The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1897-11-03
HE LOST THE MATCH.
ENos WAS GREAT, BUT THE OTHER
MAN HAD ArRlck THAT BEAT HIM.

A Contest Between Horn Players Of Rivs
Shows That was Witnessed by tho Cit
gems For Miles Around and Umpired b
= the Mayor OF the Town.
81 suppose, I" said the old circus man
"that the greatest bass horn player tina
ever lived was Enos Stulkinton. III
played the bass horn in our band. Their
have been men with a better lmowledg
of music, perhaps, and some with ,
more finished style, but none that coult
touch him In producing thunder. Hi
playing came to be one of the features
| of the show He was star attraction
where he was known, but to most people
he came as surprise, something more
than they had expected, and they en-.
joyed him all the more on that account.
For instance, at every performance,
before the actual beginning of the show,
we used to give band concert, and Mr..
Stulkinton would begin to. get in his
fine work there. AS the people listened
to his first thunderous 'oomphahsp they
were amazed. But when they heard the
canvas Of the great tent flap in unison
with the blasts of his horn they all
laughed, and thereafter throughout the
performance they all paid close atten-
ton when Enos raised the instrument.
1--WE tried, Of course, always to make
a route for the show that wouldn't con-
fict with anybody else, for there were
plenty of towns that wouldn't stand but
one show at a time. Two would lose
money in them, however good they
might be. But sometimes we ran against
some stubborn man that wouldn't give
way, and then there was nothing to do
but to show and beat him if we could.
"Once, when we struck town with
another show, we learned somehow that
they had a great bass horn player in
their band, and of course we challenged
'em for a contest. And they took up the
challenge very promptly. There wasn't
much time to prepare for it, but we
billed the town in an hour and got per-
mission to put up stand ON the public
square, because 1t was to be free ex-
and that attracted attention.
1.-THE contest was at noon, and of
course the two bands played as accom-
panists of the horn players. And that
made big band concert, and the crowd
was something enormous. The terms
were that each man was to play once,
and then vote Of the people was to be
taken, The man defeated in that round
had right to call for another. If the
man defeated In the first round won the
second, the man who won the first
round had a right to call for a third
round. But the winner of two rounds
BY the vote of the people was to be de-
CARED the winner Of the contest
well, the men in our show bet
every dollar they could rake and scrape
IN Enos, and some of the more gentle
hearted of them thought they were Just
'obbing thetEEeni in the other show. Our
I'D man not only bet all his money, but
le bet the idol Of his heart, the famous
I'D giraffe of our show, against the
'ther show' moth eaten buffalo, and he
vas so dead sure that he threw in Gin
lamon bear to boot.
Our side had the first inning, and |
'ur band showed 'em how to play, and |
hen Enos stood up for his solo, And |
low he did make the thunder! 1t was
complain, compliant as it |
lad never been heard before, and he !
airly carried the people off their feet. i
"Then the other band played tune,
nd their man got up. And there's no /
'se talking, he raised more thunder
han Enos did and set the people
houting |
"Fhen the mayor got up to take the
ote, as he'd agreed to do, and he was
Interested now as much as anybody. |
md the people voted for the other man,
s we expected they would. But we
admit any doubt about the final result,
d. we thought that Enos would I'M
hackle now and break away and make
ne blow Of his life. And he did. We,
Tho had been hearing him for years,
ad never heard him approach what he
id now. It was wonderful. He set the
eople wild, and we thought we had
I'm sure.
But the other mans very first 'oom-
n6Ai Ilduo up ITcllDlt, duu as no W6ub |
4 we knew we were lost, money, gi-
fife, everything. We'd never heard
nything like this before. 1t wasn't just
mple peals of thunder-it was thun-
er factory in full blast and working
18th double force of men. There could
3 only one verdict.
"That afternoon the whole town
ent to the other show and left our big
mt empty. The other people came over
II the animals they'd won before show
me- They wanted to take 'em over
Id walk 'em around in their ring. The
d man had 'em brought out. When
le giraffe realized what had happened,
, wound his neck around the center {
DE and wouldn't bulge. But the old
an finally persuaded him, and over he
ent to be made show of in the other
rcus.
"Enos Stulkinton never blew a bass 9
,rn again. He'd had the opportunity !