The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-12-14
From the louisville Courier.
A Hinge, seII-Oyerl Two Hundre
{ H"t ,fadfcaI Studen is Taken In. q n

| A Hinge seIl-Over1rT Two Hundred
I D"t Medical students Taken I'm. q nj
Medical students, as well as every other
sort of students; are proverbisl for practI-I
cal Joking; but ABOUT the, best thing we
ever heard Of them in this line occurred
in this city day before yesterday. LN.a
The first thing noticeable out Of the
nsual routine at the University that morn
ing was q large, handsomely -printed pla-
card posted in the vestibule, and having at
the bottom the names of the gwellsknoRn
| firm Of J. P. Morton s. Co., the Main-street
book-publishing house This placard. an
nounced that, in consideration of the fact
that the students Of the University had
been liberal in their, purchases Of said firm,
it had decided to present to. each and, every
one Of them copy of the Physicians
Guide,'r q medical work Of great merit.
The placard further ann ounced that the,
students would be iex pected. to. call during
the day and receive their presents. ,l.rl Ill
Of course the praise. of John p. Morton
s. Co. was sounded all over the University:
and preparations were forthwith made, By
oil the students, individually and in squads,
to call on their generous friends on Main
street. Now, John P. Morton s. Go. all this
time remained in blissful ignorance. of what
was going on at the University, and were
as innocent Of, the plaeard posted, in the.
vestibule as were D. Appleton g. Co., or any
other bookmen. Tt was all the work of
some villainous student, who, however, lit
tie contemplated the extent of the evil
when he posted the bogus announcement {
Quite early in the day squad of students
were on Main street and in at Morton's.
Their call for the Physicians guido" u.
was promptly responded to-; but when they
told who they were, and that they under,
stood they were to get the book "on the
dead" the clerks looked at each other in
amazement, and didn't at all understand.
In this emergency, John P. Morton & Go.
themselves were;cafledr nm to explain mat
tiers, but they were equally astonished when.
the errand OF the students was made known.
They denied all knowledge of the placard
and then the students, with unusually long,
faces, looked at each other much as the
clerks had Il done. The whole truth soon,
flashed upon them, however, and the scent
of "mice y being peculiarly apparents they
apologized to J. P. Morton & Co. and beat
an inglorious retreat. r-.--s, - /, "a ,
The sell was too good, though, for them
to diyulge to their fellow students, even
had their pride allowed them to acknow-
ledge being placed in SO ridiculous posi-
ton by 3 practical joke they had bitten at
SO readily. MIN non ---.l4rli{-
Again and again was the first scene re-
peated in the bookstore, as, throughout the
! ay, the students poured in, sometimes
coming in squads, sometimes by.twos, and
sometimes singly land sore enough they
were when they learned how they had been
gulled. The clerks|grewyery weary Of the
joke, and of explaining the matter to their
disappointed visitors. They were glad
enough when night came, and two hundred
and eight of the two hundred and ten stu
dents in the U University had been explained
to. The end of their discontinue was not
yet, however. To cap the climax, late In
the evening gawky looking fellow dropped
in, and moving doubtfully up to the coun-
ter, spoke hesitatingly and not without some
embarrassment .-.......,-.-.,.,
."IrecAon all THEM BOOKS is go'ae-AIs'T
they? ;"',u., ysrl ~;..t.. -,z-ILy9. ~. Ir
This was the last call, and the two hun
dred and tenth student not making his APP
pearance, the conclusion necessarily follow
ed that he was the wretch who perpetrated
the sell. He is still at large.