He Tried the Wrong Man.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 98, 18 April 1885, Page 5

He Tried the Wrong Man.

A tall, red-haired young man with an innocent face and a black necktie sat alone in a car-seat on one of the swift-flying trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad bound for Washington. He had just begun to read a copy of the " Christian Advocate " when a be' levolent- looking middle-aped man entered and sat down beside him. For an hour the young man read his paper and the old man watched the telegraph poles go by. * Becoming tired of this amusement, the stranger tished a half-dozen little pill- boxes out of a deep pocket in his overcoat and placed them in his lap. The young man put away his paper and eyed his neigbour, who, pulling out a roll of bills from his vest pocket, selected a note and placed it in one of th« pill boxes. •' Do you suppose you could select the box containing the bill?" he asked of the young man with a smile, and a look that seemed to say, " Let us be sociable." 14 Don't think I could," laconically replied the latter, pulling his moustache The stranger himself picked out the box, took out the bill, and put a 10 dollar note in its place. This time, however, a corner of the bill was left sticking out after the cover had been put on the box. " Now do you think you could pick it out ?" he said, showing his teeth. 11 Of course I could," replied the young man. " Well, if you will give me a dollar I will let you try." " Oh, no, I wouldn't do that. You are not sharp at all. You've left a corner of that bill sticking out of the box so any fool could pick it out." •• Why, of cour?e," said the sharper, apparently confused by the discovery. "How could I make such a blunder?" Thereupon he took out the 10 dollar bill and put in ita place a bright new 20 dollar note.^ The crner of the bill stuck out as before, but the man pretended not to notice it. "Now will jou try it?" he continued, after wiping his forehead with a red handkerchief '• Give me a dollar and take your pick. You've got a chance to make 19 dollars in clean money." The young man's face did not show the least animation at the declaration. If there was the beginning of a smile hidden under his moustache, it did not reveal itself when he answered : " You are a stranger to me. I don't want to take 19 dollars out of you ; it wouldn t be gentlemanly in me to do so. If we were old friends the case would be different. But I see plainly you are not used to the wicked ways of the worH, You are not sharp. You have left the corner of that 20 dollar note sticking out of the cover juat as you did the other. You ought to go and work on a farm awhile, you ought." The perspiration poured from the sharper's forehead. He had caught a Tartar, and had had a hard time of it, too. The redheaded young man took the bokes out of his neighbour's, hands, and, after returning the 20 dollar note, said : •• Perhaps you would like to try your hand at picking out the lucky box ? I'll put this 50 dollar oill in this one and a 10 dollar note in this box. Give* me 5 dollars and you Bhall try your luck " The man reluctantly paid over the money, and, after the young man had shaken up the boxes in hi- hat, took up one from which the green corner of a note appeared. When he had pulled off the cover he found it eon* tamed only a piece of a revenue stamp. Hia face fell at the discovery. " Try it again," naid his tormentor. He tried again, but with no better luck, "Take the lot," laughed the young man-, pouring them out into his neighbours Jap. The swindler opened every box, but not a sictn of a bill ap eared. " Here are the bills, safe in my pocket,", said the blight young fellow, producing the notes from his vest pocket and shaking them in his neighbour's faoe. "The next time you want to try your game on a stranger don't pick out a man who is in the ranae business as \ounelf. Ta! ta}» J The red-haired youth was an expert cbnfi.donee man from 'Frisco* — "NawXoj&JiUjl andEUgroftftt*