The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-01-13
HosO He Happened
TO Get Rich.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

in disguise said an old Californian
when telling stories of the early days
Of the Golden State "In fact, bless
ings usually come in disguise Anoth-
er adage akin to 1t is, 1T is the unex-
pected that happens and still another.
It's an i'll wind that blows nobody any
good This group Of sayings when
boiled down means you can't tell un-
less you bet'
"When l lost one Of my eyes in
fight with an Indian | didn't know
that, though l would suffer from not
seeing murderous enemies on that side.
Inconvenience resulting in judging OF
distances and little things like that,
the circumstance would lead to fortune,
with Its consequent comforts, indie
pendence and freedom from worry
Frisco was looming up in those days
aud lots Of the attendants of our SUI
perlor civilization, such as logwood
wines, poisonous patent medicines
and such like, were being brought
around the Horn and dumped on the
settlers. Among other things, Con-
necticut Yankee took out lot Of ar
tihcial limbs teeth and glass eyes.
CAS- soon as / saw one of those eyes
in a shop window It struck me as
means of restoring my departed good
looks. for, though ! was red headed
and freckled, the girls all said that be-
fore my Disagreement / could rake
'em every time with the feeling
would throw into my blue orbs You
see after the loss of one of 'em had
to concentrate all the expression into
the other, which only half did the bust
ness. / went in, and the feller spent
half an hour hunting for an eye to
match the one in my head finally be-
ing obliged to give me one of few
shades lighter blue than the other-ln
fact, Il was rather a steel gray. When
got away from the shop and looked
at It in a mirror Il struck me that the
devil was looking through 1t. 1t was
the coldest blooded thing you ever
saw. SO long as ] wore 1t | never
ran the risk of losing the other one,
for all had to do was to cover man
with IL TO wilt him. | kept 1t for my
enemies and my real eye for the girls.
"The accession Of the Chinese devel-
oped the spirit OF gambling among us,
at the same time diminishing our
funds. There was gradual passing
OF our dust into the clothes of these
varmints. In fact, 1t got so bad that
determined something had to be
done. l had plan, but no money to
start a game with. But when l stated
the case to two or three more prosper
Gus friends they agreed to put up for
me and give me all the winnings II
succeeded, they to stand all loss up to
$1,000. What they wanted was to let
the copper colored thieves know that
they couldn't always win.
"A Chinaman named Ting Ling had
won lot OF money from our crowd,
and l invited him TO have a small
game with me. Before we sat down
put a patch over my glass eye.
wanted to seduce him with the heav-
enly blue Of my natural one into real
noble game. proposed TO let him win
for awhile but that wasn't necessary.
1t was Just as easy for him to hold
Ave aces as a pair Of thrces. just let
him go OH, betting light. till he had got
half my pile. Then | got up between
deals TO find a match for lighting a
cigar and before l returned to the Ia
BILE took out my devil spyglass,' as
the boys called II, and laid 1t on a Ia
bic on Ting Ling's right, letting down
the patch over the empty socket in my
head the same as before.
at was a half hour before the rascal
turned and saw II. At first | was
afraid I had scared him Off. / called
his attention back to the cards by max
ing a bigger bet than usual. but not
for long. He kept looking sideways at
the eye, and, as had placed 1t Just far
enough behind him to look into his
hand, saw him holding his cards In
a position to escape its glance. For
awhile he kept on with his rascality,
being very careful that the eye should
not get a glimpse OF his hands. but he
at last got ratified and stopped cheat
ing entirely. Every time he looked 10
his right there was that eye, with it's
DEVILS expression, staring at him and
doubtless noting his every movement
"The oftener he looked at Il the more
he got ratified. When | saw that the
proper time had come, did little
slight of hand myself and held some
fine combinations. Ting Ling was hard
to draw In, and | didn't win much
money, but somehow he took 1t into
his head that us MelIcans had got on
TO the Chinese delicate methods, and
after that game there was no more
yellow sharping for a long while.
managed to rake 5000 out Of him when
he got SO ratified that he settled up MS
the game strod and got away from the
eye.
~ was sailing out on TO the street,
when who should come along but Jim
Rogers, who | supposed was off pros
pecting. Hello, Jimp says /. Hello,
Toni says he. Where you been| |
asked. In CaIaveras county all the
WHILE says he ANY luckT says /.
Not a bit Got few specimens, but
don't suppose any Of 'em is worth
anything Let me see EN-, says /.
He nnlled ouf Iot nf rocty cIinnings