Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-10-07
Aumuruns department.
MIR. POTTS, STORY,
Max Adeler has the following story:

NIX. POT1S' SIORf.
Max Adeler has the following story:
While I was over at Pecander the other
day, l called on the Potts. Mr.. Potts is
liable to indulge in extravaganza in his con-
versation, and, as Mrs. Potts is an extreme
" conscientious woman where matters of fact
are concerned, she's obliged to keep her eye
on him. Potts was telling me about an in.
cdent that occurred in the town few days be.
fore, and this is the way he related it:
Potts-"You see old Bradley over here is
perfectly crazy on the subject of gases and
the atmosphere, and such things absolutely
wild; and one day he was disputing with
Green about how high up in the air life could
be sustained; and Bradley said an animal
could live about forty million miles above
the earth, if"
Mrs. Potts-"Not forty million, my dear,
only forty miles, he said.
P-"Forty, was it? Thank you. Well,
sir, old Green, you know, said that was ridicu-
lous; and he said he'd bet Bradley couple of
hundred thousand dollars that life couldn't
be sustained half that way up, and 80"
Mrs. P.-"William, you are wrong; he only
offered to bet fifty dollars"
P-"Well, any how, Bradley took him up
quicker'n wink, and they agreed to send up
a cat in balloon to decide the bet. So what
does Bradley do but buy balloon about
twice as big as our barn, and begin to"
Mrs. Pit was only about ten feet in d.
ameter, Mr.. Adeler; William forgets.
P-"Begin to initiate her. When she was
filled, it took eighty men to hold her, and ="
Mrs. P.-"Eighty men, Mr.. Potts Why,
you know Mr.. Bradley held the balloon him
SELF"
Pile did, did he? O, very we'll,
what's the odds? And when everything was
ready they brought out Bradley's tom.cat, and
put it in the basket and tied it in so that it
couldn't Jump, you know. There were about
one hundred thousand people looking on, and
when they let 60 you never heard such "a"
Mrs. P.-"There was not more than two
hundred people there. Icounted them myself"
P-"O, don't bother me! 1 say you never
heard such yell as the balloon went scooting
up into the sky, pretty near out of sight
Bradley said she went up about 1000 miles
and-now don't interrupt me, Henrietta ;
know what the man said-and that cat, mind
you, bowling like hundred fog-horns, so
you could a heard him from here to Peru.
Well, sir, when she was up SOS she looked
as small as a pin-head, something or other
burst. l dunno how it was, but pretty soon
down came that balloon fickering toward
the earth at the rate of fifty miles minute,
and old"
Mrs. P-"Mr. Potts, you know that the
balloon came down as gently as"
P-"O, do hush up? Women don't know
anything about such things. And old Brad
ley, he had kind of \ registering thermome-
ter fixed in the basket along with the cat.
Some sortofa patent machine; cost thousands
of dollars, and he was expecting to examine
it ; and Green had an idea he'd lift out a
dead cat, and scoop in the stakes. When all
of sudden as she came pelting down, tor
nado struck her-now, Henrietta, what in
thunder are you staring at me in that way
for? It was tornado-a regular cyclone
and it struck her and jammed her against
the lightning-rod on the Baptist church stee-
pie, and there she stuck-stuck on the spire
about 500 feet up in the air.
Mrs. P-"You may get just as mad as
you please, but I am positively certain that
steeple's not an inch over 95 feet"
P.-"Henrietta, I wish to gracious you'd
90 up stairs and look after the children.
Well, about half minute after she struck,
out stepped that tom.cat onto the weather
cock. It made Green sick. And just then
the hurricane reached the weathercock, and
it began to revolve six hundred or seven
hundred times a minute, and the cat howled
until you couldn't hear yourselfspeak. (Now,
Henrietta. you've had your put, you keep
ouiet) That cat staid on the weathercock
about two months"
Mrs. P.-"Mr. Potts, that's an awful story
it only happened last Tuesday"
P. (con6dentially)-"Never mind her. And
on Sunday the way that cat carried on and
yowled, with its tail pointing due east, was so
awful that they couldn't have church. And
Sunday afternoon the preacher told Bradley
if he didn't get that cat down he'd sue him
for million dollars damages. So Bradley
got gun and shot at the cat fourteen hun
dred times. (Now you didn't count 'em,
Henrietta, and did, And he banged the
top of the steeple all to splinters, and at last
fetched down the cat shot to rags = and in her
stomach be found his thermometer. Shed
ate it on her way up, and it stood at eleven
hundred degrees, so old"
Mrs. Pho thermometer ever stood al
such figure as that"
p (indignantly)-"O, we'll, if you think
you can tell the story better than l can, why
don't you tell it? You're enough to worry the
life out of a man,"
Then Potts slammed the door and went
out, and l left. I don't know whether Brad
ley got the stakes or not
= -----"-----
HE SUFFERED LONG.
When it commenced to rain on Friday, 8
Detroit man stepped into an Office on Girls
void street and remarked:
"rhis rain will cool the atmosphere, won't
it? ,.s-.-
The proprietor agreed that it would.
In about five smia1as another man came
in to borrow papetsRd he remarked: .
"This rain will cool the atmosphere, won
it?"
The proprietor thought it would, and hae
just dated letter when man called to ask