The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-07-31
A $4,000
TEMPTATION
By NJ. QUAD
Copyright 1912, by Associated Lit
erary Press.
BY NJ. QUAD

its size in the state. Among other in
cidents related To prove the claim I
was told that n merchant who had beer
paid 3 cents too much by a customel
living twenty-five miles away hired
man to drive the distance and back e
hand over the pennies.
Again, a grocer who had warranted
pound Of coffee to be Mocha fount
out that IL was only RIO and salved hi,
conscience by returning the money am
pound Of tea besides.
The stranger who dropped quietly
into Tumpkinsvtlle one day and regis
tered at the tavern ms Henry Beach
was about forty years odd He had d
pleasant way with him, but a phystog.
nOmist would have said that he Wis a
cynic. The day after his arrival he
called at the Office of the Weekly Re.
corder and took the breath away from
the editor by making his cash down
price for a full page advert ise,pert.
The thing was unprecedented IL was
too tremendous to he swallowed undh
FIVE minutes.
There wasn't great deal TO that ad.
when it appeared. 1t was headed Two
Thousand Dollars For Some One" and
it asked people to call on Mr.. Beach and
give up certain Information and bear
away the money. You can WAGER that
they began calling without delay. To
ALL and it took days to get to the last
one, the advertiser explained:
Seven years ago l had to pass
through this town IN my way to Hills
bOro. l was diving a horse and bug
gy, and just IN front of yuur town hall
one of the hind wheels Of the vehicle
began to wabble. The nut had worked
of the axle, and the wheel was about
to roll away and cause On accident, In
which | might have lost my life At
the critical moment a man sDfged me
and pointed to the wheel.
Il was in dire haste to reach the bed
side of my dying mother, and l den't
remember that / even thanked the
good man. ran back. found the nut
in the dust and, dapping II on the axle,
l sped away. / was in time to see my
dear mother breathe her hast. Then
had to go to South Africa and A1stra-
liza on business and have@beEn back only
a few days. have feit adl along that
the man who notified me of my wsb-
bling wheel ought to be rewarded, and
l am here to do it. 1 want TO find him
and hand him $1,000
The first man to hear the story wus
that same grocer VINO had acted so
square about the coffee. He was fat
and eXcitable, and when the story had
been told he was breatntng fike wind
broken horse.
Seven years ago, was ftT' he asked.
Seven to a day"
Lets see? Let's seef Ah, yes, I
remember. Seven years ago to-day as
was passing the town han man
came along in a buggy. WhsteSek
made me look at the hind wheels l
can't say, but noticed that
"What time IN the day WIS tlIisF'
interrupted Mr. Beach.
what time? Um Let's see! My
watch had run down the night before,
but think it wars about 10 O'Clock"
'"Then it was some other man.
passed through heae at 4 o'csock In the
afternoon
Mr.. Kennedy, the undertai1er, came
next. He listened with bsted breath
to the story as told theEroC1r and then
replied:
at is curious how a few words Will
recall a forgotten iDcfr1ent TO you. Se~
en- years ago today was standing IN
front of the town bah when a Mr..
johnson asked me II 1 had heard that
old Mrs. Harvey wsus SICK and hke To
die. That makes me supe of'tf1e daR."
"Of course"
"Mr. johnson had passed on when
saw a man In buggy coming at fast
clip. AS he was about % pass me l
saw that one Gf the hind wsBeehs WAS
wabbling"
"And you held up your hand and
called outT' said Mr.. Beach.
81 must have done So"
"It looks as II the $1,000 was yours.
but a question OF two, Az whnt hour
in the day was thatT'
"Lemme think minute. What hOurf
What hour? Well, SIR, as near as
can put it, it was about half past 3 in
the afternoon. Yes, / am sure 10 WINS"
"But was driving through your
town at 0 O'Clock in the morning. so
1t couldn't have been you. There must
have been two OF us with wabbly hind
The undertaken meekly retired, but
II was afterward said that he went
home and kicked his dog aud jRWed HIS
wife
That investigation lasted about two
weeks, and It used up almost every
man In the town. Even a minister and
elders and deacons called. None M
them came right out and affirmed that
he saw the wabbly wheel, but all con-
tended that 1t was very likely they
were passing the town han at the hDur
mod II thav xua,tsa .tsJ