Omaha daily bee., 1912-06-08
MUSGRAVE Wins Big BATTLE
Deputy Sheriff Masters Mysterie8 of
Vest Pocket Cigaret Machine.
LEFT BEHIND BY SICK R00MER

Unpaid Riu for Board and Room,
Also Left by Young Man in
Haste to Evacuate
His Room.
After two months CONSCIENTIOUS study
and practice Deputy Sheriff Jim Mus
grave has attained to high state of ef-
ficiency as cigarette machine operator.
With the little nickel-plated device he
can make a cigarette in less than fifteen
minutes. Not ali the fellow deputies and
visitors to the sheriff's office agree that
the things Jim makes with his machine
are cigarettes, but the deputy has small
majority and even those who are on the
standpat side Of the question admit that
the products of Jim and the machine
strongly resembles a cigarette. Some of
them almost can be smoked
Now Musgrave didn't buy the cigarette
machine. Far be 1t from him to waste
his funds on such devices. 1t was
this way: Musgraves home is so
large that there really is more room than
OIlS ldIully IlCtuS. oUIllS lIiOUtiiS dSo tli o
Musgrave decided to take roomer. Jim
seconded the motion and the yeas had
1t. A dapper youg chap with . suit OF
clothes that sounded like a steam piano
that winds up the circus parade and one
of those frank, open face countenances
that inspires confidence. seen your al
In the paper" and rented the room. Just
hA Ssai
young man crowded three weeks room
rent into Mrs. Musgrave's hand before
he even tested the Osts-:noor.
Meals In His Room.
A couple Of weekG later the roomer
quit getting up at 7;S0 in the morning
He said he was sick and would have to
have his meals sent to his room. There
was no restaurant nearby and, rather
than let him starVe to death. Mrs. Mus
grave sent up the meals. She Is good
soul. and at that time her experience
with roomers Of this variety was limited,
She now has had more experience, but
she has no roomer.
Jim had an abiding conviction that the
roomer was not as sick as he let on. He
is strongly of the opinion that the
roomers boss got sick of having around
the shop a fellow who makes cigarettes
with a cigarette machine. Jim's theory
Is that the boss pruned the roomer's name
off tie payroll and the roomer took
umbrage at this and resigned in high
dudgeon or something Of that sort
One morning Mrs. Murgrave sent some
nice soft boiled eggs. four slices Of nicely
buttered toast, cup of golden brown
coffee and a few other things up to the
room. Then it was discovered that the
sick boarder had folded his night shirt
like the Arabs and silently stolen away.
Leaves the Bedstead.
Knowing what she knows now, Mrs.
Musgrave considers herself fortunate
that that was all he stole. She be-
| lieves he would have gotten away with
the brass bedstead and the dresser II
the stairway had been little wider.
Jim went up to the room to take an
inventory and discovered the cigarette
machine, box of empty cigarette tubes
and what was left Of box of Turkish
tobacco. Jim's first guess was that the
roomer had left the vest pocket "pilr'
factory In lieu of cash in payment for
two months board and room. There is
| some doubt about this in the minds of
some of Musgrave's friends, who hold to
the opinion that the leaving of the
'makin's" and the maker was a diabol-
ical method Of rubbing 1t in" on Jim.
Mrs. Musgrave wanted to burn the
truck, but Jim wGs for taking it down
to the office and using it for the purpose
for which it was supposed to have been
invented. That was two months ago.
Figuring out how to manipulate the
machine is about as easy as working
some of those mental problems In the
old arithmetic about how long it would
take ten men to build the fence If twen-
ty-three built two feet and ten inches
day each and the fence was 500 rodl
long. But with that dogged persistency
which characerizes him Musgrave bat
tied. He was going to work it or bust
gallus and the only thing that could
stop him would be for the tobacco fac
tories to run out Of the raw material.
Adam Sloup says he would rather be one
OF T. RS representatives before the ma
tional committee than make the cam
paign Musgrave has made.
Musgrave Wins His Point.
Sheriff McShane says he has seen Mus
grave SIT at his desk and struggle, send
ing out ever and anon for another sack of
Durham, until the perspiration rolled
down his face in a raging torrent that
would humble the Johnstown flood. and
the tobacco lay on the floor around him
ankle deep. The sheriff told Musgrave
one day that his idea was wrong, He
thought the method should be to buy
cigarettes, remove the tobacco and nut
it in the machine and smoke that. Mus
grave said that the sheriff was way
wrong and ne has proved 1t.
Musgrave's experience simply goes to
show that nothing is impossible and that
perseverance conquers all things-even
the ever-ready vest pocket cigarette ma
chine. To be sure, the cigarettes are not
the most artistic. They are not as full
as they should be and the tobacco gem
orally drops out before Jim can get
them to his lips. They are of odd and
ever changing shapes. Most OF them
when completed resemble a section of a
lemonade straw after the boy is through
playing with 1t. Still, they look almost
as much like cigarette as anything else
and Musgrave says they should be given
the benefit ai the doubt