The south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1879-1883, 1883-03-27
HIS PA STABBED.


your house last night" said the groce-
ry man to the bad boy, as he came in
and sat on the counter right over a
little gimlct hole, where the grocery
man had fixed darning needle so
thst by pulling string the needle
would fly up through the hole and
run into the boy about an inch. The
grocery man had been laying for the
boy for two days, and now that lie
had got him right over the hole the
first time, ii made him laugh to think
how he would make him jump and
yell, and as he edged off and got hold
of the string the boy looked uncon-
scious of impending danger. The
grocery man pulled, and the boy sat
still. lie pulled again, and again,
and finally the boy said:
"Yes, It is reported that we had
burglars over there. 20, you needn't
pull the string any more. ! heard
you was setting trap for me, and 1
put piece of board inside my pants,
and thought / would let you exercise
yourself. Go ahead, If it amuses you.
II don't hurt me-"
The grocery man looked sad, and
then smiled a sickly sort of smile,
at the failure of his plan to puncturc
the boyy and then he said, swell,
how was 1t. The policeman didn't
seem to know much about the partic-
ulars. lie said there was so much
deviltry going on at your house that
nobody could tell when anything was
serious, and he was inclined to think
1t was put up Job" ~
"Now let's have an understanding
says the boy. "Whatevcr l say, you
are not to give me away. It's go, is
it9 have always been afraid of you,
because you have sort Of decayed
egg look about you. You are like a
peck Of potatoes with the big ones on
top, sort Of strawberry box, with
the bottom raised up, so / have
thought you would go back on fel-
low. But If you won't give this
away, here goes. You see, ! heard
ma tell pa TO bring up another bottle
of liniment last night. When ma
corks herself, or has pain anywhere
she just uses linimcnt for all that Is
out, and pint bottle don't last more
than week. Well, told my chun.,
and we laid for pa. This linimeni
ma uses is oflal hot, and almost blis.
ters. Pa went to the Langtry show
and did not get home till eleven
O'Clock, and me and my chum decid.
ed to teach pa a lesson. Idon't think
it is right for man to 60 to the the.
atrcs and not take his wife or his lit.
tie boy. So we concluded to burgls
| pa. We agreed to lay on the stairs
and when he came up my chum wai
to hit him on, the head with dried
bladder, and was to stab him on his
breast pocket, with stick, and break
the liniment bottle, and make him
think he was killed. 1t couldn't have
| worked better If we had rehearsed it
! We had talked about burglars at sup
per time, and got pa nervous, SC
when he come up stairs and was hi
on the head with the bladder, til,
4 first thing he said was burglars by
mighty and he started to 20 back
and then / hit him ON the breast pock
ct, where the bottle was, and then W.
rushed by him, down stairs, and
: said in stage whisper, guess he's |
dead man., and we went down celia
and up the back stairs to my room
and undressed. Pa hollered to m,
that he was murdered, and ma calle'
me, and / came down in my night
: shirt, and the hired girl she cam
down, and pa was on the lounge, ant
he said his life-blood was fast ebbinI
: away. He held his hand on tn
!, wound, and he said he could feel th
warm blood tricking clear down I
: his boots. told pa to stuff some Ia
: into the wound, such as he told m
to put ON my lip to make my mus
tache grow, and pa said, MY bo.
. this is no time for trifling. Your p
= is on his last legs. When ! come u
u stairs ! met six burglars, and l al
tackled them, aud forced four of thel
down, and was going to hold thel
and send for the police, when tw
;, more, that / did not know abou
a jumped on me, and / was getting Il
best of them, when one of thcl
struck me over the head with q Gro
bar. andthcn stabbed me to the hea
\. with a butcher knife. / have r
ceivcd my death wound, my boy, ar
my hot southern blood, that l otfers
up SO freely for my country, in h,