The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-05
A TCNNY INCIDENT.

The characteristic o: the travelling meo
TO Josh" each other, is proverbial. Mon
day night half dozen of these jolly
knights of the road. stopping at the Carey.
conspired together 10 celebrate the Fourth
in a manner entirely befitting the occasion.
a collection was taken uD to buy fire
woIks, and being iiberal-hearted always,
large amount WAS collected, and it was
decided unanimously TO invest the whole
amount i'll firecrackcrs. One of the mem
bers was delegated u go up town aud make
the purchase. This was golden opportu-
nifty Tor the rest, and they were quick 10
seize 1t They all left for yarious parts.
al OF which We're unknown 10 the pUr-
cAaser OF the frecrackers. Some went TO
bed, some went up town, some went one
place, and some went another; but they all
went, When the purchaser returned not
one OF his co-conspiratorS could be found.
lie did not understand II, and probably
does not yet He looked around, and Wis
tied several places where he thought they
would most likely lie found, but ali to no
purpose 1t was getting late, about one
o'clock. He made up his mind that An
derson had gone 10 bed. So lie would
wake him up. lie went to the annuncia-
tor to press the button that would ring
the bell In Anderson's room, but instead
OF doing that he pressed the button that
sounded the fire alarm. Oh! heavens
what commotion. Being little bit in
ciined 10 deafness he did not hear the
commoti0n and CHATTER he had caused
Worst of all, he kept his thumb on the
button, and the ADMINISTRATIONS OF the
fire bell was sounding in every room in
the house. In a moment everyone was
wide awake. Some did not know the
meaning of the alarm. Others did. Then
there was a scramble to get dressed, hur-
ried lighting of the gas, a confusion and
scrambling for Clothes rush to some val
uabes. The children began crying, the
women were excited. the men nearly rs
bad. Some men rushed down stairs car
rying their wives, others went down car
rying their children. others went down
like an elephant carrying their trunks,
all went down carrying something. And
still the CHATTER of the bell went OIL. AL
most at the beginning the clerk, who was
momentarily absent from his post, de-
tected with his practised ear, some IN
usual noise up stairs and went be-
hind thin counter, aud was horri-
ritied to find the purchaser of the
frecrackers with his thumb on the fire
ire alarm. What are yop doing? In the
name of heaven. you Will have everybody
scared to DEATH" II want to wake up
Anderson" he replied, not fully under
standing what the clerk said. That's the
fire alarm!" II want to wake up Aude-
SON." MY gracious, You'll wake up the
dead if you don't quit. That's the fire
alarm" "Oh, is it?" OF course all this
happened i'll minute or two, in less time
than it takes to tell it. When the advance
guard of the army of guests arrived at the
foot of the stairs, some in night clothes,
some in day clothes, and some in almost
none at all, the clerk, wild with excite
meut, was able to explain the matter sat
isfactorily, and all returned, very much
Sratiiieu that there was neither fire nor
smoke. Anderson made his escape after
he discovered he was the much-sought for
individual, and the purchaser of the fire
crackers hied himself to bed. The Incl
dent still furnishes amusement for the
half dozen concerned