Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-05-24

l thought he should carry in stock. As I
got through with each item he said:
"Well-enter that for an order"
When finished l had one of those orders
which the manager himself would feel proud
to land.
Such an order is mighty nice thing; but
of no value if the man is not responsible, if
he has no financial standing. l rushed over
to the little hotel barroom, and asked the
bartender who was also proprietor, if he
knew this Macdonald who was building the
store, knew what he was worth.
Hes got farm all his own that's worth
twenty thousand dollars, and he has over
fifty thousand dollars in the bank, was the
reply.
That was the best piece of news 1 could
learn. After awhile was introduced to two
Scot farmers, one of whom was the Sheriff,
and accepted their invitation to ride the
nine miles to the railway station with
them.
After the three of us had climbed into the
one seat of the heavy express wagon the
driver told me that there was corpse in the
back of the wagon underneath the covering
The brother of the man he had worked for
had died, and he was taking the remains to
the bosss old homestead. From this the
talk of the Sheriff and the driver drifted to
many dismal tales about funeral trains,
mourning cries, and wailings that they had
heard; then tales of haunted houses, etc.
All the stories of ghosts that they had ever
known seemed to come crowding upon their
recollections, and along with this drowsy,
dreamy influence seemed to pervade the
very atmosphere. We had travelled several
miles down the road, and it was beginning
to get dark. The men continued their tales
of CTR inhf re nd
until suggested that we change the sub
ject. They at once agreed.
We'll start change of subjects with
sip Of this old Scotch" said the driver as he
pulled flask from his pocket.
We all took sip out of the bottle; then
the driver, turning round until he faced the
corpse, said:
will you have sip, old man."
II don't mind if 1 d." came reply, as
the figure rose to a sitting position.
In the scramble out of the wagon my coat
got caught on the wagon box. The two
others disappeared down the road. Oh, the
terrors of that moment! l was scarcely able
to breathe. By the time l had worked myself
free realized that the supposed corpse was
no one else than the man that had given me
that beautiful order. When l asked him
what all this meant he told me that when
the men were in the hotel he had taken the
corpse out OF the wagon and got IN himself
for a joke. 1t was easy to see that the
man was mentally unbalanced. Then the
thoughts of all the time spent on that
order and that it amounted to nothing
angered me so that l could hardly resist
giving the fellow good trouncing.
l made the man sit on the seat and then
drove to the next farmhouse. When l ar
rived l found the driver and the Sheriff.
The latter Immediately handcuffed the man,
and told me that when l reached town
could collect the reward of one hundred dol
lars that was offered for the capture. The
man had escaped from an insane institution
six months before. He burned several build
ings in the county and always managed to
evade arrest.
The next day when 1 saw the real Mac
donald 1 found that another man had re-
ceived the order. Well-the reward soon
dissipated my disappointment.