San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-09-26

Elected that no name had been signed to the
notice; it was learned that the inmates of "a
Pudding lane were unknown; some even de-
clared that the house was vacant. In short,
on the fifth day the public took its little
laugh, and settled down into the conviction
that the thing was a humbug. Thereafter it
was known as the Pudding lime hoax.
There seemed to be no possibility of any
change from this belief. 1t seemed unanimous
and settled Noble proposed that we take the
notice out Of the papers, as the game was
played; but this we concluded not to do,
though merely that we might fulfill our part
We heard little more said of the matter for
the next week; it seemed to have been for
gotten. Indeed, Noble and | scarcely spoke
Of it ourSelves-scarcely thought of it. So
the time passed till Aug. IL. At breakfast,
near 10 O'Clock, Noble yawned that this was
the day on which we were to pay the clty's
debts, and that we had better see our lawyer
as TO the disposition of our property. Moth
ing more was said till between the noon hour
and O'Clock, when it happened that l step
ped to the window to draw the curtain
closer for a careless servant had left it part
ly open, and a CLEAN from the street made
our gaslight pale In arranging the drapery
| casually glanced out, and noticed, it might
have been, score of people standing on the
opposite curb This was unusual, for our
street is quiet one, and said TO Noble that
there was some excitement without. He in
stantly connected it with our experiment. |
believed he was right, but attached little I'M
portance to the matter. Nevertheless, we re-
paired to another apartment, one Window of
which projected slightly over the street at a
hair Of ,,ntl,o ttra tIn
ground. In this we could watch unob-
served.
At O'Clock there were two men lounging
on the opposite side Of the street. The crowd
of twenty had first seen had dispersed The
two were presently joined by three or four
others, who, passing, had stopped to joke
with them, and had staid like men who ex-
pect some small spectacle and stop to catch a
glimpse of it, if they happen to be in no
haste. Occasionally one would start on The
group continued to grow slowly. At l:l5
there was again score. About this time |
glanced up and down the street. and counted
a dozen more in doorways Turning my
eyes again to the original group, was sur
prised to see it had been augmented by
half hundred The gathering now became
rapid. At 20 there may have been hun
dred people in sight; five minutes doubled the
number. From every quarter men and wo-
men began to stream in. All halted in sight
of our door, but no one approached it. 1t
was plain, Noble observed, they all came as
spectators merely The attention of the
crowd was divided between our house and a
neighboring steeple clock Two o'clock was
approaching. AS for our house, it stood be-
fore the crowd, Il large, plain stone structure,
every curtain drawn and no sign of life
within.
The third quarter struck. Then on every
hand the crowd broke into rush for posi-
tions before the door They instantly lost
the appearances Of spectators and became a
mass of eager men struggling for first places.
Noble and looked into each others eyes; in
stantly, with that moment, we saw the ami
hilatiOn of our fortunes. | clasped my
friends hand; it was cold as ice. Together
we went to the library Without word
Noble wheeled a table into the middle of the
floor, seated himself, took out a check book
and laid it open before him. made quick
calculation, from my best knowledge, of the
amount of our joint fortunes handed it to
him, and gathering the servants, gave them
some brief instructions. When l got back
to my seat at the window the crowd had
grown till its limits could not be seen. Fill
ing the street, not long one, it reached
from end to end and from wall to wall, and
| judged by the sounds that more were gath
ering around the corners and in the adjacent
thOrOughfareS
You may have seen throng before a lot
terry wheel, impatient, excited. Some such
an aspect had the mob before our door, save
that it was far more immense, far more ex-
cited There was occasional laughter, such
as we hear from drunken men. Every man
acted as one partially deranged; it was APP
parent that the strangenesS of the situation
had its effect OH the crowd. Two o'clock
struck. The first stroke of the bell was hard
ly heard for the murmur and excitement;
the second stroke fell upon the throng, al
still as though that second every man haG
been turned into a corpse. Every eye was
upon the door Not a motion was visible
about the house The door was unlocked,
and a servant stood behind it, but made nc
sound; not curtain stirred
| had expected, when a little time had
passed, and it was seen that the door was not
to be thrown open, that there would be a
rush, and it would be pushed in So pres
emily | observed that those far back now be-
gan to push forward. Those nearest the door,
too, crowded upon the stoop; but there every
man looked to his neighbor to first put hand
to the door, but none did it, Then terror
seized them and ran back through the peo-
pie, and they fell back. Then arose great
cry. could not make out what it was, but
in the midst of it the first quarter struck
Then there was silence, aud for long time
they did nothing but wait, each for the other,
the crowd behind upbraiding those in front for
not pushing in. Our quiet house terrified
them by its very stiffness and helplessness.
Again those In the rear and on all sides