The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-11-12
HE LOST THE MATCH.
gNos WAS GREAT. BUT THE OTHER
MAN HAD A TRICK THAT BEAT HIM.

A Contest nstwesa Horn Pisyers og Rival
shows That Was witassssd By the Citi-
sens For Miles Around and Umpirsd By
the Mayor q the Town.
II suppose, 1" mid 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 .
more finished style. but none that could
touch him in producing thunder. His
playing came 20 be one Of the features
Of the show. He was star attraction
where he Was known, but TO most people
he came asa 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 'oomphahs' 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
I'VE 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 . time Two would lose
money in them, however good they
might be. But sometimes we ran against
some stubborn man that wouldn { 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 q contest. Aud 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 IL was to be free ex-
hibition, and that attracted attention.
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. II the
man defeated in the first round won the
second, the man who won the first
round had a right to call for q 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
lother shows moth eaten buffalo, and he
was 70 dead sure that he threw in cin-
namon bear to boot
"Our side had the first inning, and
our band showed 'em how to phy, and
then Enos stood mp for his solo. And
how he did make the thunder! It was
'oomphah, complain, oomphahv rs II
had never been heard before, and be
fairly carried the people on their feet.
"Then the other band played q tune.
and their man got up And there's nc
are talking. he raised more thunder
THAI Enos lid and set the people
shouting
"Then the mayor got mp to take the
vote, as he'd agreed to do. and he was
interested now ~ much as anybody.
And the people voted for the other man,
a. We expected they would. But we
hadn't any doubt about the final result,
for We Thought that Enos would un.
shacklc 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. Il was wonderful. He set the
people wild, and we thought we had
'em sure.
"But the other mans very first 'oom
phah 4 made US tremble, and ~ he went
ON we knew We were lost, money, 81
rafYe, everything. We'd never heard
anything like this before. II wasn't JUS
; simple peals Of thunder-it was . thun
der factory in full blast and working
with double force Of men. There coult
be only one verdict.
THAT afternoon the whole towI
went to the other show and left our BIZ
tent empty. The other people came ovel
for the animals they'd won before show
} time. They wanted to take EN- owe
and walk 'em around In their ring. Thu
! old man had EN- brought out Whe'
the giraffe realized what had happened
he wound his neck around the cente
pole and wouldn't bulge. But the oil
man finally persuaded him, and over h
> went 70 be made show Of in the othe
I circus.
: "Enos Stulkinton never blew . has
: horn again. He'd had the opportunit.
Q Of his life, had missed il and he hadn'
the heart After that he always blew
{ baritone
. For my own part. always though
4 thar ~vos = trick In IL ron'k vou knoVsy