The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-08-09
WBIsBi WENT THE D<RKDHY1La
An A-touishins Midnight Performances In .
Connecticut Town.

satisfy prudent mon for a lifetime. The town
| and county have not done talking about It yet.
| neither has the press It oil clustered about
| the beautiful. airy, skeleton. crimson painted
bridge which tho town fathers. selectmen Lii
llbridge and Briggs. have Just thrown across q
dark and narrow brlstllne river gorge between
Shetucket street and steep Laurel Hill with
lovely terraced homes in the heart Of the city.
| The river is crowded into an habitually foam
| necked raging torrent at this place. with rocky,
| nr-clad walls. and the steel parabola OF the
| bridge Is thirty feet above its current. 1t is
perious. romantic spot. The fun tho young
| doctors had there at midnight was in the style
OF the Joke that Horatlus Cookies worked of
| on Lars Porsena in the brave days OF old.
The Berlin. Conn. Bridge Company built this
bridge. and they we're long enough about It.
| too, hut that doesn't matter here; the point
| is that this old town is normally black Repub-
| lican. but since Thurston B. Lillibridge and
| Horace A. Briggs. old time Jacksonian Demo-
| Gratis. as honest as Old Hickory" and good as
gold. know how to run Norwich better than
anybody else. ana more frugally. the town has
| insisted on making them its Selectmen for
| & eat many years. Now. then. The town.
while 1t revcres Thurston as first Selectman
and also Horace as second Selectman. and
| frowns on both because they are Democrats.
nevertheless. gritted it's corporate teeth think
| ing OF Thurston and Horace getting all the
| prestige OF Opening" the glistening, red
| painted $50. 900 bridge; and Messrs Lilli-
| bridge and Briggs. who have the largest kind
| of long Yankee heads. chuckled all the time.
| thinking how they were going to gall the old
place with tho grandcst and most glorious sort
| OF coronatnE bridge opening ceremonies.
| Now. the hub Of their whole project was that
| thoy should be the first persons with q team to
ShUeS,Sncket- that's whats called opening q
bridge" in the country so they arranged
,hs aso hays paid Wtehman ohs sTsh
day and night. alao put up impassable bar
rerf to sS nna
and things from Thurston and Horace and the
Messrs. I.illibridGe and Briggs had already
appointed the day Of opening the bridge for;
three open. spanking four-horse carriages OF
Livery man Oliver REYNOLDS; with plumss, and
m%nieip"i fathers S Would roll rrandiy in state
across that bridge in the afternoon in view OF
ths nna Of Se
party: then. having gained the white sleeps
Of Laurel Hill they would no less srandIY n sol
wherein they would wind up the affair with an
ornate swell blowou and banquet and eslat.
and reputable profit OF the Demo cratc party
Of Norwich. FurtheTm9re. to make the thing
threatened to arrest and fine any man who at
tempted to interfere with the forthcoming
ia 81 IT, BY
the bridge roadbed only partly All tlnished and
gaping erevice at tie Laurel Hill end Id OF LINE the
three or four feet wide. beneath which roareed
and curled the black river waters. 1t looks
hrows at the, time. las If these Democratic
little gods had got us; .,,.
the best laid schemes OF mice and men often
somehow fail to connect, The Jolly and e1ult-
thipps furNai ont had counted their PpOllS
without reference to the young doctors. George
r. Harris Nj D. who not long aEo was house Nn
York. and his surgical student. Harry. Knapp
The eventful day approached slowly as such
time on the harred-Ep bridge, the Waterman
there pacing his narrow and dizzy footpnth.
can pottrrs and other notables almost held
their breath at tines on the dfy to
deputy Surgeon knapp, lay low. hut twice
that day they drove iowy nSst the sShstTc s.
nsy It was still an at
and in the nocturnal silence the eowhlde shoes
Of the lonely warder h1 sfs 9G
watchman's acute and limher ear suddenly
caught the clatter Of horses boots in the
and mysteriopsly that in the succeeding half.
convince himself whether 1t was real or
ghostIy whether he had bad attack Eek of Hs th
Two men in souched hats. in a top buggy. its
sn BY TT, sm
the horses bodyappeari ing to be almost straight
and attenuated with the speed Of MS onset;
a whirlwind. bore down on the bridge; With
single mad leap the animal SEA sealed the hari
hurdle jumper and hunter that he is. and the
light. elastic carriage and its silent driver.
STAINING a Ing axes and feoes Then onward with
undimin! shed speed. tackling the dangerous
bs % as sped o
past the speechless and astounded watchman.
straight toward 1hs yawnipE and threatening
Now, then" thought the sentry. with what
little presence Of Keeling mind remained with
this business is all wrath or genuine and
bopy ndy horse man. and top buggy; II the
slumps into the shetucket and goes on to New
then s Harris S hi a S51sS
Weald try t tat pass So 0'neF
bE'ago was stu deeSts fb
tho Top buggy bounded high In q, the ali. air; there
struck the further edge Of the chasm. and the
trusty steed. ,regathering himself with
iy yanked his vehicle and drivers out Of the
abyss Away the whole thing. not much bro
Then n the app p was swallowed up In the
gloom OF that unliEhted region. A..
Ihereupon. with 1ear ana tremonhR; tne
the seeGtmep TIA. either George Harris IRIS and
Berlin bridge or else the devil himself must
have put up the JOB on him NATURALLY ,hn The
company even made futile effort to discover
the identity OF the daredevil midnight drivers;
sion took place nextday on schedule time and
with c9nsiderable pictorial po,nn and gran;
that followed in tho Wauregan House. with
the city and tGTn fathers at theT innocent
a brief but eloquent letter. addressed to the
"Honorable selectmen Of the town OF Nor or
the banqueters because they had not been In
yited to the spread ahd signsd themselyes:
NJ D. who drove the fret team across the new
Laurel Hil bridge In advance OF its cipsnlnE
tho Inevitable, and thereupon despatched a
special pressing ~ inTtrtGn to the bridge
A day or two later DR.; Harris clipped the
steel shoes from Peters hoofs and had them
khnxyn