The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-01-14
Waking the Wrong Passenger.


Waking the Wrong Passenger.
Z A good story is told of that gallant
Irish soldier, Gen. Bligh, Of Sepoy fame.
While holding the commission Of Cap
tain in dashing marching regiment he
was on q trip of pleasure, with his wife,
In the North of England, and having
come one day to small Yorkshire inn,
the larder of which was well-nigh emp
ty, he ordered all the host had on. hand
in the shape Of food to be served up for
his dinner, after which he joined his wife
IN an upper room.
While the host was preparing the meal
for his guest party of sporting gentle
men of the country entered the inn and
called for refreshment. The landlord
was sorry to inform them that all his
larder contained of food had been be-
spoken by a gentleman who was at that
moment waiting up stairs, with his wife,
to have it served.
Who was the gentleman?
The host could only tell them that he
was an Irishman, and that he seemed
to be a very quiet, good-natured and
harmless body. (The Captain was trav-
cling in citizens clothes.)
- An:1rish gentleman A potato with
pepper and salt will answer for him. Go
up and tell him SO.
But Boniface preferred not to do SO.
"Then, cried one of the party-a
squire of the neighborhood with more
money than SENSE" take this watch up
to the gentleman and ask him if he'll
send us word what's the time O. day, for
we"can't telL.'
1t was. d habit in that section, when
one. would intimate to another that he
| DIDN'T have much faith in his good
sense OF Judgment, to show him watch
and ask him to tell what's the time
o'clock. {.
The host, himself fond of fun, and
feeling assured that the last callers would
get. the worst of it, took the wateh-a
very valuable gold repeater-and went
up stairs and did the errand. Bligh
took. the watch and looked at it.
"By my life it's a beauty. Tell the
gentlemen Ell .sbe down presently, and
shall take pleasure in, expcunding to
them the mystery O tinae-telling by the
watch. And I'll fetch the watch with
The host returned with the answer,
and shortly afterward carried up his
guests dinner. The squire was, for a
little time, furious with the landlord for
having left his watch behind; but he
finally cooled of, and, having called for
gallon of.,beer, he sat down with his
friends to wait.
After he had finished his meal, Capt.
Bligh opened his portmanteau and
took out two great orse-pistols, and,
placing them under his arm, he took
the watch in his hand and went down
into the bar-room, where the sporting
gentry still waited.
"Ah, gentlemen, / give you a good
day. And now, who is. the man that
wants the time o day / shall be de-
lighted to enlighten him. :"
They didn't like the looks of the man
at all. He carried the soldier in his
very. look and, just now, there was a
good deal Of the tiger manifested.
Come, come, gentlemen--I am
Capt Bligh, at your service. A short
time since the landlord brought to me
this. watch, accompanied by message
which I have come to answer as such a
message richly deserves |" And he. sig
nifcantly tapped his finger upon the
pistols. /" Now, whose is the watch? Is
it yours, sir?" to the squire himself.
The squire denied the ownership
promptly. All the watches in the
world would not have tempted him to
expose his life to the terrible Irish Cap
tain, whose fame was known to him.
Bligh then applied to the next man
and then, to the next; and SO on, to the
last and all denied heownership.
y" am happy to find, gentlemen, that
I have made q mistake. You will par
don me, / am sure. I thought the
owner of the watch was here"
He then put the watch into his pock-
ct; slipped the pistols into the pocket
of his blouse turned to the bar, and
settled his bill then babe the company
good evening, after which he joined his
wife on the porch, at the door of which
his carriage was in waiting.
Captain, afterward General, Bligh
kept the watch.to the day of his death,
often telling the story of its capture,
when he left it by viii to his brother,
the well-known Dean OF Elphin.