The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1912-11-14

49,. ~ AVE Wnlte man TO eat IL
tinned. You've got to buy IL when
tne snip lands. You've got to be 4
government Johnny, missionary or
native, otherwise you live on money
from home or the French deport Won
Tor convict. That's Clarir's garden
OF Eden. l got the facts at a tour
lists Joint uptown. So, there ami
l can't live IL don't go; can't go;i
l can't live II ! could goi Nice, COM
PORTABLE bunch Of alternatives thati.
! mad little money. but court down
In West Virginia skinned me out OF
1t. Now haven't enough to pay a
doctor. That's why l shook my head
on the door while ago."
You mean" said Randolph Mason,
a legal decision rendered against you
in a suit at lRw?"
mot BIT of It." replied the man;
I mean what say-sktnned out Of
1t. ] had no lawsuit. was standing
IN crowd Of rubes before a court
house when the blindfold lady step.
ped out with little shell game and
lifted my wad."
This" said Mason, 'is the jargon
OF q cab driver. What do you mean?"
III cut 1t out" replied the man,
I will begin over. When my father
died he left me ten thousand dollars
in bank stocks. 1t paid dividend OF
about four per cent, and no taxes.
Being naturally smarter than my
father, at once determined to take
that money and get rich. l sold the
stock, pocketed check book and got
busy. One bright morning, in a little
town on the Monongahela river,
commissioner was selling a tract Of
land before the court house. In my
hunt for good things I happened by
accident to know about that land. It
IS rough mountain tract, not worth
ten dollars an acre; but It is under
laid with the Pittsburgh vein of coal,
standing up eight feet thick, clean
and solid like ledge OF sandstone.
a corner OF the land comes down to
the railroad and there is a little mine,
opened and operated by the old farm
er who lived on the place. He had a
pole-tipple, wheeled the coal out by
hand, and got OF about car day.
The tract contains some two hundred
acres.
Il stepped up to the commissioner
and inquired about the sale. He told
me that the owner was broke and the
court was selling the land. inquired
II the coal was included and he said,
Yes; from the sky to the center OF
the earth Then I asked the bid.
When he answered fifteen dollars, I
nearly threw At! Fifteen dollars!
The coal was worth two hundred an
acre. Now, I had been knocking
about the coal country for a good bit
and was no greenhorn. knew that
this was the Pittsburgh vein and /
knew what it was worth. The court
was selling the land, so there could
be no doubt about the title. would
not have trusted any dealer about a
land title If It had been private
sale; but here was the court-the old
blind lady herself-selling the land,
so the game was bound to be straight.
I bid twenty. The commissioner call.
ed It moment, and big man. out
little way in the crowd, with a nose
like your elbow, bid twenty-five. let
the thing hang to see If there was an
other bidder; then, iust before the
going I bid thirty. Nosy looked me
over, snorted and finally bid thirty
five. and Ave more 1 said. He
stamped around for while and final
ly lifted 1t to forty.fiye.
IAN right. Nosy,' I said to myself,
I'll just throw good. stih blur into
you and end it. AN five. said, AN
i've more every time you raise it.
He looked at me for good minute.
You're a damned fooll' he said,
and then he walked out Of the crowd.
Nosy was right about that: but I
didn't know It Just then. The land
was knocked down to me at fifty dol
lars an acre. paid cash and got my
deed, all signed, sealed and delivered.
when got home and opened my
package. had as nice box Of saw
dust as you ever saw. The old girl in
the blinkers had double-crossed me
like an expert. No street fakir could
have cleaned a smoother Job. My title
to this land proved to be only life
estate. hunted up a lawyer. He
said that court did not guarantee.
title when It sold land. 1 remember
his language-it cost me money and I
shall always remember It. He said
The doctrine OF caveat emptor OBJ
tanned at judicial sales; the purchaser
bought at his PERIL That is, Your
eyes are your market" The court
sells land through irs Officer to the
public, sells the title for a good one,
takes your money; and, II the title is
defective, you are stuck. you can't get
your money back. The old lady comes
out to her door and sells you pig
in a poke. II there's no pig In It, the
jokes on you. If it's somebody else's
pig, the jokes still on you. I've been
up against the shell and the little pea,
the flve-dollar bill and the soap boz,
the glad gent who knew my Uncle
Ephraim in Potunk. and all kinds OF
crooked faro, but for the real thing,