The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-06-23
A Rich Hat Story.
Little Rock Gazette. !

! Little Rock Gazette
Probably the meanest trick that was eve
played on white man was played last weel
10 this city, and the fact that there is n,
Vigilance Committee here is the only reason
the perpetrators of the trick are alive 4
business man had purchased new stiff hat
and he went into saloon with half a dozer
friends to iii the hat on his head. They
all took beer, and passed the hat around s
all could see it. One Of the meanest men
that ever held 4 county Office, went TO the
bar tender and had a thin slice of limberger
cheese cut Oft and when the party were
looking Al the frescoed ceiling through beer
glasses, this wicked person slipped the
cheese under the sweat leather Of the hat,
and the man put ii on and walked out The
| man who owned the hat Is one of your ner-
| yous people, who i always complaining of
| being sick, and who feels a. though some
| dreadful disease was going to take posses
| sion Of him and carry him of. He went
| oack 70 hls place of business, took off his
| nat and laid it on the table, ana proceeded
! % answer some letters. He thought he
| detected smell. and when his partner asked
| him if he didn't feel sick he said he believed
| he did. 4 clerk said it was evident that
somebody's feet needed washing. The man
turned pale, and said he guessed he would
90 home
He met a man on the sidewalk WHY said
| the air was full of miasma, and in the
street car man who sat next to him
moved away To the end Of the car. and
asked him If had just come from Chicago.
The man with the hat said he had not,
when the stranger said they were having a
great deal of smallpox there, and he guessed
he would get out and walk, and he pulled
the bell and jumped off. The cold perspi-
ration broke out on the forehead of the man
with new hat, and he took it off to wipe
his forehead, when the piece of cheese seemed
to roll over and breathe, and the man got
the full benefit of it, and he came near
tainting away. He got home and his wife
met him and asked him what was the mat
ter. lie said he believed modification had |
set in, and she took one Whit off his hat |
and she said she should think it had |
Where did you get into it?' said she. |
Get into it?' said the man; Il have not |
got into anything, but some deadly disease
has got hold of me, and | shall not live"
She told him if any disease that smelled like
that had hold of him, and was to be
chronic, she felt as though he would be a
burden to himself if he lived very long. She
got his clothes of, soaked his feet in mustard
water, and he slept. The hat was lying on
the center table, and the children would
come in and get a smell of it and look at
each other with reproachful glances and 90
out and play. The man slept and dreamed
that smallpox flag was hung in front of
his house, and that lie was riding in a butch
er wagon to the pest house. The woman
sent for doctor, and when the man of pills
arrived she told him all about the case. The
doctor picked up the patients new hat.
tried it Oh, and got a sniff. He said the hat
was picked before it was ripe The doctor
md the wife held poet mortem examina- !
ion of the hat aud found the slice of linn ,
berger. Few and short were the prayers
hey said" They woke the patient, and to :
prepare his mind for the reveIat ion that =
vas about to be made, the doctor Asked him /
+ his worldly affairs were in a satisfactory r
ondition. He gasped and said they were /
The doctor asked him if he had made his o
will. He said that he had not but that he
fanted a lawyer sent for at once. The doe h
or asked him If he felt as though he was Y
repaired 10 shuttle off. q
The man said he had always tried to lead
different life and had tried to be done by
le same as he would do it himself but
nat he might have made mistake some
ay, and that he would like to have a min N
ter for to take an account Of stock. OF
Then the doctor brought to the bedside
ne hat, opened up the sweat leather, and
lowed the dying man what it was that a
nelied 50, and told him he was as well as L
ny man in the city the patient pinched
lmself to see if he was alive, and then q,
lmped out of bed and called for his reyoI- G
-r, and the doctor couldn't keep up with 81
i'm on the way down town. The last we cs
w of the odorilerOus citizen he was trying
bride the bar tender to tell him which /,
re OF those pelicans it was that put that y,
ice of cheese in his hat lining. -