Temptation

1895

"I shall never," says a New York woman active in philanthropic work, "carry my pocketbook in my hands in the street again. A recent experience has showed me its danger to others besides myself. I have been interested lately in a young man, a typical growth of the tenements, and have been trying to encourage him to lead a better life, with, I hope, some degree of success.

"A few days ago I met him on the street and stopped to ask how he was prospering. In my hand at the time I was holding my pocketbook, and from the moment that we met I saw his eyes fastened on that with a wolfish look that made me tremble. I did not dare put it in my pocket lest he should discover my distrust, and yet I felt that it was cruel to stand there with it flaunted in the face of his desperation.

"The interview was most trying. I asked him a few questions, to which he scarcely replied, so fascinated was he with the sight of the purse, and as soon as I could with ease I bade him good-by and walked on. As I did so he raised his eyes to mine with a conscious, hunted, yet baffled look, that told me as plainly as if he had said it that were I not I the result would have been different.

"When I turned the corner and was out of his sight, I stopped, weak and faint, to recover myself, and put that purse in my pocket with the vow that it or any other in my hands should never again offer temptation to a fellow creature." — New York Times.

Another Male Victim for Seductive, Charming Mrs. McDermott

Ohio, 1897

ELOPERS

Left the City Early Yesterday Morning on Foot.

Harley Beckett Skips With Notorious Mrs. Joe McDermott

Leaving His Wife and Several Small Children In Destitute Circumstances—The Couple Chased Several Miles by Constable Sloan—Previous Escapades of Mrs. McDermott.

Mrs. Joe McDermott, a female whose escapades have more than once made her the subject of newspaper articles, has again sprung into notice. This time she eloped with a neighbor named Harley Beckett. The couple fled from the city Tuesday.

Beckett has been employed by J. B. Carter at his barrel factory on Chillicothe street. He is an expert cooper and makes good wages. He is married and has several children. For some time past he has been "rushing" the McDermott woman and spending his money on her. Tuesday they decided to skip, and early in the morning they left town.

Constable Frank Sloan was put on the trail yesterday morning by relatives of the eloping couple and was hot on their trail all morning. He traced them down across the Scioto bottoms and up the valley, but did not come up with them. It is thought they are about in this vicinity.

Mrs. Beckett called at the mayor's office that morning and told her tale of woe. She said she and her children had been left in destitute circumstances. She wanted warrants issued for the runaways. She finally left without causing warrants to be issued. The police are on the lookout for the couple, however, and if apprehended they will be locked up.

The McDermott woman is the female to whose seductive charms George W. Legg fell a victim several years ago. Legg was then treasurer of Pike county and was spending the money of Pike county tax-payers right and left. He came here several times to see the McDermott woman, and she and her confederates bled him out of several hundred dollars before he "tumbled" to the game.

—The Portsmouth Times, Portsmouth, OH, July 24, 1897, p. 1.

The Desire to Leap, Commit Suicide at Niagara Falls

1899

THE DESIRE TO JUMP.

An Unexpected Sensation Experienced by Many Persons.

Many persons who visit Niagara falls find they have a great desire to leap from various points on the several bridges or from one of the numerous points of observation. For this reason, after once having experienced the fascinating sensation that coaxes them on to death in the deep and rapid running waters, they never go near any of the seductive points without being in company with some one who will guard them from harm as a result of what perhaps might be termed by some their weakness.

Many people who have visited Niagara have confessed that the waters of the beautiful river had a weird fascination for them while standing at places where death would be easy by simply letting go one's hold and slipping into the river, and people saved from suicide there have admitted that they knew no reason why they should end their lives, but the scene was so delightful that it coaxed them to seek the peace of death there.

In other places than at Niagara the public comes in touch with folks who, when on an elevation, have a proneness to jump off, and for this reason they keep away from all such danger points. An interesting explanation of this desire is that given some years ago by Professor Low of the army balloon corps. He had frequently invited a newspaper correspondent to make an ascension with him, but each time the invitation was declined.

