The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-12-11
TOLD BY AN EYEWITNESS.
. Modest Man who Does Not Pat u imSe"
1.,r,yard. but Evidently Was In III

..1,here il n wide and long difference De
- .ha fnirs of the present day and the
ta;rs hold when was boy" said Pao'ol-
man Tickle last evening, when tne An" "Hl,
nI,h yyas called to order. "Of course Cnere
have been fairs for thousands Of years. D>'0'
moan only Indiana state fairs
mrbe first one of that kind was helu az
Cambridge City in 1926 was 10 years oio'
~ that time and exceedingly smart for my
ooa and think can say truthfully Inas
T am the only man in Indiana now hVlng
who attended that fair, or, at least, inc
only one who has a vivid remembrance Vi
Ire avery detail. The exposition building
,rcupied /, 200 acres, and was built OF DricA
norti. lv burned. 1t was seventeen stories
bigh and had a tower from which one
could see the entire United States
"Tbis tower, however, was not ouilG Oh
brick but was the trunk of tree. Inc
free standing was 700 feet high, and shorh
of ire limbs and branches left trunk 3ou
feet long and IS feet in diameter. 1t was
followed out, and inside was spiral stalf
case. Landings were made at every lil6y
feet. and near each was window tnat-
was only pane of glass toby n feet. On
the linton was IL 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 eXhlo-
it's; that is | mean natural products, for
we didn't have so many different kinds OF
machinery then as we have now, and con-
seuuently they were not on exhibition
81 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 30 feet
high, 90 feet in diameter, and weighed
three tons. | don't remember us name
now, but he was sent to the legislature just
the same, and his pumpkin was brought
to this city and placed on exhibition. IL
stood for number of years where the
Spencer house is located now, and band
of robbers cut hole in it and used it as a
cave, but Capt. Bruce (great grandfather
of our Capt. Bruce drove them away.
"But to return to the fair. AS it was the
only thing of it's kind in the west the at
tendance was very large, and as it was held.
all the year around the managers made q,
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 as 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 half a mile in half
minute and not think much of it. Why
she made mile in three-quarters one,
evening after working hard at the pillow all
day A horse that couldn't trot Il mile 3
minute was barred off the track US nG
good. We had balloon races, too, and they
occasioned a great deal of fun.
Il was in u 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 a 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, and
all were killed except me. | happened to
have on II linen buster, and that helped me-
out good deal by catching the wind as |
went down. think | was pretty lucky to-
tall 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 a most.
novel manner
an those days there lived in the east
part of the state an Old 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 particulac
yell about it. One day Howling Rainbow
came to the fair with a young white man
from Centerville, and this made her fathes
mad, because this young white man on'g
had 900 acres of land and half thousand
Of horses. So he goes away and puts on
his war paint and stalks haughtily into ther
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
her), al, papa has his jag ON and is look
ing for trouble.
"'Well let him look
"'You don't know him, Al. He il 81
high kicking rooster when he gets started,
and now if he says anything to you just
pass it by us if it was joke
ooh, certainly laughed. Tll just
pulverize him if he gets too funny
"EIere our conversation ceased. The
Indian chief, with breath that would free,
Ireland, was near by us.
"'Young man. began Step-on-IIis Face,
I am not at all pleased to have you fool.
ing around my family. My daughter is a
chump'-
"'Oh, papa'-
Don't interrupt meme, the chief of
all the Indians in this locality. | say that
Howling Rainbow is chump'
'That was more than | could stand, and
casting one fond look at the bronzed maid
en- at my side let drive with my left fist at
her paternal ancestor. l missed him, but
| struck IA corner in the building The blow
knocked hole in the wall through which
you could drive load of hay. The build
| ing began to shake and totter
at is falling screamed to the crowd.
And 80 it was. Thousands of people would
| be killed! ground into atomsll buried be-
meath falling walls and timbersl!! But I
was on hand; |, who was the innocent
cause of the threatened catastrophe, would
avert it. With lightning speed | sprang
to the tottering walls, and sinking nv
| ,ptN h.