The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-12-11
TOLD BY AN, EYEWITNESS.
A Modest Man Who Does Not Put Himself
Forward, but Evidently Was In 1t.

man Tickle last evening, when the Ananias
club was called to order. "Of course, there
have been fairs for thousands of years, bat
mean only Indiana state fairs.
"The first one of that kind was held at
Cambridge City in 1926 | was 10 years old
at that time, and exceedingly smart for my
age, and | think can say truthfully that
] am the only man in Indiana now living
who attended that fair, or, at least, the
only one who has vivid remembrance of
its every detail. The exposition building
occupied 200 acres, and was built of brick
partially burned. 1t was seventeen stories
high, and had n tower from which one
could see the entire United States.
This tower, however, was not built of
brick, but was the trunk of tree The
tree standing was 700 feet high, and shorn
of its limbs and branches left trunk 500
feet long and IS feet in diameter 1t was
followed out, and inside was n spiral stair
case Landings were made at every fifty
feet, and near each was a window that
was only pane of glass l6 by II feet. On
the tiptop was platform where the people
used to stand and watch the earth revolve.
The main building was divided into apart
ments, the same as our exposition build
ing is, but believe they had better exhib-
Its; that is, | mean natural products, for
we didn't have so many different kinds of
machinery then as we have now, and con.
sequently they were not ON exhibition.
Il remember one year the managers
made run on pumpkins, and the person
who raised the biggest one was to be sent
to the legislature and have poem written
about him. A Marion county man captured
the premium. His pumpkin was so feet
high, 20 feet in diameter, and weighed
three tons. | don't remember his name
now, but he was sent to the legislature Just
the same, and his pumpkin was brought
to this city and placed on exhibition 1t
stood for number of years where the
spencer house is located now, and Il band
OF robbers cut a hole in it and used it as a
cave, but Capt. Bruce (great-grandlathe
of our Capt Bruce drove them away,
But to return to the fair. AS it was the
only thing of its kind in the west the at.
tendance was very large and as it was held
all the year around the managers made
great deal of money. The first train of
cars and the first steamboat were among
the articles exhibited there, if my memory
serves me true. Such horseracing us we
hadl Regular flyers and no mistake. Why
| have seen horses go so fast that the driv
er and sulky would stick straight into the
air. Trotting, pacing and running nova
days amt nothing owned a little brown
mare that could make u half mile in half
a minute and not think much of it. Why,
she made mile in three-quarters one
evening after working hard at the plow all
day a horse that couldn't trot mile
minute was barred off the track as nc
good, We had balloon races, too, and they
occasioned great deal of fun.
II was in balloon race myself one day,
and the way we split the air and shattered
the clouds into little bits was caution.
We were sure to win. when fellow who
had good deal of money bet against us
fired rifle ball into our balloon. This let
out the gas, and down we went. There
were twenty-three people in the basket, ard
all were killed except me. | happened to
have on linen buster, and that helped me
out good deal by catching the wind AS
went down. think was pretty lucky to
fall 1900 feet and live to tell about it. The
exposition was held in Cambridge City for
many years, and would no doubt be held
there yet but for the fact that indianapolis
is the capital of the state. The buildings
at Cambridge were destroyed in most
novel manner
an those days there lived in the east
part of the state an Oil Indian chief known
as Step-on- His Face. He had beautiful
daughter called Howling Rainbow, who
was beloved by every one who knew her
was rather badly gone on the Rainbow
myself, but ] didn't make any particular
yell about it, One day Howling Rainbow
came to the fair with young white maj
from Centerville, and this made her father
mad, because this young white man only
had 900 acres of land and half thousand
of horses. So he goes away and puts on
his war paint and stalks haughtily into the
fair grounds. Howling Rainbow and her
friend were getting into the merry-go-
round when she noticed her father strid.
ing toward them.
CAL she whispered for twas | with
herr, al, papa has his jag on and is look
ing for trouble
"'Well, let him look
"'You don't know him, AL He il
high kicking rooster when he gets started,
and now if he says anything to you just
pass it by us if it was a joke
"'Oh, certainly | laughed. T'll just
pulverize him if he gets too funny
Here our conversation ceased. The
Indian chief, with breath that would free
Ireland, was near by us.
"'Young man, began Step-on-His Face,
I am not at all pleased to have you fool
ing around my family. My daughter is a
"'Oh, papa
Don't interrupt meme, the chief of
all the Indians in this locality. | say that
Howling Rainbow is a chump'
"That was more than Icould stand and
casting one fond look at the bronzed maid
en- at my side let drive with my left fist at
her paternal ancestor | missed him, but |
struck corner in the building The blow |
knocked a hole in the wall through which |
you could drive a load of hay. The build |
ing began to shake and totter.
1t is falling screamed to the crowd. (
And so it was. Thousands of people would /
be killed! ground into atoms!! buried be. |
meath falling walls and timbersl! But | |
was on hand; I, who was the innocent |
cause of the threatened catastrophe, would |
avert it. With lightning speed | sprang |
10 the tottering walls, and sinking my |
heels deep into the mud braced myself. |
The creaking noises ceased, the walls were
steady and for ten days held up that |
building until not only were the people all
out, but the stock was removed. the cxhib
is taken away and everything valuable