The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1909-05-19

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! life too we'll to sell ii for peso.
The paymaster wondered why every
man who was paid that day examined
has pesos carefully before leaving the
window. He supposed there were
counterfeits in circulation and that
! the laborers were afraid of getting bad
! coins.
Francisco Basa. the man who had
asked Felipe TO tell him the story of
/ the haunted pesos, looked at his mon
! ey the next morning. and was horri-
/ fed to discover that two Of his pesos
/ had the fatal blood spots.
! lie called his wife and in terror
they both agreed that they were pos
sessed OF haunted pesos, and that
they would hurl them into the yard
/ of the Pace house as soon a. 1t became
/ dark The two pesos were sadly need
ed, it was true. but what were two
pesos, if throwing them back to the
miser would protect them from his
curse?
So after his days work loading and
I unloading ships Francisco went to
| Pace, shiyering with fear, and imagin.
ing that every palm tree along Gale
Real concealed the spirit of the miser,
and that the terrible ghostly fingers
We're reaching for his throat
There seemed to be a great many
( Flipinos hurrying along Gale Real
/ They all went by the Ledeama house
in the darkness and then started back
by the way they had come from Ma
Mia.
Francisco furtiyely threw his pesos
over the fence and went back to the
city with the others, When he haf
come 10 the Luneta. where the hand
was playing, he met Pascual Romero
who also worked for tho governments
unloading steamers.
Where have you been. pascual?
he asked
Il have been in Pace, replied Pas
cual Let us walk around and heal
the band play, How is your WIFE
brother doing with his fish store?'
Good. replied Francisco, but his
mind was not on the fish store.
Il found two haunted pesos in my
parse this morning, said Francisco
his fingers trembling As he lit cigar
cl-e.
You were lucky" said Pascual -
had the misfortune to find thlt l had
four | threw them back to the miss
ana glad | am that | did 50, Have
you kept yours"
Mother of God, no! east the ac
cursed things away. Does man rish
his life for two pesos2'
Others have found the blood spots
on their money, l am told There II
no MISLEADING them. The spots show
over the eagle, They are spots OF
dried blood and there can BE- no doubt
that they are the miser's coins"
For three months the 2,00o Filipi
no5 employed by the government in
the transport service found haunted
pesos. and every week they lnnrncycd
to Pace by night and threw the coins
into the yard of the Ledesma house
Then they found Eo more and came o
the conclusion that the spirit Of the
dead miser had his own again aud
was at peace. They were well pleased
for they found their wages being de-
pleted by the tribute to the ghost Of
the pesos.
But no one had been strangled. So
the story told by Felipe Lopez had
warned all the natives of Manila and
had doubtless saved many lives
1t is a pity some facts bearing di.
rectly on the haunted pesos must in
justice be told to those who have fol
lowed the tale this far.
Some weeks before Felipe Lopez
told his story a chemist employed in
the government laboratory at Manila
was sharing room with n man from
Connecticut. The latter was employed
in the Philippine treasury and made
up the money for the various govern
ment bureaus, including the transport
service, which was used to pay saar-
les.
The man from Connecticut was
typical New England Yankee, with the
nasal twang common TO that region,
and he had the reputation Of being
very shrewd.
The chemist one night gave him a
peso which had dark red spot on it,
1t does not show at once" exclaimed
the chemist, but the spot comes out
in a day or two, and lasts FOL a couple
Of weeks, when it fades again. Looks
like a spot of blood, doesn't it?'
Yes" said the Connecticut man.
and smoked several cigars in silence.
Then he went and had a long talk
with an intelligent native named Fe
lipe Lopez, who was cargo checker
for the army transport service.
About the time the Filipinos got no
more haunted pesos in their wages,
a government chemist and an employee
of the treasury resigned and took Sas-
sage for the United States on a
steamer. Both of them had plenty of
money.
Felipe Lopez owns a moving picture
theater in Manila and no more checks