The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-07-16
TALES OF A JOKER.
A Plan for Catching Road Run.
ners, and How It Worked.
Rare Sport in the San Gabriel Valley-Tom
Chivers' FlamingO Hunt-HOw
Bird Vanquishes the
Rattlesnake.

other we don't get so much fun out OF
life as we did when land down the val
ley was bit foot and we weren't all
millionaires. When l struck Los An
.geles first. about twenty years ago, it
wasn't much of a town, to be sure, but
when anybody came to see you he had
a good time and went away chuck full of
experience About that time / had friend
here by the name of Tom Chivers, and
when say that he was a terror don't
mean that he wasn't gentleman, for
he was, every inch of him, but he was
the greatest practical joker in Los An
geles County, and about half the gags
you hear about here now are Toms S,
patched up to suit the times. He and ME
was side partners in little business, and
of course we was thrown together more
or less, and if ever his history is writ,
I'm the one kin do it,
Then he is dead" suggested.
NO" replied the old man. ''hc aim
exactly dead. but he married wilder
and settled in Arizona, and that was
the last of him. The jokes he got oft
was a caution to sinners, and there
wasn't a dog, cat, Greaser or Chinaman
what didn hold him in holy horror. One
time Tom got Il letter from friend in
the East saying that he'd given young
Englishman a letter of introduction to
him and wanted him to show him the
sights, and if he didn't see 'em I'm mis-
taken. The fellow got along in due
time and was regular tenderfoot from
way back, so fresh that the bees took to
him natural, and the COWS looked up
when he went by. In short. he was the
original Green from Grcenville, who you
may have heard on. Tom was mon
strOus perlitc and gave him a lay out
that went ahead of any thing that had
been seen in these diggins for some
time. BY and by it came out that the
young fellow was fond of shOotin'. and
Tom got up programme that couldn't
be beat. First, there was 4 snipe bag
gin; second. huntin' the roadrunner,
and lot more You may have heard
of this snipc baggin'. but think Tom
was the first to introduce it into this
section, anyhow.
well, after he had got the young
fellow to stand out in q lonely canyon
for three mortal hours one moonlight
night with an English friend of his he
picked up in the neighborhood, hold
ing bag open for Tom and me to drive
snipes into. and he found that didn' t
cure him, Tom had him out on fam
lingo hunt. Yes, l went along to see
the fun, and when we got about two
miles out of town we hitched the horses
and took to the arroyo and began to
work up toward Pasadena, the young
Englishman ahead with his weather
eye out for California flamingoes.
reckon we had worked up the arroyo
for about half mile when Tom gave a
click and pointed with his finger right
ahead, and there on a limb Of a big
sycamore about thirty feet from
the ground sat the darndest onaryest-
lookin' fowl mortal ever looked at.
The young man had sighted it and was
a-sneaking among the brush. while
Tom lay on rock, a-!aughin' that
hard ! thought he'd have a stroke; but
in a minute bang! bang! went both bar
rels. and the bird fell like a rock; and
then the young man grabbed it and
fetched it up to Tom and me. with a
look on his face as if he had shot an
elephant 4 thought they had long
legs he said. holding up the bird. SO
they do in Africa. said Tom; but these
ere is an inland breed with short pins.
Well, to make long story short, we
shot two more famingoes in the course
Of the day and another bird that Tom
swore was q California bluejay. and
with the game we skipped home, and
the young fellow spent half the night
skinning them birds to send home to
the British Museum. What were they?
Why, nothing but old hens dyed red
and blue. Tom had q friend up the
arroyo. and they sailed the place with
these birds. and the next day led the
feHow right. to them. He'd never
found out the joke if he hadn't tried to
wash the feathers and the red ran of.
Tom tried to tell him that the color of
all birds in this country washed off dur
ing the rainy season and came again in
the summer; but there was a limit, and
he wouldn't believe that.
IAN jokers get pulled up once in a
while" continued the story-teller, land
Tom was no exception, and if it hadn't
been for this same young chap he'd
have passed in his chips one day, and no
Joke. Tom was one of the finest riders
/ lever saw. There wasn't nothing but
what he could do with a horse, and there
were mighty few horses that could do