The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1911-03-09

AIS pdck. he stopped IN the middle OF
the road. Looking about, his eyes
rested upon a weather-beaten sign
board upon which had once been
painted the picture of black bear
resting upon it's launches. For more
than hundred years this sign board
had been swinging to and fro as if
beckoning 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
! shust myself will walk in init him"
Bracing up 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 briskly in
the German language. It was bux-
ON widow on the one hand and a 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 unsophisticated to pene-
trate the dark recesses of the hollow
hearted man that had by chance come
suddenly int 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, a 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 a sacred inheri.
lance from his paternal grandfather.
The Inn was now somewhat out of
date, but was still doing it's part to-
wards furnishing the mother and son
living and a little to lay I'D for
rainy day. Johns father had taught
him 10 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.
plalhlng to the widow Hartz regarding |
The word tramp, now so
aptly applied to the tie-path tourist, |
mad not been coined in that day and
men Of his like were little understood.
he said he was just out on a pleasure
Tour and that he travelled on foot as
matter of choice. He was moving
|eisurely along that he might better
enjoy the lovely scenery and pure
mountain air. His words were we'll
chosen and deeply impressive as he
cautiously worked his way up to the
oolnt OF offering to remain for a time
md assist in the work about the Inn
md farm. He had a smooth tongue
The turnpike, winding it's way
long up and down the sides, over
nd across the Allegheny mountains
vas then the popular highway for
rovers and wagoners upon their way
o and fro between Eastern Pennsyl-
-anla and Pittsburg. The people
llong this route were principally Ger
mans. Some of them could neither
cad nor speak English. They lived
mainly on what they produced and
lad little occasion to spend their |;
money. Almost anything that looked
ike money would pass. In those
lays much of the paper money
n circulation was Of the wild
'at kind. Between the counterfeit
md genuine issue there was but lit.
le choice. One passed from hand to
land almost as readily as the other
Herman Weisgarber, as he called
himself, had for many years been dodg-
ng about from place to place ma
ring living by showing the queer.
Under pretence of his inability to un-
lerstand the English language he was
.ble to deceive the officers and es-
ape arrest. 1t was always "Nicht-
'erstehe" with him. "He shust didn't
Know noting bout baper monies"
To the widow Iiartz he appeared Q
nan of honor. She measured his
character by her own and could see
10 farther. Six months had scarcely
'assed from the time she met him
Until he became her husband.
When John Hartz came in contact
With hi; step-father he was honest,
nd had he followed in the footsteps
# his own father he would have re-
NAMED SO. 1t did not take long to
rove that he was susceptible and
asily drawn into ways that We're dark
nd forbidding. Step by step he was
I'd along and craftily initiated into
he mysterious doings of counterfeit
re-.