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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (July 10, 1904)
Jnly 10, 1904. THE ILLUSTRATED BEE. disappeared. IT had business elsewhere. And that la how Constitutional Smith earned his very constitutional name. And If any man deserved It he did, without . doubt. Now, Constitutional Srrrfth had one pecu liarity that has yet not been mentioned. And this peculiarity consisted tn hia per sonal appearance. And it was a peculiar ity chlfly becaure H was not a peculiarity. The peculiarity was that he was an or dinary looking; man and looked like or dinary looking men. He was neither ex tremely tall, nor short, nor dark, nor fair. He was not extremely good looking; or ill-looking'. He was nothing in the ex treme. He was the kind of man that you see In the street cars, in the ferry boats, upon the streets. Most men have some marked peculiarity In appearance that at once identifies them. Constitutional Smith had none. And therein largely lay his safety. Send out a description of Consti tutional Smith to all the police stations and postoffices and advertise it In the pa pers and the police would haul tn a hun dred men or more In the city of New York alone, anyone of which answered the de scription to a T. A whole regiment of un offending Joneses or Browns, or Johnsons would be gathered In, but nary Smith Smith was not among the lot. And this had stood Smith in good stead many, many times; the fact of his resemblance to or dinary men. In one case, in fact, his direct resem blance to an ordinary man an Individual of the name of Peters had saved him from conviction. In that case the star witness, like the witness In the famous treason trial of Charles Darnay, had been unable to choose between Smith and Pe ter as the guilty man. The resemblance had puszled him, even as the likeness of Sydney Carton to that more famous pris oner had knocked a famous treason case Into a cocked hat. Mr. Smith had never, and will never, forget this circumstance, and ever since that happening he had kept his eyes wide open, for a multitude of reasons, for any man who might be to some extent the counterfeit present ment of himself. He made no particular point of It, but he kept his eyes wide open, that was all. More grafts than ono lie in a close resemblance so reasoned Smith. And If ever there was a grafter upon this earth this Constitutional Smith was one. ' Now, at the present Juncture, Mr. Consti tutional Smith was in a very trying situa tion. This situation was due to the fact that he had tried a very tempting, danger ous and daring strong-arm' act,,. In. the strong lime-light glare of publicity, and upon the conspicuous arena of events and he had been discovered, and what was much worse, he had been recognised.' Rec ognition was nothing less than ruinous. Ruinous as it was, however, there was one mitigating circumstance for Con stitutional Smith had escaped. ' Escaped, as usual. But they were on his track and he knew It. And between the arena of events and his own personality, Mr Smith immediately put the distance of a few hundred miles. '' ' ' ' By means of devious routes, shifts, and methods known only to himself. Consti tutional Smith stood one day In the very center of the thriving town of Monroe, ono of the coast cities of the extreme west, a city which has a well recognised place In commercial circles. He lounged carelessly and easily one day about the corner of Main and Market streets In that well known metropolis, ap parently at peace with all the world. To a citizen of Monroe he appeared -to be a stranger; to a stranger he appeared to be a citizen of Monroe. He was playing a necessary part. Outwardly he was calm, but there was Internecine turbulence Within. He was in hourly fear of anybody and everybody. He knew that somewhere behind him, miles or hundred of miles, someone or everyone was ttpon his trail they were looking for him. In every uni formed officer be saw a man who had been furnished with a detailed description of him, and who was his sworn enemy.