News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-12-28
THE MOURNFUL MAN.
How the Oshkosh Boys Enjoy Bit OF Fun.
from Peck's Milwaukee SUM-

from Peck's Milwaukee Sun.
A few weeks ago man registered at
an Oshkosh hotel, and was assigned
room, and everybody noticed that he was
a most mournful looking man. He never
said wo1d. but there was that about his
face, and his actions that showed he was
laboring under some great sorrow. He
had his supper taken to his room, and
the waiter said the man never spoke, and
seemed to be the sadaest looking man
he ever saw. The guests all talked the
matter over, and they decided that the
man was going to commit suicide. A
travelling man who had room next door
to the solemn man, and who had pre-
viousIy occupied adjoining rooms in diff
ferent hotels to three men who had com
mitted suicide, felt that he was about to
experience a fourth shock of the same
kind, and he laid in his bed all night and
never slept a wink, believing that the
next moment he should hear revolver
shot OF the death struggle Of his neigh
Dor. from poison.
He never heard q sound all night, and
when he got up in the morning he told
the clerk that he was sure the man was
dead They passed the room and listened
but could here no noise, and it was de
cided to look over the transom to see
the man was dead 1t is not a pleasing
thing to look over a transom into mans
room, not knowing whether your eye
will fall on a corpse OF live man with
revolver pointed at you, SO nobody
seemed to yearn to be the first to climb
the stepladder. Finally it was decided
to throw a cat over the transom, onto the
bed, and if they did not hear any noise
it would be certain that the man was
dead, and they could go on with the
funeral. A cat was procured, and the
porter, who knew just where the bed was
located, was detailed to toss the cat over.
He went up the ladder a few steps,
not enough to look over, because he was
not prepared to look suddenl y upon
corpse, and taking the cat In both
hands, by the legs, he gently tossed her,
or him, as the case might be, over the
transom on the bed occupied by the
mountaineering man. The cat was
heard to fall with dull thud, there was
a sound as of scratching and ripping,
heavy form was heard TO strike the floor,
the cat purmeoudP and "spit," and
the half dozen people out in the hall
a. al
suddenly the door opened and the mad
dest man that ever was seen in Oshkosh
came out in the hall in his night shirt,
his arm and face bleeding on to the white
night shirt. He had the cat by the hind
legs with one hand and revolver in the
other, and as he struck at the assembled
multitude right and left with the cat,
there was the worst getting down stairs
that ever was, and the cat was thrown at
the last person who went down stairs,
and the man returned to his room.
He dressed himself, went down to the
Office and paid his bill, and took the first
train south, never having spoken word
while in Oshkosh, and the people are to
this day wondering whether he was a
prohibition speaker, travelling man for
corset factory, or an agent for deaf
and dumb asylum The travelling man
who was so nervous for fear his neighbor
was going to commit suicide, wishes he
had, the landlord fears that he has dis
pleased a guest who might have remained
longer, and the porter who threw the
cat, says that it is the last time he will
ever try to find a corpse by the aid of a
cat.