Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1886-07-24
peek : Bad hoy
peek,s sun.


ever Let me see you here again. said
the groccry-man, as the bad boy
came III. after laying dead cat on q
barrel outside the grocery. i
thought you had reformed, but the
minister tells me you played trick
on your father in the street car the
other day that nearly caused him to
be murdered. What was it that ex-
ploded, dynamite? Nav. it wasn't
no dynamite, said the boy, and |
was no more to blame then you. 1t
was naxident, that's what it was. /
get all the blame for everything. If
n cyclone should take pa by the
pants, lift him up and set him down
at Chicago, it would be laid to me.
Say, someday you will hear of me
being missing, and the police will
pull dead body out Of the river,
and then you win cry, and be sorry
that everybody abuses me. | shall
not stand it any longer, and the boy
proceeded to fill himself with cher
ries out Of box, SO he could die on
q full stomache.
%, don't take on so, said the
grocery man, L meant no harm, but
the minister sal, he was in the street
car with you and your pa, and he
saw you hand your pa package
and go cut on the platform, and that
soon the package exploded, and the
contents hit woman in nose, and
some Of it went on the minister, and
he thinks his clothes are ruined.
What on earth was it, and what
lid you do it fog?
Well, I'll tell you all about it,
said the boy, and if you blame me
that settles it between us. You see
pa has been drinking some lately.
First he took little wine to steady
his nerves after the riots, and then
he got in with soldiers who were
celebrating, and filed up, and his
head was getting pretty large. Al
ways when he gets drinking, and
wants to swear off, he has to take
some sour, cooling drink, to settle
his stummix. Late years he has u.s.
ed sitrit of magnishy. 1t is sour,
lust like lemonade and pops and fz-
yes like champagne, That day you
speak OF we started home, and pas
head aked, and he told me to get
bottle Of strife Of magnishy, and |
got it, and we got into the car. |
had the bottle, and sat next to pa,
and q nirish woman sat on pas other
side Some ladies came in land | got
up to give them my seat, and pa said,
give me the bottle, and handed it
TO him, and, honestly, l didn't shake
it at all. / know too much to shake
q bottle Of strife ofmagnishy, cause
L had bottle go off in my hands
once and the cork took me right in
the eye; and you bet it hurt. Pa
took the bottle and closed his eyes
and was pretty near asleep, and |
was out on the platform. Just as
L went out the minister came in, and
ne stood right up in front of pa and
the Irish woman. Well, | suppose
the motion of the car shook the
magnisy, and it was all ready to
'splode. Just as pa was getting
asleep the woman reached up to pull
the strap, and as she jerked it, her
hand slipped off and her knuckle
raked pas ear, and pa walked up
and looked mad at the Irish woman,
thinking she had struck him pur-
pus, and he said to her, Don't strike
an innocent man, and s'pose he
must have shook the bottle, for all
Of a sudden the cork flew out with
q loud noise, and struck the woman
right on the end of the nose, and the
magnishy spurted in her face, just
a bilin,' and she strangled and yell
ed murder, and grabbed pa by the
neck and bumped his head against
the side of the car, and pa turned
the bottle SO the rest of the mag
nishy squited on the minister, and