Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-07-19
A BAR8ER's FAIRY STORY.
The Yarns He Tells to Distract the Atten-
ton of Nervous Customers.

ton of Nervous Customers.
One of the artists in Billy" Young's
tonsorial parlor on Dearborn street is
a nephew of Ex-Governor Rusk. of
Wisconsin, now at the head Of the
new department in the cabinet, and,
though he bears the same name as the
Wisconsin man, there are those who
think he should be called Schehere-
zade, the tabled queen, who saved her
life by telling the king, her husband,
such monstrous stories Mr.. Rusk
may not be worse barber than many
others, but for fear his razor may not
be in perfect shape, and to avoid any
possibility of those whose temerity
leads them TO intrust their lives in his
hands making any sort of kick, he
is wont to beguile them with stories of
remarkable experiences that would
put Baron Munchausen to the blush.
One day recently he had a pa
tent in his chair whom he. at once
recognized as being extremely nervous,
and he at once proceeded to soothe
him by relating how man who has a
large stock farm down in the southern
part of Kansas was continually miss
ing cattle from his herds, but for a
long time was unable to discover what
became of them Close watching,
however, proved that it was only when
the cattle went near lake or an i'm
mense slough for drink that the dis
appearances took place. The affair
might have forever remained a mys-
terry had it not been for the overc0n-
tidence and perhaps extreme hunger
of the cattle thief 1t had been noticed
that only the smaller cattle were
missed. One day a watcher who
CHANGED to be near the lake saw
great commots0n in the water, as
though some terrible struggle was go
ing on beneath the surface. 1t lasted
onl y short time, and then the whole
mystery was explained. Out Of the
water came a most astonishing object.
1t looked like the body of a gigantic
serpent writing and twisting in a
horrible manner, its mammoth
jaws opening and shutting with in
tense viciouSness. About where the
neck should be two large horns were
seen protruding, and as the new ar
rival reached shallow water the hoofs
and part of the legs of a steer could be
seen slowly and laborious walking to
dry land.
The Jig was up" The serpent had
been before content to attack small
game that it could easily swallow, but
this time it found its master in the big
/ Texan. The steer had evidently been
swallowed at the first gulp, but had
struggled so fercely that he had poked
his horns through above and kicked
holes through below with his feet, and
had thus managed to reach the shore,
only, however, to die from sutfocation
and exhaustion, buried in its loathsOme
prison.
Another tale this imaginative bar
Der loves to tell is that when he was
out west he one day fell into an old
abandoned mine. After going down
ever SO many hundred feet he landed
upon bed composed of millions of
black snakes. Finding himself unhurt,
he at once began devising means of
escape. A happy thought came to
him He seized one of the squirming
reptiles and started it up the shaft; he
had a second one seize the first by the
tail, and SO on until the first was seen
disappearing at the opening. Keeping
fast hold of the tail of the last one, he
was drawn safely out to the open air
With such yarns, does Mr.. Rusk make
his patients forget the tortures they
may be undergoing. Chicago Herald.