er part of my hair comes from Europe.
1 get it in 200 and 300 pound lots. 1t
comes in every ina ginable color, shade
and tint. 1t is carefully sorted and col
lected into tresses of hundreds of diff
ferent tints, so that it is a very fas-
tidious woman whom we cannot please
in regard to matching colors.
Hair Is constantly going higher in
price. Auburn hair will soon command
a premium. But of all colors gray hair
is the hardest to get and the most ex-
pensiVe. Pure white hair brings 500 an
ounce, and the finest anywhere from
SIS to $3.50 an ounce. Gray hair is cut,
say, from 1000 different heads. Then
all the different shades are sorted,
classified and carefully prepared. OF
COURSE, when woman SelS 10 tne age
that she has gray hair she hardly will
part with what she has left at any
price. Its scarcity, combined with the
skill required in sorting it, makes 1t
very costly 1 have a stock of gray
hair which 1 keep in the big steel safe
here, which is worth its weight in gold.
I could not duplicate it at any price.
Now, here is a tress, eight inches long
and naturally curled, you see. That
bit of hair is worth exactly $3.50. This
so-called false hair is never bleached
or subjected to any whitening process.
That would make it of small value.
Bleached hair is always the same COL
or it's whole length. Real hair never
is. When you want to test hair, hold
it's ends together, and if the colors are
different, the shade imperceptibly
| changing along it's length, then it is
real hair"