The daily critic., 1890-10-03
TWICE-T0LD TALES THAT ARE
AS NEW As NEWS TO SOME,
1RE NEENEST ACT OF A MEAN MAN,
Old Judge Morris, tie First Female
Justice of the Peace.
CRlGN OF AfOPULAR SLURRNG PHRASE.
Tie Nan Who First Cried Rats" Jonah
and the Whale The Baby Cyclone
and Captain Jack,

mere were lhlCe newspaper men ]
Bob, Jim and Carl They had a pas
sion for the unique, says the Chicago
Herald. They used to meet nearly
every evening in a clean, unfrequented
resort down town, where they drank
salted beer and ate sugar. coated pretz.
els They called themselves the Oddi.
ties
I'D like to gamble" said Carl, the
other evening, as they were seated at
an octagonal table. I'VE cant play
poker, because its so common. Let's
put up 50 apiece, each fellow to tell
the meanest thing he ever did In his
life. The one that tells Of the nearest
thing takes the bundle"
"The mesnest thing I ever did, 4" said
Bob, after the stake was made, was
done when / was youngster. Three
of US, wild ones, caught a little, In.
offensive boy. shut him In a box and
set fire to the box. II policeman
hadn't happened along. we'd have
burned the boy to death"
"SOme years ago" said jim, "I had
a counterfeit quarter. Meeting
beggar, ] told him l had to have
fifteen cents to buy a meal, but that I'd
give him ten for luck. He took my
counterfeit and returned me fifteen
cents in good money"
You've been pretty hard citizens 10
your time" said Carl, as he deposited
the stakes In his pocket
But what did you do p inquired the
others.
"Oh. the meanest thing Why, the
meanest thing 1 ever did was to rob
two newspaper men Of 81"
-
The admission of Wyoming to State
hood recalls the pioneer days Of woman
oflice.holdlng in that unique civillza-
ton. Hester Morris was the first woman
appointed justice Of the peace In the
United States In those rough pioneer
times the bowie knife and pistol oftenor
settled disputes than did court Of jus
tiCe. Mrs. Morris was q tall, Eliza
bCthan type Of woman, with as rugged
features and as brusque a method OF
expression as has been asCribed TO the
English Queen. Her first case In
Wyoming court concerned a quarrel
between two young men, who were
brought before her armed with bowie.
knives and pistols
She had known them since their boy.
hood, and In spite Of the fact that q
scene had been expected on her first
appearance. few words OF motherly
advice to those who had known her
kindness, and a little native mOther-wit
carried the day. After that there was
no more trouble. She was a particular
tHNaWHawft 40 Ns.FV g1aau FaF aUHf1 IaaHn
Men who had been arrested for beating
their wives OF for general drunken dis
tuIbances of the peace invariably
"Old Judge Morris" They wanted to
be tried by men.
-.
Where do slang phrases originated
Thousands Of people habitually in,
dulge In the use Of slang without a
thought or a care as 10 the source from
which the vulgar phrase came, and often
without the slightest idea of its original
meaning, Doubtless many Of them are
coined by minstTels and burlesque
actors, but often some simple incident
is respon sible for expressions which
sweep over the country and have their
use In the mouths Of gamin and the
careless OF speech, until superseded by
some word equally offensive.
A few years ago, says the Boston
Globe, a celebrated polo team was play,
ing q match game IN one Of our Massa-
chusetts cities with a team from a
neighbOriDg city. The visiting team,
called the Star, wore its name con-
spicuously embroidered on the breast Of
the shirt.
AS the game progressed II became evil
dent 10 the spectators that the referee,
who was In sympathy with lie visiting
team, was unfair IN his dec ions. This
caused great ill-feeling, specially as
the members Of the team re rough and
Todwyish IN their behavior. Suddenly,
as their conduct became more eXaspeT-
ating, some one in the audience shouted:
'RatsP' The cry was instantly taken
up, and throughout the remainder Of
The game the audience continued 10 ap-
ply IL 10 the turbulent players.
Finally one Of them, unable 10 en-
duTe the sluTring appellatiOn any longer,
went 10 the man who had originated
the cry, and said
why do you call us TatsY'
You ought not 10 take any exception
10 the name, replied the gentleman adj
dressed; you behave worse than rats,
and besides you wear the word on your
breasts. Spell the name Of your team
backwards" Sure enough. star spslt
backwards could make no other word
but rats.
A large number Of people from other
States were In the rink az the time, In
GLIDING several visiting teams. and
thenceforth the word rats was taken
up as an expression Of contempt
-
Doctor, said q Salt Lake Tri5HH,
reporter 10 a city minister, lis there mol
a natural explanation Of the whale
swallowing Of Jonahl
Yes. In the first place there I;
nothing in the Hebrew 10 show that 4
was what We call a whale. The Wori
translated into both the Septuagint and
the New Testament by the Greek katOs
means simply a sea monster; and thii
word was the one used by our Lord IA
his reference 10 this account OF Jonah
Matthew xii, Sad So far there
fore, as the Hebrew on Greek words are
concerned, The hsh may have been
whale, z shark, q sea serpent or ans
other large monster Of the deep. Henc,
there Is nothing incredible In the state
meut that Jonah, upon being thrown
into tie sea. Bas quickly oVertaken by
a sea monster and swallowed without
suffering any mudlaliOn providing The
monster was large enough. il Is vel
known that The waters through which
a vessel 10 sailing from J0ppa 70 any
spanish port must pass were frequented
in early times. by species OF shars