Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1893-08-15
RISEOF JONES CITY.

.sThat was good story" briefly OBJ
served Robinson.
''Thank YOU" returned Jones. "As l
have remarked so many times before,
simply related the facts. OF course Jack
son will pretend that he does not believe
II. Instead of treasuring up such things
for use In the future he rejects them, and
thus misses golden opportunities TO i'm
prove his young mind. lie will see his
mistake when it is too late"
"How long did you stay with the cir
susi" asked Smith.
"Two years." answered Jones.
"But what I'D like to inquire" broke in
jackson Peters, with some earnestness, "is
n you pretend TO tell us that you could take
an elephant and teach him to swing off
trapeze by his tail like monkey"
"I don't know why couldn't, Jackson"
replied Jones. II taught that one, and he
was just a plain Asatic elephant. The
swinging was comparatively easy - the
hardest part was TO teach him to twist his
tail about the bar and raise himself up
He would have been performing yet II Tat
rival Snowman hadn't CREASED the second
trapeze bar, so that his tail slipped and un-
wound In making his final $40, 900 challenge
flying leap. After that went out to Da-
kota aud began in the real estate business
by founding Jones City and making it the
capital of Tumble Weed county"
jackson Peters did not seem TO be wholly
satisfied. perhaps the bears out there
swung from branch TO branch by their
tails" he suggested in a tone of fine sar-
casm
impossible" answered Jones. 1T was
a prairie country, so there were no trees
and consequently no bears. Besides, bears
have no tails. You show lamentable ig-
norance of both geography and natural his
tory. II was while at Jones City that |
patented my Dakota pumpkin anchor. Be
fore that it was impossible, as you doubt
less know, TO raise this nutritious vegeta-
BILE ia the territory"
mo, didn't know it," returned jackson
Peters. "Why was IL impossblei"
"The vines grew so fast that they wore
the pumpkins all out dragging them along
the ground l sold my patent for 5000
and used the money in booming Jones City
l built two churches aud theater and
started a daily newspaper-the Jones City
Volcanic Eruption. But IL was a severe
blow to the town when IL lost the county
seat. At that time-it was 10 years ago
the Dakota courthouses were kept on
wheels, may almost say. One afternoon
party of men from Jumpersburg crept up,
hitched six mules on my courthouse and
trotted away with il to their own town.
"But / was not discouraged and deter
mined on the boldest stroke ever attempted
in the territory. 1t was nothing more nor
less than to bring the capitol building down
from Bismarck and put 10 In the place OF
my courthouse, thus making Jones City
the capitol of the territory. Fearing that
the old territorial officers might not come,
l hired new set of officials, including a
governor, auditor, judges, attorney general
and so forth, choosing them mostly from
my old county officers, who had been left
behind. Borrowing the courthouse wheels
from Jay Bird county, took my territorial
officers, 80 leading citizens and 10 spans Of
mules and proceeded to Bismarck.
Under cover of darkness we adjusted
the wheels and hitched on the mules Most
of my officials took their places in the sew
eral rooms, and as the level rays Of the ris-
ing sun shot athwart the broad plain, car
peting 1t with cloth Of gold and waking the
songbirds TO melody and the wild flowers
TO prodigality Of fragrance, touched up
the wheel males from the front portico and
we rolled away out of town, with my gov
ernor on the roof blowing tin horn and
servative man, on top of the chimney firing
his revolver In the air and singing Hail Co
lumbia.' IL was noble scene, and one
which lives in my memory, but the effort
was a failure. Gentlemen, left Dakota
without q cent in the world"
Jones rested his cheek In his hand and
looked at the floor.
"But tell us what was the difficulty"
said Robinson.
"Yes, it is no more than right that you
should know. When we were about 10
miles out, my attorney general came to me
and raised a point of law 1t was this:
That Jones City would not become the le-
gal capital Of the territory unless we had
the cellar which belonged under the capitol
building. l gave the reins to my territorial
secretary and directed the attorney general
instantly to bring test case before the dis
trct court then sitting in its chambers on
the first floor. 1t decided that he was right
Then as we ratified along across the prairie
appealed the case TO the supreme court,
on the second floor. 1t confirmed the de-
cision of the lower court. l instantly
stopped, unhitched the mules and went
back after the cellar.
1--WE were all arrested at Bismarck, with
the aid of troops from Fort A. Lincoln, 'or
abduction. 1t appeared that the beggarly
janitor of the capitol was hidden in his
room in the attic, and that we had kid
mapped the scoundrel without knowing 1t.
We got off at the trial, but it cost me
every cent / had. Today the antiquarian
who searches for Jones City finds only the
spreading, trackless plain, with the June
roses looking up saucily for the warm kisses
of the sun, And a sea of prairie lilies bill
lowing itself in long rolling wavS under
the bold caresses of the ardent wind"
No one spoke when Jones stopped, but
all looked at jackson Peters His eyes
were closed as II In sleep, but there was
nervous, half painful expression on his
face, and even the walter when he came in
knew he was not tasleep.-Harper's Weekly.
Higgins Bros.