Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1912-06-14

gelllnS LnelT DEdAu6 AoA PASSN
plantations of this odd but <tri-
vial occurrence. / mention it merely |
to show how many Of us are much |
more curious than we win admit.
Next morning, at Rand's suggestion
I telephoned the jobbing house down
town and soon found that the few that
handled paper napkins had received
no unusual orders: in fact, no orders
from dealers or individuals not known
to them. In a word, before We left
the house, we were sure that our mys-
terious young buyer Of paper napkins
had confined his efforts to the retail
field.
We went first to Langstadter's and
then the neighboring stores. This was
wednesday morning the eighteenth Oh
May. and by Thursday evening, when
| we sat down to dinner at the club,
the field had been swept clean and
the facts before US were these:
The buyer of the napkins was a
handsome fellow of about thirty
wears. dressed In dark sack suit with
a pin stripe, q black derby and pat
emit leather button-shoes. His eye
brows were black and heavy. The
left upper incisor was Of gold and
there was a white triangular scar on
one ear-top. His ears were the dark
red of a healthy vigorous man OF his
| type. This description was carefully
pieced out Of more than one hundred
versions of his appearance.
We soon found that he had bought
out the paper napkin stock OF every
store in circle the approximate cen
ter of which was about Madison
| Square when we checked 1t on on the
man. The total of his purchases was
about one hundred thousand napkins
, In each case he had carried away the
| packets himself or when they were
very large had called for them latel
( in the day and piled them In cab
: He had done that at store on -Four
> teenth street and also at one In Thir
ty-fourth street where they had
i large stock. His cheerful. nonchalan
2 manners were those OF a Westerns
; and nothing about him suggested tn
lunatic or crank. His funds wer'
I mostly in fresh twenty and ifty-dolla
v bills. That was all that we could rak
t or scrape and Rand went carefull
2 over every detail with Frederick, Hal
b greaves and every club-member wn
e could get within hearing distance tina
D night.
n sBut." said Broderick, "cant 20
Is give us a guess as to what he wante
a. with a hundred thousand paper nal
d. kins. purchased at the retail store
q which he could have bought at 7
/ diculously lower cost wholesale! Ism
there anything on which to hang
7e conjecture?"
"Frankly, old man. am more pu
IS zled than / was in the beginning, Il
a have satisfied myself that out OF N
two hundred barely possible explain
I'd lions not one fits the facts. ha'
A not the faintest glimmer OF light
sh the real why"
or There was long pause, then son
ot one yentured a remark and soon Il
whole place was album with the Ia
te, of the bewildered club-members.
en- "Mr. Rand, Just a moment" ga
ng REYNOLDS. coming up to US about I
'ss hour later 'This is DR.. Reiter,
eve and ear specialist, who dined wi
ut. me tonight. He and / agree that
ng last Tuesday evening about sew
IN. o'clock we saw young man In eve
Oh ing dress in the Waldorf-Astoria W
his answers your description, particular
the white scar on the red ear.
nd. Reiter noticed 1t, being interested
>ey such things, and mentioned 1t to m
put Come on, Dunk. think we ha
hit the TRAIL" cried Rand.
nut, 'why SOL"
ne aWell, that little scar observed
lily definitely and carefully by a speci
ap- list like DR.. Reiter Is a ciincher
ale identity. He, doubtless. was living
ne. the Waldorf. Let US 60 and see."
NO In half an hour we knew from
res dozen porters and clerks that thu
in was such a guest He had not b
NY there long. None knew his name
inl room number. but all had seen him
e II "But, see here" said Rand to
pa head beIl-boy, when We were about
ere the end Of our string, ito what TO
nd In this hotel did several hundred pa
was ages 20 on Monday, Tuesday
nth Wednesday,"
ing Suite sol. sir" the man answe
md, instantly.
hat "How do you know?"
ken "There was more small square 8
went into that place them days q
liter ever see before in any job l e
was been in. Everybody knows It J
lem ask the floor star up there"
Rand now stated his full case to
cad management. In two minutes We kr
an that Suite sol had harbored "Mr.
ard liam Walling, Chicago" who had
ter rived Sunday night, with a suite
en-. only. He had baggage checks