Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1897-12-09
! KICKING In SINNEMAHONE,
NOTHING LIKE THAT FEVER EITHER
BEFORE OR SINCE.
if any of you on this side


esssessssoesesaseseessesee
hTWONDER if any of you on this side
the mountain remember the
strange ailment that visited us folks on
the other side when 1 was a young
man?" said the man from over SHINE
mahoning way. "A strange ailment ii
was indeed. Sort of an uncomfortable
arrangement of the muscular tissues
of the leg, the doctors called it, but IL
was known as the kicking fever of the
Sinnemahone. l wonder if any of you
remember it?"
Maturity, it amt likely that any
| body does" said the man in the red,
blue, green, pink, yellow and purple
Mackinaw jacket, but any fever that
ever got mixed up with folks on the
| Sinnemahone an didn't kick must
been of setch mild an forgivin' dis
position as to make il sham5 70 feed
quinine to IT,"
Thanks, Mackinaw," said the man
from over Sinnemahoning way. Your
gentle humor goes far toward dissipat-
| ing n certain sadness and tendency TO
abstraction and fit of the blues that
| always assail me when think of that
kicking fever of the Sinnemahone. and
| thank YOU! When I see the fertile
acres of the Jephenah Biffllins estate
spreading along the Sinnemahoning's
classic bottom and think how they
would now all be mine but for that
kicking fever I am prone to sadness.
| But you've knocked 'em silly this time,
Mackinaw.
"Yes, yes. Those rich Jepheniah
| Biffklns acres would now be mine but
for that kicking fever that came to the
| Sinnemahone country. These acres
then belonged to Deacon Judd Peeler,
and the deacon's daughter Nancy had
promised to be my wife, and Nancy was
heir TO all the wide Peeler estate. So
when I think-but let that pass. It Is
| all over now.
"Wherever that most singular all
| ment could. have come from no one ever
knew, but II certainly cut wide swath
| along the Sinnemahone. Twas off down
| the river when il began it's attack, and
| consequently I didn't know anything
about it until got back home a couple
Of weeks later. The first person 1t struck
was Uncle Billy Tope. Uncle Billy was
mild and easy-going citizen that no
one would have thought had any life
| in him at all, and he was n strict tee
totaler. Consequently you may imagine
| the astonishment OF Squire Bunker,
| who owned the sawmill where Uncle
| Billy worked, to see the old man COM
| ing up the road one day, giving tre-
| mendous kick every two or three steps
| he took ,sometices to the right and some
| times to the left. as if he might have
started out to kick all creation into the
| middle of next week. Squire Bunker
was scared. and he edged Off to one side
of the road as Uncle Billy came along,
| kicking and scuffing and looking as
wild az an Indian. The squire venture6
| TO say as the old man was cavorting by:
"What's up, William?
"Uncle Billy only shook his head, and
| giving kick that didn't miss the
squire's jaw by more than half an inch,
went on his way toward home, kicking
as he went.
'Astounding!' exclaimed the squire.
Il never thought I'd live long enough
to see Uncle Billy Tope turn out to be
drinker!'
Then the squire started for home.
He hadn't gone hundred yards before
| he began to feel little mulish himself.
and the first thing he knew he was
kicking away as unreasonably as Uncle
Billy. He couldn't stop IL any more
than he could have stopped his mill race
with n three-inch plug. The squire
didn't have for to go, and before he
could reach out and open his door he
had kicked It open with a bang. and his
wife came running out OF the kitchen to
see what was the matter.
"'Clear the way, mother' the squire
| hollered. Give me roomi Don't get In
my way or I'll make widower OF my
self at one swoopl'
"The squire's wife, scared almost to
| death, locked herself up In a closet. and
| the squire kicked his way out Of the
back door and brought up in the gars>n,
where he yelled for some one to come
and tie him down, or else turn him Into
tcn-acre lot where he could have room.
"And that's the way that most unac-
countable kicking fever started along
| the Sinnemahone. In less than n week
| IL had taken n whack Mt almost every
man, woman and child in that baili-
wick. The kicking was only the pre-
monitory symptom Of the fever. After
tie victim had kicked high and kicked
| low, and to the windward and to the
| leeward, for half an hour or so, the At
would pass away but IL would come
back again after awhile. The kicking
stage of the epidemic lasted two days,
and then the second stnge came on.
This was n scorching fever. Sam Betts
when he got over his attack, declared
that his fever was so hot that his wife
had TO keep the sheets wet TO prevent
their catching fire, but Sam wasn't
native of the Sinnemahoning country
He was from this side of the mountain
somewhere, and folks didn't believe
him. The fever lasted day, and left
behind IL consuming longing for
something to d-.nk-not water nor
coffee nor tea nor milk, but rum, rye,
apple juice, anything that had tooth
and edge to II. This strange symptom
| Of the mnlady was discovered In n start
| ling way Dominic Dibble was the first
| victim that IL developed in. One even
ing while half dozen or his flock were
| mingling their sorrow with the domin.
| les over his afflction he suddenly
shouted:
| "'Give me ruml Fetch me SOM,
scorching rye or biting gin'
"The brethren aud sisters were
| shocked, but Dominic Dibble kept OF
| hollerlng for rum. No one made move
| to get him any. and ut last he sprang out
| OF his chair. rushed out OF the house
and madc straight for the tavern like n
man running to IA fire. BY and by he
came back singing:
"TIomc again. home again.
| From n foreign shore
| ale had bottle OF rum under his
! arm. and the brethren and sisters hur-
ried home, feeling that the end OF all
4 things couldn't he far away. When IL
| got out, though, that the dominic was
! simply suffering from the third stage OF
the kicking fever, they excused him ana
| reioIced. But the dominic always de-
! clnrcd that he never had such pleasing
| nntidote for pain. Then Il began To be
| notiasd thnt this last peculiar stnge OF
| fhe ailment seemed to have no regular
period OF existence, and II Is noted as a
| fact thnt the afflicted district wasn't
entirely able 10 be out md around an