American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1911-03-18


|9N and q long brown linen
duster q little out Of sea
son. A bundle tightly roll
cd in black oilcloth was strapped to
his back. He stopped in the middle Of
tho road. Looking about, his eyes
rested upon weather-beaten sign
board upon which had once been
painted the picture Of . black bear
resting upon Its 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. It took MI. Herman Weisgar-
Der several minutes to decipher the
inscription beneath the faded picture.
When he had succeeded. as he thought,
b. muttered audibly. Dish ish de
blacs. Der black bear vas inn, und
shust myself viii walk in NIT him."
Bracing up q little and stroking his
chin he stepped with a heightened
stride into the little front room that
served az an ONCE 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 onver-
sauon was now carried on briskly in
the German language. 1t was a bux-
ON widow on the one hand and a ras-
cally counterfeiter on the other. He
was q longtime rogue, but she was
honest and unsuspicious. With her
the world was good. with him 1t was
dog eat dog and the devil take the
hindmost. The widow Hartz was al
together too unsophisticated to pene-
hate 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 OWE 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 conferred 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The Inn was now somewhat out Of
date, but was still doing its part to-
wards furnishing the mother and son
. living and q little to lay up for a
rainy day. Johns father had taught
oim to stand firmly for the right in
al things.
Mr.. Weisgarber's gray blue eyes
we're shining brightly beneath his
overhanging brows as he stood ex-
planning to the widow Hartz regarding
himself. The word tramp, now so
sptly applied to the tie-path tourist,
aao not been coined In that day and
men of his like were little understood.
ne said he was just out on a pleasure
our 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 n deeply impressive as he
cautiously worked his way up to the
point OF Offering to remain for a time
ana assist in the work about the Inn
snd farm. He had a smooth tongue
turnpike. winding its way
Aiong up and down the sides. over
and across the Allegheny mountains
was then the popular highway for
afoVers and wagoners upon their way
" n fro between Eastern Pennsyl-
'ania and Pittsburg. The people
a'ong this route were principally Ger
uans' Some OF them could neither
tead nor speak English. They lived
uiainly ON what they produced and
u@o little occasion to spend their
money. Almost anything that looked
aAe money would pass. In those
Joys much Of the paper money
" circulation was Of the wild
Sat Kind. Between the counterfeit
.no genuine issue there was but lit
.e choice. One passed from hand to
H.
"ano almost As readily as the other,
herman Weisgarber. as he called
ainself. had for many years been dodg.
Jug about from place to place ma.
ning a living by showing the queer.
ohder pretence Of his inability to un
uerstand the English language he was
Apie to deceive the officers and es'
0ape arrest. 1t was always MIGHT.
,erstehe' with him. He shust didn't
A"ow noting bout baper monies"
10 the widow Hartz he appeared a
%ah OF honor. She measured his
character by her own and could see
ao farther. Six months had scarcely
PASSED from the time she met him
Nnui ne became her husband.
when John Hartz came in contact
WIN his step-father he was honest,
..a mad he followed In the footsteps
" us own father he would have re-
1Aihed so. 1t did not take long 70
prove that he was susceptible and
s~siiy drawn into ways that were dark