The Meeker herald., 1896-08-15
JOE WAS "pesrRRep...'
DsAa's KAov nsv Ne Got o.s Il -
Noy shouss.

DeAnst KAoW New Ne Got 0as o4 eAo
wesshosse =,
J0e was . stablenan who supported
afamily and thrived on q salary Of Is
. week. says an exchange. Besides be-
ing good man in his profession. he
was Of immense Importance In the eyes
Of the small boys in the neighborhood.
In the summer evenings, when work
was finished. he would sit under the
stnnted peach tree and play on the
accordion and sing. His ghost stories
were marvels of fiction, and it was q
constant source of wonder to the boys
how he could whistle "The Fatal Mar
riage" in his peculiar way. He was
black. Dat they were his friends. The
gentleman who employed Joe sold his
horses and the stableman was conse-
quently deprived of an occupation. He,
had received warning of the contem-
plated change and had endeAvored to
secure another place, but without sue
cess. When Saturday evening came
Joe was handed IS and he started to-
ward his home near the dump to give
the money to the "ole woman" as was
his custom. But he did not reach home
that night He was intercepted by
drunken crowd and in the fight which
ensued several policemen appeared and
arrested half q dozen of the partici-
pants. Joe was among the number.
did not see him for several days, and
when chanced to meet him inquired
as to the outcome Of the arrest.
"Did yo' know was run in? Well.
dat's kerrec'. suttenly was run in.
Well. twas like dis. got my IS on
dat Sat'day night, an was a-gwine
home. an when got down by Casey's
grocery dat gang down dere. Red
Leary's gang. dey jumped on me, an
dey was fight. l suttenly did fight.
Dere amt no mistake about dat. but
I amt a-gwine to begin a fight agin
six men at oncet- While we was a.
hghtin' de police come down on US and
co.ch nearly ev'y one, an I was one
Of EN-. Den dey loaded us into ue
hurry-up wagon and took us to de sta
ton house an locked us up. I toll 'em
dat 1t wasn't right fer me to be locked
up. but dey KEEP me all night, an II 10
mornin' all OF US was took downtown In
de van.
I'VE was took into de police cot sn'
One Of de policemen tol' de Judge all
about 1t. an said was a-hghtin'. Den
de Judge asked mo If was a-hghtin'.
an said yes. but dat dey began 1t.
Den de tedge-he's dat one what had
de VIII Bill whiskers-he said 1t was
an dat he would make 1t only IS or
fifteen days. He asked me IL l had
IS an said l did. He said dat was
all right, to pay 1t an l could go.
But said: No, sub; wants to go
to de workhouse.' He seemed to think
that was kinder strange. but he said II
changed my mind l could pay de IS
an git out any time wanted to. Yo'
see, what l thought was like this.
had been lookin' for work for two
weeks an couldn't git any, an dey
wasn't any money at home, SO thought
Al,Anl yuo 80
ole woman, kase II got out might
not fnd any work, an she wouldn't
have no money.
"Well, I went down to de workhouse
an got into my striped clo'es an dey
put de chain on my laig. stayed
dere half day an den somebody come
an said: Git outen here, an took de
chain off. Den dey give me back my
street clo'es an I went away. was
mighty glad to git out. but l was con-
siderable pestered how done 1t.
when l went home my wife was
dere an had dinner ready for me. l
asked her If she got de money all right
an she said yes. she did. Den I toll
her how l was sent to de workhouse
an how l got out an how was pes
tered kase 1 didn't know how got
out.
Den she laughed an said: Well,
yo's de foolishest black Niger dat
ever see. What yo' spose was a.
gwine to do wild dat $5?'"