Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-05-19

I believe some one has given me coun-
terfeit.'
The quartet studied ii with interest.
the waiter looking over the mans snoul-
Der lhen the host arose and said he
would see what the cashier thought about
IT, happened 10 be standing at the desk,
and We all examined the BILL
sure enough, 1t was counterfeit. and
a mighty good one. The man opened
his wallet and found a five-dollar bill. In
his pocket there was some small change
He seemed more embarrassed over the
situation than troubled over the lossf of
a hundred dollars, which in itself should
have aroused my suspicion
But he bore every earmark of the SUBJ
stantial out-of-town business man. and
sure enough he offered to write me
check on a st. Louis bank Better still
he said. if | would send one of my men
TO his hotel-one OF the most conserva-
tive in the citg-after the play he would
settle for the check in cash. In the
meantime he would gladly leave his
watch and the five-dolar note as guar
antee.
He was SO simple and straightforward
that / didn't like to see him starting to
the theater with three good-looking wom-
en- and less than dollar in cash.
When 1 sent my man to the hotel he
learned that no such person had regis
tered. and the man never showed up.
Sore? Well. rather. especially as 1
had no one else to blame
That .phony' hundred-dollar bill came
very nearly getting me into the sort of
row no restaurant man likes to have. IL
happened that at this time l was run
ming an inn in Westchester county that
was very popular with motorists. l ran
out there one afternoon. to find my cash
er in trouble over a hundred-dollar bill
hl RI oil q nyaa
Only in this instance IL had been offered
in payment for $4.65 check. and the
cashier hadn't the change. 1t was a
duh time OF day, and he had just sent
man to the village, five miles away
for change to use for the dinner trade.
The cashier explained that the patron
was an actor, VINO wanted to hurry back
to town for the evening performances
NOW, the com oination of an actor with q
hundred-dollar bill and my experience
with the other hundred note made me
suspicious.
Il crossed to the table to see what
could be done. The actor / recognised
instantly as a popular Broadway leading
man. His guest was a stunningIy gowned
woman. He explained that in leaving his
hotel in haste for this run he had glanced
into his wallet to see what he supposed
was ten-dollar bill. 1t, WAS not his
fault that II turned out to be a hundred.
nor that my cashier was short Of change.
And he couldn't leave his watch a. socslr-
ity because he had already left IL with q
jeweler to be registered.
But one thing was sure-he intended
to start for town in precisely FIVE MIN
utes. No manager had ever held a cur
tain for him.
"At this moment the woman offered TO
leave her gold mesh purse. which she ad-
mitted contained 10 cents in real money.
This offer seemd to annoy the actor, and
he turned on me sharply:
:" DO you think L have worked eleven
years TO build up a Broadway reputation
only to risk il on a 81 Go luncheon check
Here's my card i will mail you a check
tonight
Like a fash | caught his viewpoint l
took chance, and received his check
next morning"