The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-12-29
Saving a Fortune.


prislng town WAS 30 miles from any
railroad aud u hatd place TO get away
from. II was 2 desirable place TO
leave. since the population was com
posed of gamblers, cutthroats, dis
pensers Of alcoholic drinks, miners
aud storekecpers, mentioned In order
OF Importance. The only respectable
family in the place was that of George
Jones, who kept general store, and
as he was the only man who never
sold anything on trust all IT," money
gradually found H.. 10y into his cof-
fers IL was like washing gold The
dirt was constantly shaken up among
the citizens. the metal sinking to the
bottom Of Jones pan.
Every one knew that Jones was
gathering u snug sum and that he
wished to take 1t and his children to
a respectable place. Every one was
waiting for him to make the attempt,
relying on the road agents when he
did 50 to relieve him of the funds
while .ou the route and start them
again IN circulation. Furthermore, the
road agents We're waiting to carry out
this pralseworthy object.
One day red flag apeared at Jones'
store and Il was announced that he
would sell the remnant OF his stock at
auction. He sold ON sixty days credit,
letting II be known that when the
notes fell due and were collected he
proposed to leave Cinnamon with his
fa. nj NAFn5
not thousand dollars worth of goods
left, and these Jones sold to anybody
who wanted anything on his credit
plan. Everybody wanted goods 50
easily obtainable, and Jones in few
hours exchanged the stuff for notes.
While Jones was thus giving credit
for money cIedIt was due Mrs. Jones
for being a very shrewd woman. A
week before the falling due of the
notes she issued invitations for Il
''suarry," to which every one I'm town,
including gamblers aud road agents,
was invited, 70 celebrate the departure
OF the Jones family on the day after
the said notes fell due. Her husband
generous man, made 1t known that II
any of the debtors found 1t incUnven-
lent to pay up at maturity the matter
would be left open for Il reasonable
time. These two propositions en-
HANGED the popularity Of the Jones
family, and the cutthrOats got their
horses and their guns ready to return
the family fortune to circulation.
l had clerked for Jones and was
ready to do anything In the world for
him, but he didn't trust me till the
last minute, though lie told me to be
ready on short notice to go somewhere
with him. | was not included In Mrs
Jones' invitations for her "suarry,"
which surprised me. ! had room OPP
posite the Jones house, and the night
the party came off | watched the
throng go in and knew by the gradual
ly increasing sounds coming from with
IN that the guests were getting cheer
ful. BY IL o'clock most Of them were
drunk, the worst element being laid
out on the floor where they had sunk
in their exuberance of spirits.
could see through the windows Jones
opening champagne, his wife serving
eatables and the children carrying the
luxuries to the guests. Then l saw
Jones himself, drunk as a lord, pledg-
ing his guests, while his wife took up
the corkscrew, which he was no longer
able 10 WELD.
I had been told to remain In my
room ready for orders, and at midnight
l saw Jones emerge from his house and
come across the street, and, walking
straight as an Infantry sergeant, he
headed for me. When he came under
my window he called to me softly. l
went down, and, taking me through
the back door and the yard, he stopped
before two horse team standing on
the street beyond. Jones told me to
get In and take the reins. ] did so,
and as we drove of he strapped Il
brace OF pistols around his waist and
laid two more at my feet at the bot
tom of the wagon. On the outskirts
of the town we stopped for q minute
at house while Jones lifted into the
buggy box containing $4,000 in gold.
We had the best team of horses In
that region and they did good service.
OF course we didn't know whether we
had been betrayed by some one who
had got wind of the trick, though
Jones had taken no one into his conf
dence. Anyway every now and then
we pulled in and listened for footballs,
Considering what he had at stake,
Jones was pretty cool.
on the start drove pretty fast, but
Jones concluded that We had better
save the horses as much as possible,
and | soon slowed down. We made
thirty miles without stopping except
for water aud another ten before CIV
Ing the horses feed Then we break
tasted ourselves and gave the team a
two hours rest And so we went on
by easier and easier stages till we
reached the railroad Jones boarded
train and drove leisurely back to
Cinnamon.
found the town perfectly quiet, but
despondent. Jones had got away with
all the money there was In It, aud the
prospect was not attractive. Nobody
asked me about where ! had been for
everybody knew Mrs Jones was the
only one interested. She said that
none of the agents aWOke before 10