Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1911-08-24

country 10 lOOh AFTER cOllectlOIS. he
collector would start out in the fall
and continue the collecting business
until after the first Of January.
Lawrence Gilruth, the younger
brorhr of a. G. generally attende
to he collections.
White in conversation with the ed
itol nt HE Saturday News the other
day Lawrence Gilruth said when
the subject of conversation drifted tG
the credit system of the mercantile
business.
Yves, sir. We have several thousand
dollar, in old bills on our books to-
day H:"h people gol at our stor"
SOM lars ago on credit-and mimi
you. It Il time when they needed the
cl,":ir and in many cases their lives
almO~' H"pcnded upon it. Or course,
the average man is honest. but il
WnuI', surprise you to know how
: the World and how they will use ever,
/ li,1l" ~uhr'rluse to avoid the payment
tf an honest bill In the first place
if the bin is allowed to run while
III "r'I'r to give them breathing
spell fi'y will dispute the bill-say
they u"N,r got the goods. or that
thtl, must b" some mistake about the
mat,"r Others will promise ami
swear hat they will settle the bill at
a certain hare and never show up az
! all
| "Jus1 to show you mans ineratitude
to man, will cite you little case of
a man who resides on a farm near
! Castl"WuOd and while he was poor
at III" time he contracted this debt
now he is worth probably $4,000 in
property This man owed $40 for
goods at our store and one year Just
tetor" harvest he came to WATERFOWL
for some little extra for his binder.
1t didn't cost much think about
81. 3n The man found the extra in
the rliy but the machinery dealer
"CulG not let him have it without the
cash. The fellow was up against it
as he had a good stand Of grain all
ready for the binder and he could not
get that much needed extra. He
came 10 our store and said: Say, |
know that owe you $40 for goods
which ! bought here a couple of years
ago but if you will let me have the
money 10 get the extra for nay binder
SO that | can harvest my crop | will
pay YOU the whole bill with the first
load of wheat that l SELL The man
was so honest and sincere lookint,
that \. c. gave him the cash to GO
and get the extra for his binder. Did
he ever pay for the goods or the ex
ira? l should say not He never
showed up at our store but did his
trading somewhere else that fall. In
due time l called on him at his farm
with the bill. He absolutely refused
to pay it and denied that he ever got
the cash for the extra. Up to this day
he has paid for neither Why don;
we sue him? Because the bill is only
{. small one and it was really wor i
that amount to find out what kind Vi
q man he was.
Here is the case of another mai
whom we did not consider safe at the
time he contracted the bill, which was
i'll the neighborhood of $3.50. We
made him give a mortgage on his
crops. In due time / appeared at his
place and observed that he had a cou
pie of loads of wheat all ready t.
take to market | tied my horses ami
stepped up to him and told him who
was and that l had a mortgage on
that wheat. The fellow threw up his
hands and fell into regular fit.
helped his wife carry him into the
house and he was certainly in one Il
the worst fits l ever saw in my life
he was frothing at the mouth and his
eyes stuck out like china marbles.
remained in the house for some time
when I went outside to see how my
team was getting along and as ] was
coming up along side of the house one
the windows happened to be open
and l heard some one talking inside
AS there was no one in the house with
the exception of the man and his WIFI
and the man was supposed to be in
a fit stopped near the window and
listened. This is what l heard the
man say in a gruff voice: Yes, he
thinks l am very sick and will go
away. After he is gone we will sneak
the wheat to Waubay and sell it anu
skip.
Il returned to the house and acted
Just as unconcerned as possible and
told the woman that seeing her hus
band was i'll ! would go back to Wa