, 1897-11-09
HE LOST THE MATCH
eNOS WAS GREAT, BUT THE OTHER
MAN HAD TRICK THAT BEAT HIM.

A Contest Between Horn Players of Rival
Shows That Wa Witnessed by the Citi-
Gems For Miles Around and Umpired by
the Mayor of the Town.
II suppose" said the old circus man.
THAT the greatest bass horn player that
eve lived was Enus StulkintOn. He
played the bass horn i'll our band. There
have been men with Il better knowledge
of music, perhaps. and some with u
more finished style, but none that could
touch him III producing thunder. His
playing came to l." II of the features
of the show. II" was Il star attraction
where he was known. hut omOst people
he cam" as Il surprise. something more
than they had CXpr"trd, and they en-
luycd him all the more on that account
For instance, ut every performance,
before the actual beginning of the show,
we used to give Il band concert, and Mr..
Stulkinton would begin to get in his
fine work there. As the people listened
to his first thuudcrOuS 'oumphahS!' they
We're amazed. But when they heard tho
canvas of the great ,cnt flap in unison
with the blasts of his horn they all
laughed. and thereafter throughout the
performance they all paid close attcn-
ton when Lnos raised the instrument.
I'VE tried, of course, always to make
a route for the show that wouldn't con-
tliCt with anybody else. for there were
plenty of towns that wouldn't stand but
one show at Il time. Two would lose
money i'll them, however good they
might be. But sometimes W. 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.
''Oncc, when we struck IL town with
another show. we learned somehow that
they had Il great bass horn player in
their band. and of course we challenged
EN- for Il contest. And they took up tho
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 Il stand on the public
square, because it was to be Il free cx-
hibition. and that attracted attention.
"Thc contest was at noon. and of
course the two bands played as accom-
panists of the horn players. And that
made Il big band concert, and the crowd
waS something enormous. The terms
were that each man was to play once,
and then 4 vote of the people was to be
taken. The man defeated i'll that round
mad Il right to call Tor another. II the
man uclcl''d III thc lrst ROUND won inc
second me man VINO won inc hrst
rouEd had Il right to call for Il third
ro"'''' but III" Wlin'r Oh Two ROUNDS
by the vote OF the people was TO be de-
cla'cn me winner OF 'he contest.
wen, inc men Ill our snow het
every COLLAR me could rake ana scrapc
Oh Eh"s' ana some OF the more gentle
hearted "i them II they were Just
robbiiiS the men III the othrr SHOW Our
old nan not only BET all ms money but
ne bct the ldol OF MS hciirt' tlc Famous
Old gran" OF our show, against the
othc" SHOW Smot eaten builAlp' ana ne
was ~ oeid sure that he threw III Il CHI
halllnl hrar I" BOOT.
Cur SIDE had the Nrst inning, ana
our band showed en- how to play, and
then Enos stood up Tor his solo. Ana
how he dld make the thunder! 1t was
'oomphah, complain. compliant. as 1t
~ ~
lalrly carrie" t!ie pc"ll" OH tiiclf leet'
lhCll the othcr 1tlld played Il uhe
and their man got up. And there $ no
use aikln" ne raised more thunder
than Enos did ana set the people
shouting,
Linen the mayor got up 10 take the
vote, as he ii agreed To ITO, ana he was
interested now as much as anybody.
And the people voted for tn" other man,
as we expected they would. But we
hadn't any doubt about the 1lnal result,
for we thought that EnuS would I'M
shacklc now ana break away ana make
the blow Of his life. And h" dld. we,
who had been hearing him for years,
had never heard him approach what he
did now. 1t was wonderful. lie set the
people Wild, and we Thought we ma"
EN- sure,
But the other mans very first DOM
phah = made us trcmblr. and as he Went
on we knew We wur" lost, money, 81
raffe, everything. Wed never heard
anything like this before. 1t wasn't Just
simple pcals Of thund"r-lt was Il thun-
der factory i'll full blast and working
with aduublc force of men. There could
be only one verdict.
THAT afternoon the who'll town
ven to the other show and left our big
tent empty. The other people came over
for the animals they'd wUn before show
time. They wanted to take EN- over
and walk 'em around i'll their ring. h
ii $685.. hal ',. ,,,l out tNI,,,