Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1871-01-05
AN ORIGINAL CHARACTER.

- l,gr
OF ali the grca; crowd Of ''usccsSsrv
lcvils" who fcurishsd at Detroit in .eoa,s
bination" days, ander the name Of boat
runners Fred E,nmons bore OF The palm
for practical jokes. rrrar;ec. eng. jest
and laugh. His frequent maailn ceadi-
It;on often provoked stack. but. the assa;l-.
lant always s'rccSoneti without. his hcs..-
Fred did not, always wait for attack. Ills
keen sense of the lniiesous, in situation.
laetina aud spceca. kept ms iaesliies up,,s
= 5ss ts.ssieh p crafty his inaoalifah.s pfe,
"a prsacsss;y j = ssst:lsr rss lrss,i.
leaning. one ni-h.. balii,v aud giovif--
Gus, AGAINST 4 pillar in W. II Ms sa!oss,
in-p,tre;t. hc f1rm,i one OF cir;lc whn
were listening ~ scaflrcr who hal pas
s'i some wears in .hc South American
;r;.le. The tales IT this man far cutran
Riley's '.Narrutive" or Wirt's 'Life Of
PI,ric, Henry" il to,l for wonder.
Already had this al !cyouring au-licnc,
swallowed snakes ana scrpcnts oEfabulous
length. ami feastcd their eyes npon fruits
Of gigantic growth and upon birds Of par
E 'N~'N' "a 'uS ASstst t'e'1sa-t, "hNh IA sake
/ Ut wonder took Il turn, and the sailor by
way Of offset u tn t,rvillr and the beau
( fiful in his description. introduced the
/ disgusting in the form cf insects aui YER
min. Egypt, with her far famed maca-
zines OF crawling things, conll show nv
parallel with South America in lice The
sailor. with his oxn eyes. had seen the
ground alive with them: had seen them
carry of small hovs: hal lain down upon
the ground to sleep, anl had awokc in
the morning covered with them: finally,
he hal scrapnl million Zee from IA,
back of his head. AMI had counted them
This last proposition created marked
: nsl;inu. hut before disbelief could BE- cx-
pressed, Fred in;rrposed: That's ~.
gentlemen He's friend of mine, and
| don't believe he will lie about few
lice. -
The effect. with Frcl's drunken grav-
ty and scpuichral tones, was ia4tantaue-
Gus ana terrific.
The opening of the navigation, in t'tc
DAYS when Buffllo harbor was the only
outlet for the region of the lakes. WIS
looked forward to with high anticipation.
The course Of the wind was closely watch
ed, in hope that il might be so shaped ~
To drive the pcnt-up mass Of Ice down the
Niagara: AMI when it came right for that
purpose. the Buffalo docks were throncrd
| by an eager crowd Upon such an occas-
ION, one fine Spring morning in 1886. the
"Arg'"in- NJ" caused to come 10 the sur
faca dad body, which had wintcrcd in
The creek. 1t was hauled to shore, ani
gathered around it were 4 score III dock
loafers. among whom, towering above tha
res: by head or two, We F.rd. On"
after another of the rcd-noscl crowd. liz"
mourners at funeral, came up and gnEod
his fill 1T the horrid liucamrnis. the
yawning mouth and tie empty sockets
and gave place - whoever was following
him. One old rinrlcd-farcd saabcr hn-
gered longer than the rest. and shaking
his head with drunken gravity, remarked:
Poor fellow, | don't know him" No"
said Frci reaching over to get look at
the corpse. she don. seem to recognize
you."
Sometimes the jokes Of EmmGns werc
practical. \ gawky in !iyidual made his
! appearance from the interior upon ;hr
| dock :; Detroit. nnr dny inst A. sr,.nc hnlt
for which Frcd happen 4 10 b. runnin,
| hal fired up for Chicago. Chicago wa.
the destination # the lengthy rustic. who,
! IN a bran n,w hlr! timn coat. AMI ticking
| 'rowscr> I couple Of ct too short, With a
iimr<v hnr>cm1n'> vaiisr in his han J. WA
already for II start. Hello, stranger :"
va, The now Strangers situation ;p-E.cd.
'.1ur~ .h.- here vessel - t. Cnia-ro =
''Ycs. s;r." sail Frcl. with great defer
cura. You are goin up? Come III
rrc;lv on board Allow me to take tour
baggage Tn board they went. aud
Fred. going to the fIrnacc door he
boiler. l..uE on the dcck-opcacl i and
threw in tIrr vaii-r What on airti rr>
vou doin' - asked the pa-,sna.'r '"At
ri hit. said Fred You viii .ini yIuf
baggage - applying At the s,uoke-stacr
when. YOU get u CAigagn. Il DUNG
ahou: that. said the victim, cycling thr
rnusiu- fr-:.cc sIisYiciuu>lv. az hal
TWO new factory shirts. a pair OF socks.
an Eiward's Treatise, aud English Read
cr. m | c clatiuct in that ere yali>a.
aul # t'.cy amt a1 ri-h' yoYil have 10
stand it "tN r;cit," aid Fred
The end of prrr Fred VAS singular.
way var: and eccentric rs his lie hal
bp2n. Following his ruling passion. that
of telling maryclpu~ tales fr the rurp0S.
of exciting wonder. or mssth, or of hoax-
irg sGun victim FIR ~, anpscmrnt If the
crowd. he passed the last night he ever
liyrl. n = -1l"rn in Cleveland. giving aa
a..couu. e h's ,2p!a.,s in Ctiifrrnia-
where. hv ~" WV. ~ had never h.,n-
an / by iI:erlsrla4c tA~rcwi,h vast ar-
counts = -, own gam ard a"s.uisi'iua,
IN g,il Ev 50 doug he cxcitrI not onl'
: the a.:on.s!,mcn; hnt the cupi@ity of his
hearers. AMI soon a.ter leaving tAe s'lOofr
he wa waylIil and murdered by two q
his listeners. and would doubtless have
been robbed. but that. - renaI. his rsrs.''-
| ets were empty. He was found rlgpl
corpse in the morning. IlIas mi$irab.y
persisted man gifted by nature with :.
, colossal frame, manly nature. the real
ic>, wit, sound julgm'n; ard m iron
{ ccnS,i.u'icn--all of whici, he sacrificed %
= the demon Of strong drink.
-