The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-07-18
PLUMP SISTERS WON.
They Routed the Obese
Brethren Of Zion Afri-
can Methodist
Church.
IT WAS A QUEER PRIZE DRILL.
A Miscellaneous "Right About"
and Heavy "Fall In"

An unique entertainment was given last
evening in Zion African Methodist Church
on Monmouth street. 1t was designated
on the bills as a competition drill between
company of corpulent ladies and COM
pany of corpulent gentlemen.
1t grew out of challenge of the Col
ored Fat Mems Society to the plump
ladies of the church to drill with them.
The men had an idea that the ladies
would become frightened at the notion of
manPuvering in public and decline the
contest. But the fieshy sisters of the
Monmouth Street Zion are not made of
any such material. They promptly ac-
cepted the challenge and chose twelve of
their number to engage in the contest.
They secured the services of Captain e.
j. Jordan. the gallant commander of the
late Wilson Guards, to instruct them in
the duties of the soldier. They paid strict
attention to their drills and soon became
proficient in the manual farms.
THE PLUMP SISTERS WERE PROMPT.
q When this reached the ears of their
corpulent brothers q tendency to back out
from their challenge manifested itself
among them and late last evening, when
the time arrived for the contest the
sisters were promptly on hand, but the
Dold challengerS were minus quantity.
The large audience, which had COM
menced to gather in the basement of the
church as early as eight O'Clock, began to
grow in patient as the hands of the clock
moved around to half-past ten without
anysigns of the drill. At that point the
Rev. j. H. White, pastor of the church,
addressed the audience and said that the
delay was all due to the men. The ele-
phantine sisters, he declared. were on
hand and ready to proceed with their part
of the entertainment, but the men had
not showed up.
A proposition was then made to post
pone the drill, which was submitted to
the ladies by Pastor White. They were
lmmoyable. The men had challenged
them and they were going to go through
their drill whether the men did or not.
CAPTAIN RODNEY TO THE RESCUE.
Then Mr.. S. Rodney, the captain of the
corpulent mems squad, busted himself
and succeeded in getting four of his breth-
ren to consent to go into the contest.
That number seemed to exhaust all those
who were eligible on account of weight,
and as it looked so small, another brother
was persuaded to giving himself the ap-
pearance of being up to the weight by the
judicious use of a bundle of newspapers
under his vest.
In the meantime the ladies' company
had come out from their drawing room
and taken seats where they could observe
the tasteful manner in which the room
had been decorated with flags and bunt-
ing.
There were seven of the Iadies:-Miss
M. A Bryant, commandant; Mrs, Lucinda
Brown, Mrs. Sarah Rias, Mrs. Sarah Hen
derson, Miss Rachael Dafney, Mrs. Susan
Baker, and Mrs. M. B. Anderson. They
were attired in blue gowns with white
collars, cuffs and belts. and wore upon
their heads white arrangements which
greatly resembled the head dress of an
Indian warrior. They carried in their
white gloved hands long tri-colored slaves
with paper bouquets on one end.
The captain was distinguished from
the others by gold cap and a red, white
and blue sash.
THE MEN WANTED TO SURRENDER.
When Captain Rodneys provisionary
troops saw the bewitching and martial
appearance of the sisters they were for
capitulating on the spot, and it required
all the persuasion of their captain and
Pastor Whites ridicule at the idea of
being frightened off by the women to
screw their courage up to the sticking
point.
Finally, at eleven O'Clock, Capt Rodney,
attired in faultless evening dress, with a
black silk travelling cap on his head and
Knight of Pythias sword OYER his
shoulder, appeared in the doorway. He
was closely followed by Messrs Charles
Turner, j. b. Hayward, A. Anderson and
William Preston. His men carried canes
and wore brilliant boutonnieres. The Cap
tain and his men waddled around the
room twice, and brought up in front of
the pulpit amid the applause of the old
ladies and the uncharitable criticisms of
the young people.
Captain Rodney waved his sword in
salute as though he were shooing away
flies and made a little speech. He told
how difficult it had been to get his men
together and apologized for the smallness
of pnn nj lv
the sword shooed away imaginary flies
and the. five corpulent gentlemen carefully
seated themselves on chairs.
A HEAVY "FALL IN"
Captain Bryant gave the command fall
in" and her company hastily scrambled
to their feet. The command, however,
was false alarm and the corpulent ladies
sat down again. While engaged in this
operation young Ethiopian, with a
roguish cast of countenance, hastily re-
moved the first sergeant's chair, and 240
pounds of martial glory descended with Il
shock much like the earthquake we had |
in this vicinity two or three summers ago. |
This mishap almost broke up the show |
Mrs. First Sergeant was with difficulty |
hoisted to her feet, when she raised her |
tri-colored staff with the paper bouquet |
at the end and was about to belabor the |
young Ethiopian over the head with it, |
when the sexton connected with his ear |
and led him from the room.
The command to fall in this time was |
bona flde, and the plump sisters marched |
over to the front of the pulpit. At the |
word of command from Captain Bryant |
they went through portion of the man
ual of arms with great eclat. They car
ried, grounded, presented and ported arms |
with all the grace and irregularity of |
body of recruits at their initiatory drill |
When they marked time there was that |
peculiar sound made by the passage of |
heavy bodies through the air and the |
building shook to its foundations.
USEFUL TACTICS.
They effected one movement which is |
not to be found in any recognized tactics |
and which may be the new movement |
taught them by Captain Jordan. Miss |
Bryant gave the command about face.
One or two went completely around,
some turned to the left and some to the |
right, while others twirled about like
heavy weight ut the end of string set In
motion.
When they concluded that they had ex-
cuted the order they stood still, looking in I
all directions. The fair captain said after
wards that the idea was to avoid surprise