Omaha daily bee., 1909-12-19
LUCK OF ABSENT. MINDED NAN
How a Member of the Smith Family
Broke Into a Wedding.
HIT SPEED LIMIT TO DO IT
IncousciOus THEFT Of an Automobile,
the Subsequent Race Into the
gountry aud the Final
surprise,

surprise
talking about absent-minded men, re-
ugrEed the clothing drummer from Gin
,tunat. did any Of you ever hear Of what
happened to Jerry Smith when he went to
Chicsgo2'
Most anything's likely to happen to
a man who goes 20 Chicago said the
rod-headed man in the corner. 'and I've
heard Of a~good many things occurring
u ere in which the name of Smith figured,
bat / don't seen 20 recall jerry
Il used to know a Jerry Smith In st.
Louis" put i'm the passenger from Pitts
burg. and he was just that kind Of a
man, too. Maybe it's the same one. I've
seen him go cut to lunch, eat a square
meal, and then walk around the block,
go into the same restaurant and order an
other. Somehow / don't seem TO have
any appetite today he'd say on the sec
ond trip"
That's the man said the drummer,
for this Jerry ninth lives in st. Louis,
and there couldn't be two of the same
kind Of the same name In the same town.
Jerry had a twin brother. When they
was little shavers their own mother
couldn't tell EN- apart, but a divorce suit
split the family in two when the twins
was only 8 or 6 years old. Jerry stayed
with his father while the mother carried
his brother Tom with her back to her old
folks somewhere in the east, and as the
years went by without seeing him or
hearing anything about him Jerry about
forgot that he'd ever had a brother. That,
Of course, had nothing to do with him be-
ing absent-minded but l had to give you
a bit Of his family history so you'd I'M
d~erstand what happened to him when he
went to Chicago.
He'd grown up. got married and had
two or three children when he made that
trip. Guess he was somewhere along
about 81 or 81 then, successful, In bust
ness, well fixed financially, a good locker
and a pretty high liver. He went up to
Chicago on an important deal of some
kind. Don't know what it was and it
don't matter anyhow. 1t wasn't his first
trip to Chicago. Oh, no! He'd been there
lots of times. and knew the town and
Cook county like a book. I'm just tellin'
you about the one particular trip.
Force of Habit.
We'll, whatever this deal was, 1t took
him to an office in the Marquette build
ing, and it kept him there until pretty
close to 6 o'clock. He came down the
elevator with his mind set on the bust
ness in hand. He looked neither to the
right noI to the left, but walked straight
out the main door to the street. There
was an automobile drawn up against the
Grub Of the same style and same make
as Jerry's own in st. Louis. 1t was his
custom, when at home, to have his car
brought around to his office from the
public garage, where he kept it. He
preferred to be his own chauffeur, and
..l.,, ha rl,eai Iis lagx i,p would climb
into the machine and run it out to his
house or take a little spin into the coun-
try all by himself.
SO. forgetting that he was not in st.
Louis, he stepped INTO this Chicago car,
put on the power and speeded away.
Everything he did for the next hour or
so was just automatic. There must have
been some hard knots to unravel in that
business deal, for his whole mind was set
on it. and though he wound in and out
through strange streets, lodged street
cars and wagons and people, he did II
without knowing what he was doing, and
wasn't on his usual route to the country
roads. AS he got out into the residence
district he speyded It VI a little, and
once outside the city limits, he let It out
to about thirty miles an hour; but it was
"a big machine and could go twice as fast
as that on a pinch.
He was about fifteen or six
teen miles from town and out in the opon
country, when shots fired behind him and
yells to stop brought him to himself with
a mental jolt, as YOU might say. Look
ing back over his shoulder he saw another
car coming after him with three or fouI
men in II, and they seemed to be very
much excited.
Hitting the Speed Limit.
81 don't know where l am nor where
/ got this car says Jerry to himself, blu.
l must have Judged over the speed limit
They's not goin' TO catch me, though n,
says. II this machines got the stuff in 1
/ think It has. | can't afford to get TIED
up with the law while this deal is on
He hadn't checked up a bit when IN
heard the rumpus behind him and now IN
put ON full power and let her go the limit
She shot out down that road like a hurri
cane behind time, and though the fellow
in pursuit hung on the best they could
and kicked up a tremendous lot o. fuss
Jerry's machine was too much for them
1t was beginning to get dark and Jerrr,
didn't want 90 take chances on keepin' IA
that speed, particularly on a strang
course, so at the first fork he came to h
left the main road and then slowed dow.
to a safe gait, feeling sure that the othe
fellows would keep to the main line. an
so, il turned out, they did.
This branch road that Jerry got INT
wasn't much better than a bride pat
through the woods, and It was about q
crooked as a ward politician. Also, 1t wa
cut up with gulleys and sprinlled wit
stumps; but Jerry floundered along a
best he could, hoping every minute to com
out on a better road, or at least to con-
across somebody who could direct hin
back to the city, He did both at the sam
time; that Is, he struck a main highwh
and a house, but he Gidn't get the info.
nation he wanted-not Just then, at an
rate.
1T was a big house, a country mausiO.
In fact, set in broad grounds filled wit
great trees. The house was all ablai
with lights, and at the big stone gate W,
a man In livery like a sentinel on guav
~ guess he can tell me how to get baC
to Chicago says Jerry to himself, and
sped his machine up in front OF the gaze
But before he could get his mouth up.
the man i'm livery had hold OF his hand al
was drawing him out o. the car,
In Time for the Ceremony.
Better get right ON up to the hou,
MIR. smith he was saying. They're
waitin' for you an b~eginnin' to get Nigh