Sharp County record., 1878-01-11
BID CROWNER AT THE BALL.
The Costume He Danced in at Hangtown
and What Happened to 1t.

and What HappeneI W lt'
from the Virginia (Nevada) Enterprise
Up in the hall of the Pacific Coast
Pioneers, a few evenings ago, several OF
the sold boysn and number OF later
comers, their friends and admirers,
were talking over early days in CaIl1or-
mia.
81 shall never forget my first ball in
California; said Bud Crowner. "lt
was at HangtoFn, in '52. In crosSln'
the plains we had all kinds of bad luck.
We had some of our hosseS stolen by
the Iniuns, some died, and at last we
left behind wagons and every thing but
what we could carry on our backs. 1t
was every feller for himself in a short
time. / travelled on foot and tuck the
desperate chances of findin' grub among
sich wagons and camps as | passed.
Nearly naked and half starved finally
got to the Humboldt. | found a large
party of emigrants camped thar for a
day or two to rest, wash clothes, bake
bread, and the like. was a rough
lookin' customer. | had on an old
roundabout or wamus, that | had worn
all the way from Pike, trousers that was
ready to drop off me, and pair of moe
casins I got from a Shoshone Injun for
an old iack-kntie. A man at the camp
took pity on me, and, showing me two
pairs of green jpaize drawers, told me if
I'd wash 'em Irmight have one pair for
my trouble. As they were sound and
much better than my own pantaloons, |
jumped at the chance. l washed
the articles and hung 'em up on bunch
of willers to dry. Presently the feller
came and took one pair, leavin' the 9th
er for me. He was a little, spindlin'
bit of cuss, while |, even at that time,
starved as l was, weighed nigh on to
175 pounds. I took the drawers and
went some distance down the river, be-
hind a bunch of willers, to make my
toilet. The washin' and dryin' had
shrunk the drawers to sich an extent
that it took me half an hour to git into
'em. They was skin tight, and lacked
six inches of reachin' down to my ankle
jints. walked up and down the bank
of the creek for long time before |
could make up my mind to 90 back to
camp. | went and looked for my old
breeches, but l had thrown 'em into the
creek in the start and they had foated
off or sunk somewhere. AS | walked
up and down thar by the water my long,
slim, green legs made me look like a
fy-up-the-creek, crane, or some Sich
water fowl. When I went to camp ev-
cry body roared and laughed, some roll
in themselves on the ground and roar
in till they was black in the face, To
keep the sun from burning my ankles |
got some cloth and made straps so |
could strap the drawers down
to my moccasins. In passin'
along by the wagons l over
took, I had to stand all the fun that peo-
pie saw fit to poke at me. Here comes
the great crane of the desert!' some
would say, while others called me the
green dragon h the plains When l
got to Hangtowh11 found out that there
was to be grand ball that night in the
edge of town. Before scattering out
into different parts of the country the
people were goin' to have big dance
together. In the evenin' 1 thought I'd
slip down to where the dance was to
come off and look on awhile. l found
they had set up a lot of crotches in
which they had laid poles, coverin' the
whole with pine and spruce boughS,
maxim sort of canopy. The ground
had been leveled off and beaten down
till it was like brickyard. / found
two or three fiddlers mounted on pine
boxes, and with them a feller with a
clarinet. They were maxim pretty fair
music, and a great crowd was dancin'
away for dear life. l looked on for a
time, but pretty soon | got excited like,
forgot all about my drawers, and sailed
into the thick of the business with a
big Pike County gal, with sun-bonnet
off and the hair hangin halfway down to
her heels. | can tell you we made the
dust fly. I soon saw that, though my
drawers might be little tight, | had on
about the soundest and gayest rig in the
whole place. l looked as though in
some kind of masqueradin' outfit, and
began to consider myself the beau of the
ball-a regular dandy. | made them
long, green legs of mine fly in swingin'
on the corners, and was the wonder of
every man, woman and child at the ball.
l got so excited about the sensation |
was maxim that / cut all kinds of pig
eon-wings and fancy florTishes, bringin'
down the house all the time. GO in
green legs!' the fellers outside would
holler, and 90 in l did. Finally, a
couple of children came waltzin' along.
| thought it would be good trick to
sling one of my long, green legs, circus
fashion, over the heads of the little
couple. l tried it, and left that hall,
runnin' like a skeered kiotee, and don't