The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1911-03-10

board upon which had once been
painted the picture of a black bear
resting upon it's launches. For more
than hundred years this sign board
had been swinging to and fro as If
reckoning and inviting passersby to
enter the little inn that was standing
some Is or 20 feet back from the
road 1t took Mr.. Herman Weisgar-
Der several minutes to decipher the
inscription beneath the faded picture.
When he had succeeded, as he thought,
he muttered audibly, Dish ish de
blaze. Der black bear vas inn, und
l shust myself will walk in nit him."
Bracing up a little and stroking his
chin he stepped with heightened
stride into the little front room that
served as an Office for the Black Bear
Inn. Here he found himself in the
presence of a pleasant-faced woman
who smiled coquettishly.
He greeted her in his own tongue,
in which she replied, and the CONVEX
sation was now carried on brlskly in
the German language. It was bux-
ON widow on the one hand and ras-
cally counterfeiter on the other. He
was a longtime rogue, but she was
honest and unsuspicious. With her
the world was good, with him it was
dog eat dog and the devil take the
hindmost. The widow Hartz was al
together too unsophsticated to pene-
trate the dark recesses Of the hollow.
hearted man that had by chance come
suddenly into the affairs of her life.
She judged him by her own heart
and little dreamed Of the misery so
soon to follow her chance acquaint.
ance with Herman Weisgarber.
Her husband had died about two
years before At this time her heart
was centered on her son, young man
nearly twenty years Of age. John
Hartz, thanks to the training of his
father, was honest and Industrious.
The Black Bear Inn and the little
farm adjoining was sacred inheri-
lance from his paternal grandfather
The Inn was now somewhat out Of
date, but was still doing its part to-
wards furnishing the mother and son
living and little to lay up for a
rainy day. Johns father had taught
him to stand firmly for the right In
all things.
Mr.. Weisgarber's gray blue eyes
were shining brightly beneath his
overhanging brows as he stood ex-
planning to the widow Hartz regarding
himself. The word tramp, now so
aptly applied to the tie-path tourist,
had not been coined in that day and
men of his like were little understood.
He said he was just out on pleasure
tour and that he travelled on foot as
matter of choice. He was moving
leisurely along that he might better
enjoy the lovely scenery and pure
mountain air. His words were well
chosen and deeply impressive as he
cautiously worked his way up to the
point of offering to remain for time
and assist In the work about the Inr
and farm. He had a smooth tongue
The turnpike, winding it's way
along up and down the sides, owe,
and across the Allegheny mountains
was then the popular highway fol
drovers and wagoners upon their way
to and fro between Eastern Pennsyl
vania and Pittsburg. The peopl'
along this route were principally Ger
mans. Some Of them could neithe
read nor speak English. They livet
mainly on what they produced ant
had little occasion to spend thei
money. Almost anything that looke'
like money would pass. In thos
days much of the paper none
In circulation was Of the will
cat kind. Between the counterfeit
and genuine issue there was but Iii
tie choice. One passed from hand t
hand almost as readily as the othel
Herman Weisgarber, as he Gale
himself, had for many years been dods
ing about from place to place mi
king living by showing the quee
Under pretence of his inability to III
: derstand the English language he wa
able to deceive the officers and O.
cape arrest. 1t was always Mich
verstehe" with him. HE shust didn
know noting bout baper monies"
To the widow Hartz he appeared
q man of honor. She measured h
: character by her own and could sc
= no farther. Six months had scarcel
= passed from the time she met hi
!, until he became her husband.
!, When John Hartz came in conta
with his step-father he was homes
o and had he followed in the footsteI
of his own father he would have r
manned so. 1t did not take long
prove that he was susceptible al
easily drawn into ways that were dal
and forbidding. Step by step he W;
led along and craftily initiated In
the mysterious doings Of counterfe
] ers.