Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1936-06-25
Day of Reckoning
By MARTlE RANSOM
g Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.
WNU Service.

tne wise guy, who is always trying
TO outsmart somebody, forgetting that
day of reckoning is always sure to
come. Our other character is julius
jack-of-all-tr Most times, Julius
would stick to a legitimate bust
ness, but if there was money to be
made in any other line well.
why not?
Julius had never known Solly; prob
ably never would have met him If it
had not been that in nineteen hundred
and thirty one Julius was the owner
of a clothing store and Solly was in
the market for a new suit.
Solly had on money with which to buy
suit, but he did have swell looking
diamond ring which he offered to sell
Julius for the sum of one suit and
hundred dollars cash. Julius didn't
know great deal about diamond rings.
He had never owned one, nor had he
ever had any occasion to buy one.
However, he told Solly that If his
friend, who was in the jewelry bust
ness, thought 1t was worth the money,
we find Julius and Solly at the jewel
er friends appralsing the ring.
Its worth the money, Julius" his
friend told him. You're not stealing
anything but a hundred and fifty dol
lars it's worth"
And so the deal was cOnSummated.
Solly picked out suit which would
be altered and ready the next day, and
as 1t was late In the afternoon and
Julius didn't have the right amount
Of cash on hand. Solly was to bring
the ring in and pick up the suit and
the hundred dollars.
What happened to SOlly after the
ring deal was concluded, no one knows.
Probably left town. drifting around
trying to make an easy dollar here and
there.
Julius was soon out of the clothing
business and in something else. In
the next few years he was In many
businesses, some Of them legitimate
and some little Off color. At this
particular time we pick him up run
ming book joint and doing a thriving
business. On the little finger of his
left hand was diamond ring, the same
that had been there for four years. he
hadn't changed In appearance In that
time, except that he was now wearing
mustache. and. while working. an eye
| shade.
Whether or not he saw Solly enter
| 70 hu 20 dol
sion. ! do know that when Solly
walked up there and said. Five on
Deckboy to win." he did not recognize
| Julius.
Deckboy ran close third. which did
not help Soily out any. So, cursing
his luck and peeling off one of the re-
naming two ten-dollar bills, he bets
the ten on Kit-Kat, with Stick this on
| Kit-Kat's nose"
Without comment julius gave him a
| duplicate ticket, took his ten dollars
and put it In the drawer with a mum
Der Of other bills. Why not? The
! sheet says six to one on Kit-Kat which
means that Solly has just one chance
in six to win. That ten spot stayed
right in that drawer. Kit-Kat ran out
of the money, and Solly was running
out of Gus words.
Two races went by without julius
seeing any more Of Solly's money. He
kept a wary eye on him and even
4, wondered what the conference could
have been about In the corner of the
room between Solly and two other
players The conference over, Solly
again walked up and, Shaping down
his last ten, called for "Ten to win
on Springfield at the price, and the
dirty dog had better come home In
front"
Springfield was fifteen to one. the
race was mile and sixteenth with
eight other good horses running But
as far as Springfield was concerned
there was no other horse in the race.
He finished eleven lengths in front Of
his closest competition. and brother.
right here I wanna tell You that who
ever figured that horse at fifteen to
one should go back to school and learn
elementary arithmetic all over again.
Was Solly happy? Sure, who
wouldn't be? When Springfield was
officially announced the winner, he
strutted up to Julius, slapped his ticket
down and said. II guess that's pickin'
'em, amt it?"
julius stood up, removed his eye
shade, looked at Solly for long min.
ute and then spoke:
1--WE waited long time for this
day, young fellow. A hundred and six.
ty bucks is what you've got comm
Right? Well" handing him the ring.
heres a hundred and fifty of 1t, and
here's ten in cash. won't charge
va any interest on four-year loan"
"Say," hollered SoIly, what In HI
va call this?"
"This," said julius quietly, is the
ring with the piece of glass va stuck
in there, where the diamond was
shoulda known better than to give a
guy like you an extra day to pull II
on me-"
Then turning to one of the boys
alongside him. Julius quietly contIn.
ued; "Show this guy the way ont,
Louis"