The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1915-03-24
EASY MONEY STORIES
~ REpFIELo INGALLS,.

HAmea ana MS Drulihnh oiothSAo ~
gan to vie with Sherlock Holmes and
his in the favor OF the public. the Up
to-Date Magazine, of which l was a
subeditor, was one OF the first to real
lie his importance.
We were lucky In securing Mont
gomery Tuckahoe Purse-M. l.
Purse" his friends called him-as
regular contributor.
His famous hero. Easy Money Pat
terson. soon became the big feature
OF our every edition.
Month after month the Up-to-Date
ran his adventures. and then. without
the least warning Monty Purse disap-
peared and the stories ceased In the
middle OF a series.
We jumped into the breach with a
new line OF features: but we missed
4bim.
We all missed him. Monty was one
OF the best fellows I've ever met. He
was really modest, to begin with.
Then he was as nearly as possible
the opposite OF his hero; the soul OF
honor, generous to fault, as trust
ing, unsuspicious. and ingenious as an
o. Henry rube, irresponsible as a
child-and always broke.
He simply couldn't keep money;
didn't seem to know its value. Many's
the time he came to me to make
touch of a few dollars to tide him over
the month. though he might have got
his check from US the week before on
the strength OF his next story. which
he would write in day or so-"just
as soon as / nail the idea, old man"
And he never failed to pay up as
punctiliously as though his life de-
pended on 1t.
The boys all liked him in conse-
Quence, and there was no mockery In
the IN. T Purse" 1t was himself.
He was alone in the world. SO we
did what we could to keep an eye on
him. But he never got into any real
trouble
And, to cap It all, he had genius. 4
why don't you write something for
the big monthlies?" I've asked him.
You can surely get away with it"
Because I'm not sure OF my
ground" he'd insist. They want
stories about Europe and society. OF
the West, or the East. or the North,
or the South. or the Fiji islands,
don't know those places and people.
In the face OF Kipling's dictum that
Accuracy is the touchstone of all art
l wouldn't dare write about EN-. It's
easy enough to make up plots for
those Patterson stories"
But Monty disappeared!
II dawned on me one day that he
hadn't been around for a couple of
weeks to be tided over. Nobody else
had seen him. found, and when the
third week went by without a sign of
him, / started to investigate at hint
from the editor in chief. His next
tale was long overdue.
At his lodging house In West Four
teenth street the landlady told me.
with genuine regret, that he had left
suddenly nearly a month before. with
out a word as to where he was going.
And there the hunt ended.
Without hiring private detectives.
We could do nothing until he chose to
send US word.
A day or two later he did. but II
didn't help much. I got a picture post
bard from him, dated at Cairo. Egypt.
Having the time OF my life." It
said. Sorry couldn't get around
10 say good-by. VIII write" But he
ssver wrote. l was considerably sur
prised and inclined to be angry with
him. Where had he got the funds to
travel?
Six months went by.
For four of them we ran the Pat
tsrson stories. as usual; then the sup
ply gave out. The chronicles OF the
brilliant masterrogue were not in the
magazine for August
Hardly had the September number
reached the newsstand when q storm
Of protest began.
Readers all over the country wrote
Indignant. facetious, or aggrieved let
tiers, wanting to know why we had
eailed twice in succession to print the
sy-Money" stories.
Looks as though we were going
70 lose some subscribers" said the ed
itor in chief. and with that to think
about went out to lunch.
In Fifth avenue. not a block from
the ONCE, I ran square into the van
tshed author.
Monty Purse!" I cried. Where
under heaven have you been7"