Evening star., 1896-01-04
STEER IN A BARBER SHOP.
Wrecks thu Place and Incidentally y
Spoils Mr.. Quinn's Shave.

Wrecks tn. Place and Incidentally
SpDfls Mr.. Quinn's Shave.
From the San Francisco Examiner.
The proximity of the Butchertown cat
tie corrals to the barber shop Of Marvel
NJ. Ovellar induced an incident yesterday
that could scarcely have occurred under
less incongruous conditioEs, even in the
neighborhood as wild and woolly as the
slaughter house vicinity Of the Potrero. 1t
was the occasion of Samuel Quinns
Thanksgiving shave. Mr.. Quinn had seat
ed himself in Monsieur Ovellar's only chair.
| The lather was on his face and the razor
was at his throat. The barber discoursed
on topics timely and cheering-the latest
forecast of the weather; the rattle at Ca
sey's corner: the twins that came to the
home of O'Rourke in the night-current
gossip of the reservation that required no
counter comment save in the intervals of
Stropping and sponging.
The front door was open. The odor OF
bilge freighted the chill breezes. Kentucky
street was deserted. A brooding calm lay
upon the scene and the soul Of Samuel
| Quinn was at peace. The drone Of the
| waves lap the shores of severed Islais. en-
couraged sleep. and Quinn verged upon
sleep. The right side of the Quinn face had
| been shaved. The hand Of Ovellar was
raised to lift the head of Quinn to another
posture, when a terrific shadow darkened
| the door of the shop.
No time for explanations, no thought of
useless warning. no effort at senseless
heroism-the barber could only gasp his
terror, fling down his razor and drop to the
floor.
Mr.. Quiz n opened his eyes. opened them
wide and stared straight into the blazing
| wrath of maddened steer. the widest of
the herd. Erect. furious. paving the
| threshold of that fated shop. the beast
| surveyed the situation-gazed in rage at
| Quinn as he leaped from the chair and fell
beneath it. lowered his horned crest to
lunge at the creeping. cringing barber, and
proceeded to business
| With a leap that would have won ap-
plause at hurdle race the steer involved
Kentucky street barber shop. His horns
caught the chandelier and 1t was ripped
out by the roots; one blow from the mas
| sive front smashed the mirror and scat
tered the pomade pots; another sent chairs
and cuspidors and shaving mugs flying in
| every direction; a flank movement over
| turned the chair beneath which Quinn lay
| in wait for sudden death; and, finally,
with mighty effort and a snort like the
| bursting Of a sewer pipe. the steer planted
his fcrefeet upon a handicapped table,
and throwing his head backward tore great
gashes with his horns In the ceiling.
| By this time the animal had made one
circuit Of the little shop and was facing
the door through which he had so uncere-
moniously entered He looked out over the
unpicturesque landscape, across which the
| terror stricken barber was footing 1t feat1y.
The lashing Of his tail was a constant re-
minder to Quinn bereath the chair Of a
peril that environed and would not be re-
| moved. But the steer thought only Of es-
| cape, and presently.with hoarse sigh that
sounded to Quinn like the last breath of a
and plunged cut into the big. wide world,
to be lariated and harried and corraled by
the pursuing vaqueros.
Then Quinn crawled out Of the wreck of