Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-09-26
A Case of Mistaken Identity


The probabilities are that you never
heard of Mr.. Thomas WinslOW before;
that is unless you happen to be that one
out Of a million who faithfully perused
the patent Office report for 1873 In
that case you may have noted that Thos.
WinslOW was granted letters patent for
a certain compound for destroying army
worms.
That was about the first time Mr..
WinslOW's name ever appeared IN print,
and an honorable mention in the patent
Office report is not calculated to elevate
a man out of Obscurity. So you will
readily observe that our hero is in no
wise an eminent man.
Yes, by the way, there was a little
while that he enjoyed COnsiderabl
local nOtOriety. IG happened when he
was small boy, and so long ago that it
scarcely counts.
This is how the Pikeville Clarion re-
lates the incident:
ga queer though none the less painful
incident occurred to Tommy, son OF Ezra
WinslOW, last Wednesday.
Tommy vas having his face and hands
washed, and in the midst of his strug-
giles to escape he threw his bare arm
against the kitchen stove, striking that
part where the date of the patent was
marked in raised letters.
TOmmy's arm now bears the inscrip-
ton In red letters: Pat. June 6, l843.'
The figures OF the date are not burned
very deeply, but the letters will be apt
TO stay IN his arm the rest of his life"
The unique incident of course made
Tommy quite a lion among the small
boys of the town, which lofty position
he occupied until Pete Dugan was
drowned and brought to life again. He
then permanently Telinquished his
IL A.
for a series of successors.
So much for fame. Now about the
patent papers;
Mr.. WinslnW was of a rather expert
mentative turn of mind, and had, after
much study, produced q very valuable
and effective compound for destroying
army worms. In order to lose no time
he intended to make a practical test of
his compound while awaiting the issue
of his patent papers.
Portions of southern Indiana being at
that season much troubled with the
army worm, Mr.. WinslOW cited the
small VILLAGE of Mud Greek, a few miles
back from the /, Z. & S. railroad, IN one
of the plague ridden districts, as q good
field for experiment.
He rented a ten-aCre patch fronting on
the big road and moved his entire family
onto the place for the summer. Such
his work and take vacation ct one and
the same time.
Mr.. WinslOW. his wife and all the
little WinslOWs were delighted with
Mud Greek. But the feeling was not
mutusl. Mud Greek was not delighted
with the Windows. The folks of that
village unanimously pronounced the
city folks stuck up"
They didn't talk enough. They didn't
explain why they came or how long
they intend d TO stay, or where they
came from, or who their folks Were.Or to
what denomination they belonged, or
what were their political convictions. In
fact thew were generally unsatisfactory,
and had the self-cOnstructed grand Jury
that met in the back part OF the store
returned a formal Indictment against
the WinslOW family it would have con-
tanned no less than twenty-five or thirty
bills.
So the Winslows were looked upon
with distTust, highly favored with con-
tempt, but it didn't seem to affect the
intended victims IN the least. That made
it all the more eXasperating.
Why, do you know if they hadn't had
to call for their mail at the store lin the
corner Of which Was the postofhce) no
one would have known so much as their
names.
Now, before Mud Creek had begun to
recover from the surprise and indigna-
ton caused by the WInsloWs, there was
another excitement.
One drrWsy afternoon about a week