The framed fifty by Karl Decker
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The framed fifty by Karl Decker is a short crime story written in the early 20th century. Centered on a bartender’s prized “first dollar,” it explores sentiment, luck, and the sting of disillusion when a cherished token proves false. Mike O’Donnell, an old New York barkeep who relocates to Havana after Prohibition, treasures a fifty-dollar bill framed above his bar—the first note ever paid across his counter, gifted years earlier by the
suave Red Walker on a stormy opening night. O’Donnell prospers and clings to the bill as a talisman of his success and identity, until an inconspicuous visitor—an American Secret Service man—asks to see it, rips open the frame, and stamps it “Counterfeit.” He explains it’s the work of a long-dead forger, with Red once serving as the passer of fake notes and now himself gone. O’Donnell is absolved of blame, but the revelation pierces his nostalgia, exposing the sentimental cornerstone of his career as a forgery. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Decker, Karl, 1868-1941 |
|---|---|
| Title | The framed fifty |
| Original Publication | New York, NY: The Frank A. Munsey Company, 1929. |
| Series Title | Produced from Argosy All-Story Weekly April 6, 1929. |
| Credits | Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at www.pgdpcanada.net |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction |
| Subject | Bars (Drinking establishments) -- Fiction |
| Subject | Havana (Cuba) -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78650 |
| Release Date | May 10, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 1575 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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