The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-30
FAVE OF DEACON TIDD's MULE.
This Powerful Tale Is About All That's
I eft of Him.
From The Ne,r York Times.

| IhiS Powerful Tale Is About All That's
i eft of Him.
From the Ne,r York Times
Sleepytown isn't hundredth part as big,
but it is several hundred times as slow, as
| Philadelphia. 1t used to boast weekly
newspaper, but it has none now. The
| Sleepytown Weekly Truthteller suspended
| publication suddenly several years ago It's
| suspension did not make much impression
| on that part of the world lying outside of
Sleepytown, and as the Sleepytown people
themselves were not anxious that the true
causes of the death Of the TruthteiIer should
become known they have never before been
! given publicity.
The editor Of the TI'uthteller might not
always have been 4 truthteller in private
life, but his strictest rule in his business life
was that nothing but what he believed to
| be true should be printed in his paper
| Plain. ungarnished statements of fact,
| therefore. constituted the principal part of
| the reading matter OF the paper. and the
| inhabitants nf Sleepvtowu believed it to be
the greatest newspaper. in the world. The
/ superintendent Of the Sunday school took
| nifty copies to give 70 his Sunday school
| children, declaring that it was better fitted
| than any Of the Sunday school papers to
| instruct them in right ways, and that its
editorial articles were IS good as sermons
But at length the editor determined to
retire and spend his remaining DAYS away
| from the distractions of the Truthteller
| office. He was anxious to find somebody
who would carry on the paper in accordance
| with theaprinciples laid down by himself
and adopted by the SleepYtown people, and,
as it proved, unlucklly, he found his success
sor IN the person Of yuung newspaper
man from the reckless west, and the most
| reckless corner OF the reckless west at that
This
Of the wonderful possibilities fer romanciug
that lay within bin, and the old editor was
| charmed with bis appearance and gladly
| gave iuto his hands the reins of the Sleepy
town TrHthteilsr.
The new editor was for making it a daily
at once, butthe retiring editor said be had
/ tried that, when he was younger, and had
proved that 3 daily paper in Sleepytown
was an impossibilitY ualass it was filed in
| to q great extent with fancy and romance,
OF which he and the SlespYtown people did
not approve. So 1t beealae weekly, aud
weekly It must remain 1a1
| Now, although you are from the west -"
said the old editor. II believe from your
| face you never wrote or would countenauce
any such stories I have sometimes been
panied tQ see printed in western papers. l
| trust you will adhere 70 the principles on
| which the 1l'athtstteF was founded and has
! gained its antire sucoesse Tales Of wild and
unseeRlly3 adventure end. weird romances
| may do for other papers and other towns,
| kut net for the TrHtate3ter and Sleepy
| town. sr Is vlz
| The new editor said that he would strive
| to keep the Trathtelier on the plane on
| on which 1t had bean PLACED By its lou der.
| II you have persuasive tongue you may
| INDUCE one Of the old inhabitants Of Sleepy
| iowa TO tell you what caused the death of
the old editor, and how the whole populace,
arising in its wrath and might, rode his
successor out of town on a rail. Possibly
| he may show you copy of the TruthteLLsr
which appeared the first week after the
| new editor took charge, and which was
| was also the last copy that ever appeared,
! You viii then need no further explanation
in the matter.
1t must be recorded here that Sleepytown
is one of three villages connected by what is
| known as ''the round road which runs m
| hill aud down dale five miles. This road old
Deacon Tidd had driven twice a day for
| twenty years. carrying the mail between
| the three villages. All this time be had
| driven the same mule. 1t was a remar kablY
| intelligent animal for a mule, and, es the
deacon had never driven it anywhere except
over the msil route, it had become so ac-
| customed to it that. if turned loose and
started on the round road, it would go
over and over it at slow trot until
| stopped.
Just before the new editor took charge of
the TT9tthtellsr this hitherto moral mule de-
| veloped the kicking habit to an alarming
extent monday Of the week in which the
paper changed hands the mule disappeared.
| The Tf1tthtetsT came out Saturday.
| Heavily loaded on its front page was the fol-
lowing weird tale under headlines that took
| up half q column:
| The mystery Of the disappearance of
! Deacon Td1's mule has been solved, through
untiring efforts on the part of the editor of
the 1ruthfel!er and the repentance OF the
deacon's companion in the outrage Let the
| inhabitants OF Sleepyto wn givethe verdict.
| 1t Is for us TO give only the facts
Deacon Tidd has said that the mule
! broke its leg while kicking. aud that he was
| forced TO shoot it, Deacon Tidd, It is true.
was the cause of the unfortunate mules
death. but be took no such humane means
as ending its agoDies with q shot. Angered
because his faithful but somewhat cratic
beast bad kicked through the dash board of
his mail cart while on his usual rounds last
week, aud forgetting the many years Of
unselfish service rendered BY it before the
| lameatable tendencies of its race gained
mastery over It's own natural good quail
ties, Deacon lIdd perpetrated most dia-
holical scheme of torture.
with the aid OF the man whose repent-
ance has enabled us to give the coinpleta de-
of dis mail wagon, ana fastened the front
axle so that it could not turn more than two
inches each way. He then fastened one of
his longest hay-stack poles to the bottom Of
the wagon, 50 it projected twenty feet In
front at an angle Of foFty-flve degrees At
the end OF the pole be had arranged a
strong pulley, through which he ran twenty
feet OF haf-inch rope. One cad Of the rope
he made fast to a fifty-pouud weight.
Now came the most difIicalt part Of the
plan. The mule was brought out and the
deacon ordered his assistant to fasten the
loose end Of the rope to its tail. TIE assist
aut declared this was not exactly in his
line, and, as the deacon would not attempt
il himself, it looked as If the mule might be
spared. Bat the deacon had bright
thought. and sent his assistant 10 the drug
glsts for thres ounces Of chloroform. This
be held under the mules nose, with the aid
OF long pole, until the animal dropped.