The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1889-10-18

SOME ER.lC7IC.fL JOKES.

During the last visit of the Shah Of
Persia to these shores, says London
I1d Bits, II bright individual conceived
the happy notion of sending to the
Mayor of Cambridge the following tcle-
gram: His Imperial Majesty the Shah
of Persia desires to visit your Univer.
sity town, cn route from London by
special, arriving at Cambridge Station
about / p. N. BE prepared with escort
and reception as far as time Allows"
Great excitement ensued ON the re-
ceipt of this message, and the Vice
Chancellor of the University, the Mayor
and corporation, the volunteers, and the
citizens turned out in gala attire in or
der to welcome the Eastern potentate
Oh his entrance into the city. But the
monarch failed to appear, and the dis
appointed dignitaries wendell their way
back to the council chamber, where, Sc
cure from the public gaze, they could
express their indignation in Us dignitied
tones as they could maintain under the
depressing circumstances.
When the editor of the New York
Graphic, in a burst of humor conse-
quent upon the arrival of All Fools
Day, announced that Mr.. Edison, the
famous inventor, had perfected q ma.
chine for making food out of soil, and
wine from water, most of the papers
throughout the States copied the para
graph, and even published leading arti-
cles founded on this announcement,
pitched i'll u high key of praise to the
inventor, and wonder as to what he
would do next.
A remarkable hoax was perpetrated
in the year 1915 at Chester, by means
of hand-bills extensively circulated.
These announced that q number of aris-
%tucratic families would accompany the
ex-Emperor Napoleon to st. Helena,
and that, as the island was infested with
rats, high prices would be paid for able
bodied cats, which were to be brought
to a place mentioned.
An immense army of men, women
and children assembled at the appointed
spot. each carrying II bag or basket CON
tanning q specimen of the feline tribe,
the said specimens all expressing disap-
proval of the proceedings in a loud and
excited chorus. Crowds of people as
sembled and looked upon the unusual
scene with establishment. AS O rumor
that the whole affair was a joke began
to spread among the owners of the cats
some guarding took place followed by
several fights, which soon developed
into a general melee, during which
some mischievous spirits in the onlook-
ing crowd opened the bags and baskets,
and in q few moments three thousand
cats swarmed over the heads of the
combatants, up the balustrades and
galleries, and through the open win
dows at which the astonished citizens
gazed upon the tumult below. It was
many hours before peace "a restored,
and then the citizens rose in their
wrath, and next morning five hundred
cats floating lifeless on the placid wa
tiers OF the Dec testified to their VEN
geance.
In the year 1926, 10000 people as
sembled to witness the performance of q
, Swiss climber who was announced to
exhibit some impossible feats of leap
ing, on st. James Hill. The huge
crowd gazed expectantly at the hill
side for hours, but the flying man fail
ed to appear. The enjoyment of the
evening was confined exclusively to q
small knot of youths, who amid the
general wrath seemed greatly inn
pressed with the funny side of the affair.
The perpetrators of the above were
never discovered, or these farces would.
probably have been developed into
] tragedies during the closing scenes.