Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1915 — GAVE AWAY HARD-LUCK PIN [ARTICLE]

GAVE AWAY HARD-LUCK PIN

Hotel Clerk Who Got It Not Afraid of Ominoue Warning That Aocompanled It.

The superstitious among his fellow clerks at the McAlpin were a little “leery” of R. O. Elbert, the room clerk, when, after enviously admiring the big scarfpin they had Just seen Col. J. Harry Behan of Washington present him, they learned that every previous owner of the pin had killed somebody,-by accident or otherwise. Colonel Behan, who drove his automobile over here, has not escaped the ill-luck engendered by the possession of the pin, which is a dark stone, on which is carved a head that might be that of a Viking or a Hindu demon. Colonel Behan did not murder a man, but six months after the pin came into his possession his automobile struck an old man in Washington with fatal results. He told Elbert that he had since given the pin to three or four other persons, and that each had returned it to him after a spell of nervous prostration. He offered the pin to Elbert, but the latter hesitated. Yesterday Elbert jokingly remarked that he would take that pin and the risks accompanying it If Colonel Behan was really in earnest. The colonel took the pin from his tie and passed it over. According to the story that goes with the pin, it was at one time the property of an Indian prince. Elbert says he Is not superstitious, but he isn’t going to walk under any ladders. —New York Times.