- In very citizen he saw a plain clothes man Who would prove to be a treacherous foe. Ha was 111 at ease and he was watching for every possible avenue of escape. He assumed that he had days and days to ac complish a complete escape, for he had well covered his tracks, bvt be couldn't be sure,' and he kept watch for anything and every thing that might turn up. Constitutional Smith was on of a good- ' sized crowd of people that passed up and down in front f the Qreea store at the aforesaid corner he was an unnoticed man amoag many unnoticed men. Bat among that crowd was a man who was not unnoticed. He came along, bow- -ing right and left to his acquaintances and friends. Prom time to time he expectorated freely as occasion required. Those of the crowd who did not knew hint, either per-, onally or by sight, stared - at Mm or smiled at him as he went along-. Constitutional Smith did both; he smiled and stared and stared and smiled. Finally be stopped smiling and simply stared. Bud. den'.y Smith grasped his left hand with, his right. Then Involuntarily, but nana tlced, he slapped his thigh. rry George!' exclaimed Constitutional Bmlefc, "the very man. The very roan!" sigh of relief escaped him a sigh of expectation. For awhile he turned In and followed this other Individual. In doing this he was unnoticed by the crowd un noticed by the man. The other- was a man well favored enough in his way, and apparently well built and nourished. He 'wore a short. Stubby beard that was more or less untidy; it evidently was of but few weeks' growth. He was a pleasant looking man, of pros perous appearance. The man had two remarkable peculiari ties. One was that about his neck not across hia waistcoat, but about his neck he wore a watch chain made, of solid gold. This watch chain weighed exactly one pound and one ounce. It was this that sdme of the crowd had smiled at; it was this that had caused some of them to stare. His other peculiarity was In Its way quite as remarkable. Only one man noticed it and only one man knew it. That one man was Constitutional Smith. For Constitu- tional Smith knew beyond any reasonable doubt that but for that short and stubby beard and but for the watchchain and the wearing apparel; but for these things, he and that other man were as like as two peas. Now, no two peas are exactly alike, and no two men are alike. And these two men were not exactly alike. Given all the distinguishing details clothing Smith in similar clothes, decorating him with a three weeks' growth of beard and then placing these two men side by side, any foot would have seen the difference. But to meet these men apart was quite an other thing, as may possibly develop later. At any rate the likeness was sufficient in all respects to please the mind of Consti tutional Smith, and he was a man who was not generally easily satisfied. However, he turned In and followed tn the wake of this other man, his counterfeit presentment, so to speak. In the city of Monroe this other man was a well known personage. He was a man of prominence and position, v. The name of this other man was Billlng ton O'Keefe. CHAPTER II. Mr. Bllllna-ton O'Keefe, the- Klondike Ktas;. Constitutional Smith had frequently found -' In his experience that the very best time to turn a clever trick was when he was at tempting to escape the consequences of an- ' other -clever trick. There was excitement in It, too. To rob a bank, for Instance, and then, with the sleuths hot on your trail, to knock some prosperous-looking Individual ' down the public highway and rob him of his money and dress yourself tn his clothes an effective disguise this was worth while. At present Constitutional felt the ever present certainty that behind him the police were on his track. There was but one thing to da "t see my duty, and I'll do It," solilo quised Mr. Constitutional Smith. Blllington O'Keefe, now one of the prom inent citizens of Monroe, chiefly by reason of his reputed wealth, had had a varied career. He had ever lived in the city of Monroe; he was born and brought up there. He was a rough, good-natured sort of man; who up to a certain period In his career had been a rolling stone. Up to that time if he ever had a dollar the people of Monroe never knew it. Blllington O'Keefe had been jack, of all trades. and. master of none. But he hit It when he hit the Klondike trail.' He was one ' of the few who did. There were many men who sought the Klondike from Monro:; many of them dropped every dollar that they had. If Blllington O'Keefe had gone with an expensive outfit he would have come back without a dollar; If he had anything to lose he would have lost It. As It was, he went without a dollar, tramped half the way, with nothing but hfa clothes upon his back; without the. suspicion of an. gut. fit and then he had come back rich as Croesus. . ; It Is the ' barefooted boy who goes out with a couple of angleworms and a bent pin it Is he who catches fish; it was Blllington- OTCeefe Who came back from 'the Klondike .worth many times his weight in