The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1897-10-19
HE LOST THE MATCH.
ENOS WAS GREAT, BUT THE OTHER
MAN HAD A TRICK THAT BEAT HIM.

A Contest Between Horn Players of Rival
Shows That Was Witnessed by the Citi-
zens For Miles Around and Umpired by
the Mayor of the Town.
''I suppose, - said the old circus man,
"that the greatest bass horn player that
ever lived was Enos Stulkinton. He
played the bass horn in 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 in producing thunder. His
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.
eve tried, of course, always to make
route for the show that wouldn't con-
flict 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 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 it was to be free ex-
hibition, and that attracted attention.
LILO OOAUO0O was dO lOOA3 dIlu VI
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-
clared the winner of the contest.
well, the men in 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 in Gin
namon bear to boot.
"Our side had the first inning, and
our band showed 'em how to play, and
then Enos stood up for his solo And
how he did make the thunderi It was
complain, 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
''Then 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 7 made us tremble, and as he went
on we knew we were lost, money, gi-
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 'em 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 a 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 a
baritone
''For my own part, always thought
there was a 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 mans bass horn play
ing, and years afterward | heard what
it was. He had bellows attached to
the horn, with hole in the side of the
horn for the nozzle Of the bellows, and
the bellows inside his clothes out Of
sight, and rod running down to a
treadle under his foot. He REINFORCED
his own blowing with blasts from this
bellows, and, of course, the man didn' t
live that could stand up against him
1--WE told Enos about this, but it was
too late He'd lost his ambition and
was satisfied now to play second fiddle,
though he might still have been cham
pion. New York Sun.