Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1897-11-13
HE LOST THE MATCH.
ENoS WAS GREAT. BUT THE OTHER
MAN HAD A TRICK THAT BEAT finn.

the Mayor Of the Town.
81 suppose, Z said the old circus man,
that the greatest bass horn player that
ever lived was Encs Stulkinton. He
played the bsss horn ia our band There
have been men with better knowledge
Of music, perhaps, and some with a
more finished style, but none that could
touch him III producing thunder. His
playing came TO be one of the features
of the show. He was a 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
before the actual beginning Of the show,
we used TO give a band concert, and Mr..
StulkinNon would begin to get in his
fine work there AS the people listened
to his first thunderous 'oomphahsr they
were amazed. But when they heard the
canvas of the great tent flap III 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
We tried, of course, always to make
a route for the show that wouldn't con-
fiict with anybody else, for there were
plenty Of towns that wouldnt 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 great bass horn player in
their band, and of course we challenged
em for contest. Aud they took up the
challenge very promptly. There WASH 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 it was to be a free ex-
hibition, and that attracted attention.
1.-THE contest was at noon, and of
course the two bands played as accom-
ipanists 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. Ii 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-
clared the winner of the contest.
Well, the men III our show bet
every dollar they could rake and scrape
ON Enos and some of the more gentle
hearted of them thought they were just
robbing the men in the other show. Our
old man not only bet all his money, but
he bet the idol of his heart. the famous
old giraffe of our show, against the
other show S moth eaten buffalo, and he
was so dead sure that he threw i'll Gin
namon bear to boot.
"Our side had the first inning, and
our band showed EN- how to play, and
then Enos stood up for his solo. And
how he did make the thunderl 1t was
'oomphah, complain, compliant as it
had never been heard before, and he
fairly carried the people off their feet
"Then the other band played tune,
and their man got up And there's no
use talking, he raised more thunder
than Enos did and set the people
shouting.
'tThen the mayor got up to take the
vote, as he'd agreed to do, and he was
interested now as much as anybody
And the people voted for the other man,
as we expected they would But we
hadn't any doubt about the final result,
for we thought that Enos would I'M
shackle now and break away and make
the blow of his life. And he did. We,
who had been hearing him for years,
had never heard him approach what he
did now 1t was wonderful. He set the
people wild, and we thought we had
'em sure.
but the other mans very first 'oom-
phah ! made us tremble, and as he went
ON we knew we were lost money, gil
raffe, everything. We'd never heard
anything like this before. 1t wasn't just
simple peals of thunder--it was thun-
der factory in full blast and working
with double force of men. There could
be only one verdict.
"That afternoon the whole town
went to the other show and left our big
tent empty. The other people came over
for the animals they'd won before show
time They wanted to take EN- over
and walk 'em around in their ring The
old man had 'em brought out. When
the giraffe realized what had happened,
he wound his neck around the center
pole and wouldn't bulge. But the old
man finally persuaded him, and over he
went to be made show of in the other
circus.
"Enos Stulkinton never blew bass
horn again. He'd had the opportunity
of his life, had missed it and he hadn't
the heart. After that he always blew
baritone.
"For my own part, always thought
there was trick in it. Don't You know,
there are things that look fair and
square on the face of them that you feel
certain, all the same, are off, in some
way. Well. knew there was something
wrong about that man s bass horn play
ing, and years afterward | heard what
it was. He had bellows attached to
the horn, with a hole in the side Of the
horn for the nozzle of the bellows, and