The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1914-08-21

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With a million. dollars followed my r.
turn to Washington. The next morn.
ing l hired a box in a safe deposit
vault and got rid of the awful and
wearing responsibility.
waited u week. aud still there was
no advertisement Of the lost fortune.
My associates began to comment ON
my increasing restIessness and nerv.
BUSINESS and to suggest that l would
better take a rest.
/ intended to take q long rest and
a luxurious one as o as the owner.
ship Of the million dollars was settled.
Perhaps the money ~ stolen prop
erty and the thieves were afraid to
advertise its loss. | concluded to ad-
verttse for the owner myself.
After many advertisements had been
written and torn up decided on this:
Large sum Of money left on Congress
New York. Will DO restored to owner
upon roper Identification. Address Care
taker. p. o. box 1911. Washington. D. C."
For a full week this wa run in all
the daily papers Of Washington. Balti-
more. Philadelphia and New York At
an expense to me Of $780, 70. took re-
ceipts from each paper and preserved
them as souvenirs Of my stay In mil
lionairedom.
had any number of answers, but
none Of them got within q million
miles Of my million.
Having sought diligently for the
owner Of the million Collars and spent
my own good money freely in advertis.
ing. without success, wa ! not now
the legal and legitimate owner Of It?
That question had my poor brain do
ing a continuous twenty-four hour
stunt. answered it in the affirma-
tive twenty times a day. but the plaguy
thing wouldn't stay answered.
l began to feel quite as worn and
haggard as l looked and to wonder
why the possession Of a million dol.
lars. with the proba bility that It would
all be mine growing into a certainty.
did not bring me more pleasure. l
asked myself whether all millionaires
were as much troubled about their
money as 1 was.
Six weeks had passed since the mil
lion dollars was placed in my posses
sion, and l began to make plans as to
what I would do with 1t. l no longer
expected the owner to turn up.
had not mentioned the money OF
the odd manner in which It had come
into my possession to any one and was
still undecided as to how l should &C.
count for my sudden wealth when
began to spend the money.
After mature deliberation l decided
to make my appearance as a man Of
wealth gradually.
would make a deposit Of $4,000
In one bank.
After taking ten Of the $1,000 notes
from my safe deposit box it occurred
to me that it would be a good idea to
carry them to the United States treas
ury and get notes of smaller denomina-
tiOns for them.
On reaching the cash room of the
treasury l handed the ten 81 900 notes
through the wire wicket teller's win
dow and asked that he give me ffties
for them
1t did not surprise me to notice a
rather astonished and startled look on
the teller's face as ne took the notes
or that he should step to one side and
examine one Of them carefully through
a glass.
did not suppose that ten $1,000
notes were passed through the wicket
very frequently by any one except run.
ners for the banks: consequently 1t
seemed the natural thing that they
should be carefully examined.
His deliberation, however, in count
ing and recounting, those afty dollar
notes was getting on my nerves. and |
was about to speak impatiently to
him when ! felt a light touch on my
shoulder and = low but distinct voice
said near MY ear. II want you" .
well. I'm here." l answered. fac
ing the speaker impatiently. What
do you want with me-"
~ want. you to 60 with me-" he r.
piled With 1 smile. without raising his
voice.
WHY should ! 10 with your. l ask
ed rather sharply II don't know you"
NO. but think you'll CO." he an.
swered In the same exasperatingly
calm tone. |t~'
Why" demanded. somewhat
frightened BY his manner. without hav.
ing any clear idea why l should be.
"Because."' be said. almost in q whis-
per. you are under arrest
What for?" ! managed to ask. at the
same time trying hard to think Of any
reason why ! should be arrested.
Trying to pass counterfeit money"
he replied. turning back his coat and
allowing me to see the United States
secret service badge he wore.
You are out Of your head" re-
torted angrfly. but ut the same time
the awful truth flashed upon me-my
million was counterfeit.
That may be-" he said as he reached
for the notes. which the teller handed
him. each with the word ''Counterfeit'
'ut across its face. You can talk
about that to Chief Wilkes. Gomez
Fortunately ! was well known to
f'hiof Wi1RoO III nDt .~lv, c.,.xnA