The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1895-10-16
Followers Of Ananias.


Oae of the latest productions of the
restless Tenderloin district Is an
Anlnias Club. The club m .ets at one
OF the larger uptown hotels whenever
the usual clique gets together. Asmay
b. jalge1 fro n the nams, the orr Iniza-
tioa l. oa< PLEDGED 70 the display OF
mInifest uutrutis. The club Is com
pIritively n y OrglnisLtioI. bat th-
stories thai have been told at some OF
its sessions show plainly that many Of
the members were eligible for admission
To such an organization long before the
club was formed. To join the club n
man must be an ingenious liar. Tales
of travel, scientific discoveries and
stories of historical research pre-
dominate. Woe TO the man who
springs a story that does not smack of
originality Lately the meetings have
assumed sort OF progressive euehre
appearance. The club had a leather
medal struck Off which was presented
to the champion liar. The medal bore
ON its facea stamped reproduction of
Ananias' features. While il may not
have been a good likeness, the fl ielity
feature was vouched for by "a member
of the Organization who blandly con-
fessed to have a profile Of Ananias,
done in petrified sall, and handel down
To him through history hy succeeding
generations.
Some Of the stories told are worth re-
peating. At recent session held in
the cafe of the Hotal Brunswick there
was full attendance. The man who
wore the medal was at one time a judge
of the United States Federal Court and
a noted traveller. He was telling a
st )ry a follows:
"S1me tiTle ago | was travelling in
S1uth America. | stopped at "a hotel
in one OF the inland cities, and as |
wanted to rise early asked the land
lord 10 have me wakened at O'Clock
| i'm the morning | asked him if he
had an alarm clock. He startled me
by saying that he did nO,, bat that he
had lot of rattlesnakes trained to
wake people. All you had to do was
to lie down and at the designated hour
| the snake let loose his rattle and kept
it up until you wakened. It struck me
as an odd arrangement, but | said that
if it was all right | would stand L.
Accordingly, he put a snake in my
room, and after the newneSs of the
thing wore of / fell asleep was
wakened about 3 o'clock by great
racket in the room. Through the dim
light | could make out a struggle that
was taking place in the room, but L
could only discern one man. When
made the situation out clearly / found
that a native thief had entered my
room. The snake had Immediately
c,iled itself around his throat aud was
slowly strIngling him, while il violent
Iy rang its rattle for the police
\ dead silence settled over the little
group. None but brave man would
have ventured TO open his mouth after
that There was one, however, that
did dare all his narrative was - fol-
lows:
Two years ago when visited my
home on the farm in Vermont ! drop
ped my gold watch and chain on the
grass. Before / had time to pick II up
a calf playing in the yard licked il up
and swallowed IT, Last week / was
home again and the calf, now grown To
COW, was 10 be killed. l had Il
gruIse against il for the loss of my
hIndsJme gold watch and went out
- see the execution. In cutting up
the COW, after the killing, the watch
was found. Imagine my surprise
when / found that il was perfectly
intact, running all right and correct
within few seconds. An investigation
revealed the fact that in swallowing
the watch the animal had allowed il
To become fastened between its lungs,
Ii was - fixed that caeh time the
animal breathed, the watch being "A
stem winder, the knob got a twitch and
this kept il continually wound, while
the natural grease from the animal
kept it well oiled and preserved"
There was another dead silence.
Then slowly the juise unpinned the
medal from his breast and without
word handed it to the last speaker
| Ne,r York Tribune.