Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-02-25
BUY A FEW.


| A GOOD Thing to Treat Friends With
New York Tribune.
| Loaded" cigars, as instruments of
mirthprovoking torture, are liable to
come into more general, use among
practical jokers Oh account of new
method OF manufacture which lessons
the danger of the explosion. A small
cartridge OF powder inserted in the
middle of a cigar was liable to furnish
large amount of hilarity, but it was
liable to damage the eyesight of the
unsuspecting smoker who had been
selected as victim by the jokers.
Serious accidents, followed by suits
for damages, made the old style load
ed cigar unpopular. When a man
who had been known to indulge in
fun at the expense of his friends of
fered a cigar of the finest brand to an
acquaintance, he was obliged to an
off," or (Which way shall I point it,"
A man with reputation as "a joker
could keep a box open in his Office
with safety. His friends would be
sure to think that articles left exposed
in such a tempting way were danger
Gus to fool with.
| Recently some manufacturer has
adopted a method of ''loading" ci-
CARS of certain brand with a chem
ical cartridge which takes fire soon
after the weed is lighted. There is
no sudden explosion which skaters
the wrappers and sends fragments Of
| burning tobacco in all directions. but
from the end of the cigar stream of
ire shoots out to a distance of about
three feet in direct line. It makes a
man look for few seconds as if he
was gas tank and held q piece of
broken gas-pipe in his mouth. The
man is III no danger so long as he
keeps still and lets the cigar sputter
| away. To hold the weed firmly in
the teeth at such moment is better
test of a mans nerve than to hold on
to the end of a burning Roman
candle. The chief danger is that
some man may drop cigar and start
a confagration if he attempts to
smoke indoors.
In one department of the city gov
eminent the clerks have found much
amusement lately in dealing out
cigars of the new brand and waiting
for the displays of pyrotechnics. They
suddenly abandoned that form of d.
version few days ago on account of
an unexpected accident. One of the
clerks had presented cigar to an Of
fetal, but it had been consigned to the
officials pocket until more conyen-
lent time for smoking. That time
came when the official got on the
front platform of a street-car and bor-
rowed Eight" from a stout Ger
man.
Two heads were close together, and
the official was sucking the fire FROM
the end of the Germans half burned
weed, when there was an explosion
like that which attends the flight of
sky-rocket, A stream of fle played
directly into the Germans face,
scorching his cheek and obliterating
one large, red side-whisker in an in
slant. The German jumped off the
car with a howl of anguish. He
was followed by the astonished off.
cial, who began to make polite apol-
ogy.
"You make one pig joke" scream
ed the German, shut hat you ar
rested"
The official was obliged to show
his shield and give the name of the
clerk who had furnished the obnox-
ious cigar before the German would
believe his explanation. A day or
two later the clerk received a letter
from the Germans lawyer stating
that suit for damages had been au-
thorized. Fearing that his position
in the department would be forfeited
| if the facts came to the notice of
commissioner, the clerk made haste
| to settle. The Germans outraged
feelings made a big hole in the clerks
monthly pay. Warned by his exper-
fence, the other clerks have since
been experimenting with cigars '1oad-
ed" only with teeth extracted from
rubber combs. The fumes of burning
rubber smixed with tobacco smoke
have turned the stomachs of several
case hardened smokers.
At dinner given lately in New
York, the dining-room ceiling was
covered with a network of vines
fastened from the chandelier to the
four corners of the room. The vines
were literally covered over with flow
ers.
jim Westfall, Chinese contractor
on the Oregon Pacific Railroad, was
naturalzed last week In Linn county,