The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-07-30
A Lax.

The other evening, round AZ MCGovsrn's
saloon, the boya were putting up an elGbo'
rats practical joke on somebody, and they
asked old Captain skiddy, who had just
happened In, to take . hand.
"No, gentlemen, " said that estimable old
citizen d%eCisively, "yoH don't catch me
taking part in any practical jokes. Invent
ont oil that business for good over ten
years ago."
How was that2" asked the group OF
bssr exterminatorR.
"Well, II was In the winter OF 1870
maybe 1871, l was living at Davenport,
Iowa, and Rmsn came round there giving
balloon AsCensions. One day II was adyer.
tised that the mayor Of the town was go
ing up with him. Now, the mayor was a
big, fat man, who always wore q light snit
Of clothes aud q white hat. This put me
In the notion OF working of q Joke on the
people. / got acquainted with the
SerOnaut, and he agreed 10 assist Ia the
scheme, We then got an old suit Of light
clothes, and fixed up o dummy, which we
hlled with sand, so that 1t weighed about
two hundred, and would therefore drop
straight and heavy like a man. Theiay OF
the ascension there were over 80, GEO peo-
pie onths ground, and the excitement was
very great, as there WAS a high wind
blowing at the time. After the balloon
gpt up about a mile, and maybe that far
south Of the town, they dropped the
dummy over"
big sensation then, eh2"
"Well, / should say 50. But that's lust
where | lost my grip. While the crowd
was shouting and going wild with horror,
l Just laid down on the ground, rolled
over, and laughed until ! was Just SICK"
"should think the crowd would have
taken a tumble, too" suggested the audi.
enCA.
"But just wait. or course the crowd
made q hreak out Of town to Bcraps up the
remains, and / rushed home to get my
fishing tackle, for " struck me that the
most healthy thingI could do would be to
20 6Shing for a day or two. Before / left
The house, however, l asArrested for muir.
DER"
"For mdtder?"
Exactly. A lot Of the boys accompanied
bythesheTiff rushed In and Collared me.
They claimed that the dummy had fallen
on q farmer and driven his skull clear In.
to the heels OF his boots They said that
the b~alloonatic had turned States eyi.
dence, and the chances were that I'd be
hung by . mob before night"
"That was rough"
swell, SO Thought. l was Just scared
plum to death, and begged the boys to
stand by and protect me. l ponied up $50
for legal expenses, and they hid me 10 the
garrett Of q neighbours house. They kept
me there ten blessed days, and there
waan't a day but they struck mo for a
twenty or two Tor contingencies. One
night the whole gang came around full Of
beer-on my money, mind you-And said
that they had concluded, as additional
p%recaution, to hide me In the hollow Of an
old oak tree about three miles out In the
woods. I saw through the whole business
then, and drove them out with q club. II
was q good, square case Of the bitter bit, l
know, but they never let up calling me
Dummy Skldty' after that, until they
actually ran me out OF town, ahdT had to
Eemigratet 10 this jumping otfplACsi Q ttcrea:
ton" and the Captain shook his head
with adisgusted look as.he paid Tor his hot
Scotch and walked out.-Derrick Debold,
in San Francisso Pot.