The Press., 1896-11-05
AUFe eIseLe's BILLIARD BALLS.
They Were Not ivory or CeIlutoid and
 Were Never Turned.

Were Never Turned.
 "How does 1t come th4t you have rcd, white uld blue billiard b~lls2'' asked tho whip salesman If Rufo EiseIe, who keeps the Brant House ut Sloop Creek,
 "'Tis kinder extraordinary, ain't it?'' said Rufe. But somehow or unoiher Extraordinary things happen down here, You wouldn't Lcl4ove 1t If ] told you that l had them balls afore l had the table. I bought the table for $40 from Bart Greenleaf. and he won it at raffle up to Asbury. That tables wuth plum e25O, and the balls is just gift of na- ture-come by special act of Provi- dence, you might say. You never see balls just liko them before. They ain't t ivory, and they ain't celluloid. If they was celluloid, they wouldn't be here now. They ain't this patent putty con- position that they make cheap pool balls of either. Just what they are l ain t prepared to say, and 'spect that the nature of tho material these were made from is changed from what it was at first
 "I'll tell you how come by 'em, and you'll learn what extraordinary things can happen down hereaways. A year ago the 18th of June there was a party of Brooklyn fellows down here, and they set out for good time. They fetched cards and chips with them and lowed to play poker until o'clock Ill the morning and then go fishing. l sot up with them and took a hand in the game. We were setting at that round table, and it was pushed over in the cor ner between them windows Long about 12 o'clock was mixing drinks for the crowd, when heard thunder and mutterin and sec flashes of lightning I told them fellows they'd better move away from the windows, but they laughed at me.
 "One fellow had been winning right straight along. He had a big pile of chips in front of him, and they was in his way. So he began stacking them up according to color and laid 25 of each kind in stacks side by side on the win dow sill. Meanwhile the storm broke and the lightning played hob around the house. The party got kinder scared and jumped up promptly when l pro- q drink. was just setting out the glasses when there was 8 swish of lightning that turned the whole air blue. I didn't hear any thunder, but see big balls Ot fire dancing round the room, and one of them hit me right on the breast and knocked me down behind the bar. Ev- cry man in the room was hit plumb ill the gizzard with ball of fire and knocked flat. I don't know how long il was before we all come to and took Ou1 drinks, but I do know that the storm had passed. I looked round and was surprised to find that nothing had been hurt. After the fellows all took theil drinks they wanted to play poker again and started for the table. There the fel low that had won most of the chips put up holler about them. He said some body had got .em.
 II didn't b'lieve that possible, and told him that the lightning had prob ably knocked them often the window sill Then he looked on the floor under the table and said, I don't see no chips, but here's billiard ball, and he picked up red ball. Now never had a bill Hard ball in my house before, and thought that he was playing trick on me until one of the other fel lows moved his feet and rolled white ball out or the floor. picked it up and found ii was hot. A minute later Ike Hicks gave whoop and held up blue billiard ball, saying it was the first hp ever seer in his life. Then it come tb us all al once that the;lightning had stSuck then poker chips and melted elm into solit balls. P'raps they ain't quite as regular as some, but they answer al4 our pur poses. "-New York Sun.