Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1879 — Betting on a Dead Thing. [ARTICLE]

Betting on a Dead Thing.

San Francisco Stock; Report.

One of the frequenters of a broker’s office is a man who will bet on any kind of a proposition. When he enters the office in the morning he greets the i gentlemen present by saying, “Mornn’, boys! Is there anything any of je want to beton thismomin ’?’ ’ And le hangs around aU day watching for a chance to bet, and it a man ventures an opinion about the stock market, hints perhaps that Sierra Nevada may seU for 40 next week, he will' pounce on him like a hawk on a June-bug, and offer to bet him a hundred that It don’t sell for 40 in six yeans. The other day the boys put up a job on him. They got a fly, dipped its feet in mucilage, and stuck it m a sashframe in tne office. there’s not much for a fly to eat in a broker’s office: but between ink and mucilage, and the breath of the clerks, they manage to eke out a subsistence. Pretty soon another fly sailed in through the front door from a restaurant around the corner, and settled down on the sash near the fly that the boys had fixed, and in a few moments the betting man dropped in with his usual salutation about betting. After some preliminary skirmishing about not being on the gamble, being busted in stocks, and other little by-plays to make the betting man think they were not anxious for a wager, one of the boys spoke up and said: ‘ 4 ?ted’ I’ll tell you what I will do; I’ll bet you that that fly In the corner of that sash moves before that other fly about six inches from him does.” The flv in the corner was the fly from the restaurant, and the other was the fly with the mucilage on its feet. “It’s a whack!” said the betting man. “Bet you a hundred my fly moves first.”

Themoney was put up, and all eyes were intently bent on the window. Pretty soon the mucilage made a struggle to free itself, and succeeded in dragging itself about half its length on the sash frame. “My money!” exclaimed the betting man. The others did not want to give it up, as the movement had only been barely perceptible. “Do you want to keep me here all day betting against a dead fly!” said the betting man. Die boys rushed to the window to examine their fly. It was dead!