Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-01

especially easy victims. Again. il is sa.d
seats seat - ton "an1 enesd ., moun.ng to ne
the minds Of divers individuals. AZ al
events, the plan was a decioed failure.
!.
one conductor upon cer,ain street "a
lire III this city was encountered WHO
makes a hobby or collecting car ticket
which possess strange histories or I,
which some odd circumstance is attached
These tickets Of course, the conductor
pays Tor himself out Of his own pock,,
by substituting the fares himself One
ticket III this mans singular collection
IS So dilapidated III appearance that II
IS Very difficult To determine its char
acter IS car ticket at all and il Is
hung together in several sections
This ticket was handed the peripatetic
collector by man who remarked Incl
dentalis at the time that he had carried
IL all through the campaign in the Philip
pine Islands. The little document had
once saved his life. for one OCCASION
When he had been captured by savages
IN the Island of Samar he represented
To MS captors. and particularly to a
very supe-stitious chief. that IL was u
charm or amulet. The circumstance
that his life had been saved, In an ap-
parently miraculous manner. while ford
ing stream, and later crossing some
precipitous rocks. in which operations
several of his native guards were Killed
convinced the old chief of the truth Of
his assertion
The owner OF the ticket who WAS. il
seems. thoroughly acquainted with the
language CT the natives of the Island %
Samar. put upon the pattern Of tho ticket
all sorts OF weird interpretations CON
vincing the chief that the harmless
scrolls meant an Invocation TO the DOW
ers of good and evil The knowledge
thus acquired by these wild Fiipinos re-
Sardfns the mysteries OF a Washington
street car ticket was not destined r.
last them long. for the destructive ON
sIausht upon them by Gen Jacob Smith
put an end To this learning and to the
natives themselves. including the chief Of
superstitious procliv.ties. at the same
time.
Incidentally. too, the possessor Of the
adventures befeli him. some OF which lie
related To the conductor TO whom he
handed the ticket. All over Europe lad
the ticket been carried and produced un-
der divers quaint circumstances. figuring
in an inventory in Genoa. where its own
er got into trouble with the authorities
Some Of the latter persisted In the belief
that the ticket was some secret ana rcllist
device or passport and were for retain
ing IL for Interpretation By initiated az
thority.
Again. the document was presented to
a sOndoier in Venice and resulted in a
row with that individual. who considered
the matter. by some reconcile mental
process. as personal affront and insult
For nearly four years the ticket had thus
remained in the possession Of the strange
individual. who caused ii to figure so
variously and. in some Instance So
sensationally. Indeed. the conductor in
whose collection the frayed and almost
undecipherabie bit-or, rather bits-of
pasteboa I'd now is remarks that a novel
of the Alexander Dumas, pere. type could
easily be constructed out of the adyen-
lures OF this car ticket, as narrated by
the soldier and traveller from whom II
was obtained.