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Show PURSUED UV HIB CONSCIENCE H Man tialll Smuxsllna- ' Very ML.ritila Trli. From the New Orleans Tlraes-Dcmo H crat "I was never mixed up with a H smuggling transaction but once In my H life," said a New Orleans business man H whose name may as well be left out, B "and my experience waa so painful H that 1 swore oft then and thero. IH had a deal In west Texas on hliu at H the lime, snd had made r short trip nR over Mexlran frontier during which I 912 picked up a handful of very fine opals. iiHal A wicked friend showed mo how easy hanW it wns to carry them over tha line fH without paying tribute tn Undo Sam, H nnd t wns weak enough to )lcld lo tha temptation When I got on the cars nniBf at Kl Paso, however, to come east to ID Dallas I was haunted by a guilty con H science and had a horrible prernonl- H Hon that some secret service officer H was on my track Presently my at- H tentlon became attracted by a man H with a Mack beard, who kept looking at mo furtively from a seat across tha H way I tried to persuade in) sell that H It was all Imsglnsllon, but a number H ot things occurred during that rldo thst satisfied me I wss really being H watched I went Into the smoker, for H Instance, and before long caught a H glimpse ot the black-bearded chap H peering thrniiRh the end ot the window H from the platform It was tho samo H In the dining ear, and, to make a Ions; H story short, I reached jlallss thorough- H ly unstrung That evening I began to H think I had shaken the fellow off my M track, when I happened to stroll out ot H the hotel, nnd there ho was Standing M behind tho pillar. Needless to say ( M didn't sleep a wink, and 'when I H bumped Into tho sleuth next ruornlns; and saw that ha had shaved oft bis M beard I gave myself up for lost. How- M ever, that was the last ot hlm, and tor H the balance of my stay I was unmo- M lested nnd gradually regained my H equanimity. That the man had been IH shadowing mo wss undeniable, but H what his purpose could hsvo been and H w)iy he dropped the game so abruptly H were mysteries which t wss forced to Mfl leave unsolved It was two jears be- tors I found out. Then I ran across H the msn one day by accident Irua 8t H l.ouls restsurant and he .owned air). It IH seems that ho had been a public of H flclal In a. small Texas tqw,n ,nd got H mixed up In his accounts, lie swors H to me that It was only bsd bookkeep- H 1 Ing. but Ihe grand Jury Indicted him H ' for embetxlement and be skipped until H 1 things rslmed down. I'nappencd to H coincide with a description lie had ot H ' a detective, and all his strange' moves JM were actuated b exactly tho same raoi M tlve that prompted me tri run namely, H i to sea whether ha was being watched. H I We were both fooled b our fears. Ills H affairs bsd since been settled up sod H w enjoyed a good laugh and a-cold H '. bottle together, lint I am a reformed H t smuggler tor lite" H |
