The Cairo bulletin., 1911-02-15
The Man Who Was
Bribed .z.s
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1910. by Associated Lit
erary Press.

do II. Abe said nothing, but Abe
clothing was found by the mill ponc
Mrs. Singer took On awful, and sol
hearted citizen started purse for he
and $50 We're raised. and there wer
Others who contributed food and cloth
Ing. The widow moved from the sta
BILE into shanty.
Ten days after the powwow Alb
Singer appeared He had been car
ried downstream by the current ant
thrown on an island, where he had re
mained unconscious for days and With
out food for other days. 1t was pref
ty shy story, but the people had t.
believe II and congratulate the teller
on his wonderful escape.
| 1t was about sixty days later wheI
the next event came off. A either
| who owned farm outside the village
| hired Abe to dig well. He had re
fused jobs not so hard or dangerous
but he took this one right away, He
preferred well digging to even the
postottice steps. When he had been
digging for two days and after he had
thrown out hints about qnicksand and
cave-ins the alarm was given that the
curbing of the well had cayed in and
that Abe was probably a dead man
eighteen feet down.
There is only one thing to do in such
a case dig the poor fellow out. If iiv-
ing, succor him. If dead. contribute n
fund TO bury him and carry the widow
along. There were some who wouldn't
have come down but for the fact that
Abe had gone to work and made no
kick
His desire to help himself opened
all hearts. If that hadn't then there
were the widows tears and lamenta.
tons to fall back on. The sum of Sl00
was raised for her and 1t was more
clothes and more provisions,
The bottom of the well was strucl;
az last, but there was no Abe. There
sure had been a cave-in. but ii hadn't
caught him. There was a mystery on
hand to be solved If not at the bot
tom of the well. then where was hef
The question was on every lip for four
days, and then Abe came back to an
swer 1t himself 1t was easily ex-
planned
He had had warning Of the com
ing eave-in and had scrambled out
Such was his terror that he had been
temporarily ont of his head, Tie re
membered running away az fast a
he could, but when his senses cam
back to him he was thirty miles awnN
and hiding in a farmers barn. !
soon as he had recovered his nerve h
came jogging along home and was
ready to tackle the job again.
Hopewell shook its head in q doubt
ing way, but did not talk mlch Abs
Singer was coming 10 the frolt AMI
becoming a hero. he had also novel
from n shanty into cottage sad was
living on the top shelf AS n matter o
fact, he did finish the well and thereb5
made himself solid with ell who mi"h
have otherwise criticised Ncvertho
less the town constable felt that he he
a duty to perform Ee west to Ar
and said.
"You went to your death in tha rive
and returned You went TO your deat.
in the we'll and returned. Don't IT.
the little game again. If you DO /
don't believe tho town will raise M
other dollar for your widow"
The Summer had departed and lat.
autumn had come. Abe hadn't tirei
himself out locking for any more jobs.
but was now offered the position OF
night Waterman Of the village. II wa;
cold job and poor pay, and no on
wanted 1t until he stepped forward
Not a robbery had ever been cormi'
ted in the village. but there were tag
payers who thought it best to quart
against such things happening. When
the constable heard Of the appoint
ment he met Abe to say:
"No fooishncss, now"
"If robbers come | shall kill some OF
Them was the reply.
"But if you have them kill you don'i
make a mess of it,"
81 shall do my best to die, and when
you see me lying dead you will be sor
ry for what you have said"
Two weeks passed, and then one
night at midnight there were yell
and shots and the noise of running,
and tie people turned out to find Abe
Singer missing He was searched for,
but not found. Next day there was a
grand hunt, but no cew. Robbers had
killed him and borne his body away
another public subscription for the
widow-more provisions, fuel and
clothing She actually opened an ac-
count at the village bank and put on
mourning Another two weeks and
the cat came back Abe walked In to
say that he had discovered three yegg-
men about to break into the postoffice
and when he had fired on them they
had seized and chloroformed him and
borne him away in buggy For
twelve days he had known nothing,
but now he had come back to take
his job again.
Hopewell didn't say much. 1t didn't
threaten 1t didn't bring out tar and
feathers, 1t simply asked the ques-
ton Of Abe Singer:
How much cash will you take to
skate out of this town and stay
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