Later he told the professor of the temptation be had to jump from high places and that he feared making an ascent. For this he was laughed at, the professor stating that the reason people had such desires was that they were full of electricity; that the magnetic current in the earth was the attraction and that what he was standing on carried the current. He also said that up in a balloon the continuity was cut off. Finally the man made an ascension and found that the desire to jump was not present. It is a curious statement. — Philadelphia Record.

The Cost of a Cocktail

1916

The Drink a Young Business Man Had to Have Before Lunch

In New York city there is a man who once paid $6,000 for a cocktail. He did not know it then, and he never will know it unless he happens to read this story.

A certain prosperous manufacturing company needed a new departmental manager. The salary was $6,000 a year. The officers of the company considered a great many candidates and at last decided to offer the position to a clever young man of unusual business ability. He seemed to be exactly the man for that particular place. The president and general manager invited the young man to lunch with them at a downtown club, ostensibly to talk over a less important business matter. They wanted to "look him over" just once more.

The man met them at the appointed hour, and the president, anxious to make the occasion a pleasant one, ordered an elaborate luncheon. The waiter was a long time in bringing the first course, and the guest began to appear ill at ease. He seemed absentminded and uninterested in the conversation. He twisted about in his chair and tapped his finders nervously upon the table. Finally he turned toward the president and said almost desperately "Would you mind very much if I ordered a cocktail?" Then he flushed a little and offered a laughing apology for making the request.

The other men exchanged surprised and significant glances, but they called the waiter and ordered the cocktail. When it came the guest drank it eagerly. In a few moments he had become another man — the man of keen vision and quick mind, who could be so useful in their great business. There was no more preoccupation in his manner, no shifting about in His chair. He was alert, eager, clear headed.

But as the luncheon went on neither the president nor the manager mentioned the real object of the interview. Each was thinking the matter over seriously, and neither could be sure of the other's secretly formed opinion. The situation became awkward. Finally the president excused himself on the pretense of going into the library to speak to a friend who had just entered. But after speaking to his friend he went straight to the desk and wrote a message on a telegraph blank. He gave the message to a uniformed attendant and went back to the dining room.

In a few minutes a page brought a telegram to the manager, who read it hurriedly, while the president finished telling their guest about a shooting trip in Maine. This is what the telegram said:

The job is too big for a boozer. We can't run our business by cocktail power. — Youth's Companion

—Stevens Point Daily Journal, Stevens Point, Wisconsin, July 29, 1916, page 6.

Our Faith in Human Nature

1913

Luke M'Luke Says

From the Cincinnati Enquirer

We hate to lose our faith in human nature, but we have noticed that the man who operates on the theory that all men are suckers usually has lots of change.

It is believed in lots of circles that the party who makes the most noise is the best singer.

What has become of the old-fashioned man who used to drink a big dipper of well water when he got up in the morning and tell you he was full of Adam's ale?

Most girls who paint are better than they are painted, but the world hasn't time to scrape off the enamel and make an investigation.

There isn't much fun in doing as you please unless you have a wife to object.

When temptation is pretty and shapely a man doesn't try very hard to dodge it.

Any man who marries a woman who has been divorced five times ought not to kick about stale beer and warmed-over hash.

The best way to keep friends is not to need them.

And what has become of the old-fashioned man who used safety pins for hose supporters?

Experience is valuable, but it is never worth one-tenth the price we have to pay for it.

A man practices economy by telling his wife how to get along without things she wants.

We all want to be fair. But if you will let us tell our side of the story we are bound to twist it around so it will favor us.

Why is it that mothers will dress up their little girls tastefully and rig out their little boys like trained monkeys?

Every time a pessimist sees a sunny June bride he has visions of a rainy November day in the divorce court.

When a man has been married about 10 years he isn't half as much worried about his socks wrinkling at the ankles as he is about the holes in the toes.

—The Anaconda Standard, Anaconda, Montana, June 20, 1913, page 6.