gold. , Immediately he did two things. First, he assumed a place of prominence among the people of Monroe; and he was looked up to and admired. People forgot about poor Blllington O'Keefe. They bowed low to Blllington O'Keefe, the wealthy. And from the first alt that he touched seemed to turn to gold. He mad some real estate Investments and said out at a considerable advance; he bought stocks on the rise and sold then on the decline, and he always came out on top. He was all right, all the time, was Blllington O'Keefe. At least so thought the people of Monroe. He did another thing. He had manu factured for himself out of the first few ounces of gold that he had dug and washed the heavy watch chain which he wore about his neck. It was curious chain, fashioned not In the conventional links. It had a snaky, scaly appearance, caused by the fact that each so-called link wao mado like an Inftnlstesimal peach basket and fitted Into Its neighbor as one peach paeket fits Into another. - Its manufacture had been quite as expensive. If- not more so, than the material of which It was made. And It weighed, as has been said, one pound and one ounce. Infants' Wear)C1 Girls' Dress i1 25c SHIRTS AMI IIAMIS. Wool and merino shirts and bands, all slses BO MOTS. Wash bonnets, trimmed in lace and embmhlciry, worth 26c, 16c 1 (if and 0e, at Values up to $1.60 3QC " cii'i iViVit tsM-s ' iti 'tin n 'Ha. A ares 1 to 6 years. White drtwses of lawns and f Rfl nainsooks, $2.25 values at s.J $1.60 values Q5C Colored dreanen, ages 1 to 6 years, of rencn ginghams, cbamnrays, per cales and madram. neatly trimmed and well made, $1.46, o. 60c and JVW Girls' dresnes. nrm 6 to M, at AOr $1. $1.66. $1.26, lo and OVW CAPS. I? A I'M. Busier Brown caps In white and cham pagne,, for little fellows and rlrls of all ages, 75c, Wo 25C i'omKr'cAi'S.' In white duck and linen 2Sc crash BENSON TH0RNE5. Xfe-s' mm m mY 7 OMAUA,IiED 1515 Doujrlaa Street. 'Phone 1701 sV ftpffc si U)c Man and the Machine Mr. Alexander T. Drown, inventor of the Smith . Premier Tvoewriter. ia unquestionably the foremost writing machine expert of the world. Besides, he is a practical and successful business man. He built the first SmitK Premier Typewriter not only for handsome and speedy work, but to endure under the severest demands of actual business. The Smith Premier is free from the weaknesses of eccentric, impractical con struction, and to-day embodies the latest demonstrated improvements of this typewriter expert. Mr. Brown, as Vice-President of this Company, will continue to devote his entire lime and inventive genius to maintain the Smith Premier where it now stands as the World's Best Typewriter SfU to-dav lot ear little look pkintag exactly why the South Premier f The SmitK Premier Typewriter Company Corner 17th and Farnara OMAHA yA Wh.iiii j,'if.ifiVT. 'W t j IliAKEItBKOS I tENGRftVING CPA I f ,J$S III ... .1 . .. ; w-vJY: 11V i;tyy Jj cs- iiirr"n"1H Ti BED "The on ounce." remarked Blllingtoa O'Keefe to his friends, "Is for good meas ure. And besides, the cold is soft and the ounce will wear oft before I die." Put there was more about the chain than its fine material and its superb man ufactureIt was the distinguishing feature of Mr. Blllington O'Keefe. Stranger were advised to watcb eut for the man with the big watch chain about his neck. -For that's miBngtan OTteefe, the? cill sens would say. Now Constitutions! Emltli, treasured all these things In his heart and a good many more besides. And first of all he deliberately ceased to shave himself. Ills beard began to grow. Then he started tn to And out all he could about Blllington O'Keefe. Day after day he. dogged the latter's footsteps, followed him here, there and every wharoi mad g mental au 4 GROSS 4 Full Quarts WHISKEY S3.00 mm Cxpress charged prepaid. Recommended by the leading physi Ctane snd used ia all prominent hos pttula. The Red Cross Whiskey enjoys to . day the beet of rep utations and stands above all In quality and purity. References: FIRST NATIONAt BANK OV ' OMAHA Git .ANY KXFKEHS COMPANY. Western DistUUn; Co., 716 So. 16th St OMAHA. Bole Ownctl. Orders from states Wt of Nebraska will be shipped by trei'gbu all hia liauals a ad habit, l'or Constitu tional 8mith was nothing If not systematic and business-like. Tlrao went on apace aud with It grew the beard. Somewhere on the continent several of Iba nest estate detectives were ncourfng city after city, with a view to laying hands on Mr. Constitutional Smith. And tho trail was getting hot and bolter as they went. ' 17 to satiAj