Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-14
BALDY.
BY w. H. S. ATKINSON.

Those who have ever worked with a
large crowd of men. whether in office,
factory, shop, OF field, nave discovered
the fact that, usually, there is one
lucky individual who becomes a general
fayorite with "the boys" The reasons
may be varied or there may be, appar-
entity, no reason whatever for such a
state of affairs. But that does not alter
facts, and it is almost invariably the
case that every man in the crowd
silently acknowledges one of their num-
Der as prime favorite and sort of ring
leader in all kinds of joking and cussed-
ness and, Outlines be it said. a leader
In good deeds and acts of charity.
On the other hand. it is just as surely
the case that one unfortunate wight is
generally selected as a sort of Escape
goat" for crowd Of men-the unlucky
butt for every practical joke-the sub
1ect OF every Chestnut" and the center
figure for every rude cartoon. For
such Inflated individuals the boys gen
orally make things pretty miserable,
and life for the scapcgoat becomes de-
fusion and snare.
sach an unhappy wretch was Badly.
4 remember the time we'll when the
sobriquet was first applied to Billy
Waterman, and I remember also how
the same stuck to him for years-the
synonym for everything absurd, redic
ulous, droll, ludicrous and funny to
the minds of sour boys" We call him
Badly" still-but Billy himself doesn't
mind 1t any more, and to us fellows it
has long since ceased to retain its old
stupid meaning-conveying to our
minds, instead, thoughts and ideas of
goodness, bravery, and self-denial such
as, am fain to think, makes us better
men than we used to be.
) Let me tell you how the change came
about
In huge block on one of the main
streets in the great city of Chicago the
general offices Of the Chicago and Over
land Railroad are located. Upon the
fifth floor of this lofty building is the
particular department in which Badly,
myself, and some thirty other men
transacted our daily business. From
the day first entered that office, and
for three years on, [ knew no "let up"
in making fun at the expense Of Billy
Waterman.
He was such an odd looking little fell
low, and possessed SO many personal Pc
cullaritles. First of all, he was as bald
as billiard ball; then his legs were
"stubby," so that. although his body
and other limbs were of the average
SIZE his general appearance was
"sqnatty;;" besides all this, he was an
with decided British
brogue which furnished unlimited
amusement to the boys. He was &C.
centric in his habits and possessed a
rather irritable temper, which only in
cited the boys to more joking than they
would perhaps have otherwise INDUCED
IN. "Baldy's" age was a subject of
much curious speculation, and once
when, in the unquenchable thirst for
joke at "Baldy's" expense, q hat was
passed around to collect written
guesses as to his age, the express
sions Of opinion ranged all the way from
nineteen to fifty-five years! As mat
ter OF fact, Billy Waterman was at that
time about thirty -four years old.
AS l have already remarked, no one
could surpass me for meanness and cuss-
edness in getting up joke on Badly"
Sometimes, led on by the general laugh,
know that 1 carried things too far alto
gether, and upon one occasion "Baldy's"
temper was more than irritated by nv
behavior; it broke all bounds, and, seiz-
ing heavy glass ink-well, he hurled it
1T my head, full force. I was stunned at
he time, and for long time carried
about scar to remember Badly" by.
OF course I knew that it was all nv