Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-01-30
The Dirty Water Drinker.

The Philadelphia Press says that EdmuHd
Spencer, who is engaged in the apparently
suicidal feat OF drinking q quart Of Schuyl-
4 kill water in ten minutes for six successive
nights, walked into clsrk's Olympic Garden
shortly after 8 o'clock, looking a little the
worse for the overdose of nastiness he had
swallowed on Monday night.
"Whati you're alive, are your" said
Byrne, who had bet Clark 500 that Spencer
cannot perform the task he has Get himself.
A little crowd OF walters and professionals
gathered around the newcomer and serutin-
| lied him closely. Es..-
"Looks ishy about the eyes, don't he?"
said Dalton, the one-armed boxer.
spears to me his heads swelled consider
able" remarked his agile partner, Watts.
Meanwhile Spencer took his seat at a
table, took of his hat, and leisurely pro-
ceeded 10 light up cigarette. III ook at
his head" cried half dozen voices at once
| "Why, nearly all his hair has fallen off,"
Spencer stroked his head refectively, and an
expression of gravity, not to cay alarm, crept
| over his ood-lookipg face. "It does seem a
little thin on top" he said at length. "Well,
| if Schuylkill water ia the rank poison you
| say it u.s." he went on, addressing Byrne, "it
must strike somewhere, and as it doesn't
| affect my stomach, perhaps it's going to blow
the top Of my head of. Anyway, Pm going
through win Inc 1op, you bet.
Shortly alter 10 o'clock when those clever
one-armed boxers, Dalton and Watts, had
pummelled themselves into a profuse perspi-
ration, TO the delight of the audience and the
detriment OF their amiable frontispieces,
table whereon wss placed quart measure
filled with Schuylkill water and Eye large
beer glasses, was borne onto the stage, and
half minute later the dripker, accompanied
by John ii. Clark, Mr.. Byrne and the referee,
followed. Spencer modestly announced the
terms of the bet, and added that he felt no
i'll effect 80 far, and was confident of success.
Then Byrne filed the Eve glasses, thereby
emptyipg the quart measure, and pulling
out stop-watch gave the signal TO Spencer
TO "Go ahesd.' The drinker raised the FIRST
glass, contracted his nostrils, made a wry
face, and drained the water to the last drop
The band struck up, "Heme They Brought
Her Warrior Dead" Spencer shud-
dered, and in sixty-fve seconds raised
his hands to stop the sleep-inspiring
melody, and seized glass No. 2. This
time he apparently forgot to put his
nssal organ through a course of gymnastics,
as the glass went down a foot or so much
quicker Than it assembled, and his face went
all awry. He rallied brsvely, however,
drank half the contents and put the glass
down. Fifteen seconds later and he emptied
it. The piano man dallied with "She Sat
by the Side of the Bubbling Water" for 6fty-
five seconds, and then Spencer gravely lifted
the third installment Of Dobson-dyed water
to his lips. He made two gups also Of this
fraction Of a quart, and as he sat the glass
down the musicians glided into "You Never
Mics the Water Till the Well Runs Dry"
By this time Spencer g face was flushed, and
be laid his right hand upon his stomach
more than once during the four minutes
that elapsed before he tackled the next glass.
"He's weakening said a gentleman in the
audience, with diamond pin and a carbun-
Gle nose. Spencer darted an indignant
glsncs in the speakers direction, grabbed
glass No. and drained it at draught. The
band whahged away at Zone Wide River 10
Cross" during the execution of which Sal
vation Army melody Barber Byrne detected
a few drops of wster in the bottom of one of
the glasses. He sternly drew Spencer's atten-
ton 10 the teaspoonful of nastiness aud the
wretched man drained the emp of bitterness
to the dreggs. A little later and Spencer
took the fifth and last glass in hand. "ThapH
bust him" said a one-eyed man with pam
tomime face and a red necktie. The drinker
was evidently uneasy, but be put the liquid
out of sight in two gulps, and, amid the in
itial strains of "Will They Miss Me When
Pm Gone~ Clark led Spencer off the stage,
and Barber Byrne roared out that seven min
utes and twenty seconds had been consumed
in negotiating the second quart of Schuylkill
water.
Ten minutes later Spencer was chatting in
the body of the hall. He said he felt no
particular inconvenience from his big drink.
He thought that if he performed the task
without Ill effects, it would be proof positive
that Schuylkill water was harmless. He
says he was once lost in South America and
lived for two weeks on bananas, and never
felt better in his life.