The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-08-25
: 4 Dosble-BarrsIsd joke.

The other evening. round ut McGov-
ern's saloon the boys were putting up
an elaborate practical joke, on some
dy, who had just happened in, to take
o hand. " % - HT lfI sistss EE9s
"No, gentlemen," said that 9estima-
, bic old citizen. decisiyelys "you dom .
catch me taking part In any practical
Jokes. I went out of that business for
good over ten years ago. i"- Siof
40 IS How was thatPn asked the group of
beer exterminatorsJA Z Sob yis.q tssil
.Ia Well, it was in the winter or 10,
may be II. / was living in Daven-
port, Iowa, and man came, round
there giving balloon ascensions One
day it was advertised that the Mayor
of thel town was going up with him
Now. the Mayor was > big fat man.
+, who always wore Q light suit OF clothes
and white hat. This put me In the
notion of working on joke on the peo-
pie. lgosl acquainted with the 1aero-
naut, and he agreed to assist me in the
. scheme. We then got an old suit OF
light clothes and fixed up . dummy,
which we filed with sand, SO that It
weighed about two hundred pounds.
and would, therefore. drop straight and
heavy like 3 man. The day of the as
, cension there were over 80, 600 people
on the ground, and the excitement was
very great, as there WIS light wind
blowing at the time. After the balloon
got up about mile, and maybe that far
south of the town, they dropped the
dummy over" -. 80 -.-5
big sensation then. ehp'' z-s'7 sai
"Well, / should say SO. But that 8
just where lost my grip. While the
crowdwa shouting and going wild with
horror, just laid down on the ground,
rolled over and laughed until 1 was
Just sick" =" g 'se" a'eiI ifo'i
= s.ShouId think the crowd would have
taken a tumble, too" suggested the
audience. as4 f.ae.r ssa.,T, 4; 81.
" ..But Just wait. OF course. the crowd
made break out of town to scrape up
the remains. and rushed home to get
my fishing tackle, for it struck me that
the most healthy thingI could do would
be to go fishing for day or two. Be
fore i left the house, however, was ar
rested for murder" '.
a. For murderPn !: lf.i = ,ssab j li
Exactly. A lot of the boys, accom-
panied by the Sheriff, rushed In and
collared me- They claimed that the
dummy had fallen on a farmer and
driven his skull clear into the heels of
his boots. They said that the balloon
attic had turned States evidence, and
the chances were I'd be hung by mob
before night" ..r--....- -.f.'.,-.
THAT was rough" '1i a-li "a @it'
"Well, SO 1 thought. / was just
scared plum to death, and begged
the boys to stand by, aud protect me.
ponied up, fifty dollars for legal ex-
penses, and they hid me In the garret
Of neighbor's house. They kept me
there ten blessed days, and there WASH
day but they struck me for . twenty
/ or two for contingencies. One night
the whole gang came around full oi
beer-on my money, mind you-and
said that they had concluded. as addi.
tional precaution. to hide me i'm the
hollow of an old oak tree about three
miles out in the woods. ] saw through
the whole business then, and drove 'enl
out with club. Il was q good square
case of the bitter bit, know, but they
never let up calling me Dummy Skid
dy' after that. until they actually ran
me out of the town, and had to emil
CRATE to this jumping of place OF crea-
tion," and the Captain shook his head
with q disgusted air SIS he paid.for his
hot Scotch and walked out. Fraai-
CISCO fOSt. = ff.,-.- .,--.., -..r.g -r 7.rs