The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-18
HIS INHuMAN REVENGE.
But the UncOuth Young Man Was
Mad Clear Through.

| poses.
! Mr.. Bibb was perhaps Isl employed as
a clerk in GabhetSs One Price Grocery
Emporium. He was at the time OF this in
cident al least, little used to the ways of
The world, and extremely bashful. When
he had been in Gabbett's employ about two
months, he one night drew his weekly sal
airy, sufficient, If not monumental, sum
of $3.50.
There's your money" said the genial
/ Gabbett, with a praiseworthy effort to les
sen the gulf between capital and labor
there's your wad. You 'atn't earned it,
| but l s'pose I've got to give 1t to you.
Don't so and blow it in, like burned jack
/ ass"
mo, sir" returned the young man, tuck
ing it into his inside pocket
! Indeed. there was little apparent call for
this kindly advice from the good Mr.. Cab
bett, since Lafayette was a thrifty youth,
and had deposited s. in the Kokomo Dime
Savings Bank every week since he had
! been in town.
But Gabbett may have had a prophetic
vision of things to come. Lafayette did not
that night pay his board and HE himself
TO the bank with the customary 81 In an
evil moment he allowed himself to be led
| away by the gaud worldly pleasure. He de-
termined TO visit fair being given by the
ladies of the Episcopal Church In Proth-
! myers hall, directly over Gabbetts store.
He had never attended church fair. but
for two evenings, while industrlously
sprinkling the brown sugar at the store, as
directed by the sterling Mr.. Gabbett, on
the ground of danger from spontaneous
| combustion, he had heard the enticing
tramp and trip of many feet above his
| head, and he now determined to see for
himself, especially as admission was free
and all were invited. Alas, he had not yet
III,
that to free admission there is the inevita-
| Bile string!
Lafayette Bibb accordingly dressed him
self in his best check suit, brushed his hat
and started out his weeks wages IN his
! inside pocAel, but with a quarter in a
more convenient pocket for spending
money. He was somewhat nervous al tho
prospect Of being precipitated among SO
many strangers, but went on bravely, Only
feeling slight misgivings as he passed the
| Dime Savings Bank. He stilled his con-
science, however, with the thought that
| he would make the deposit in the morn
| ing, little knowing, guileless youth, What
| was in store for. him.
| AS he stepped into the hall the young
lady at the tidy booth whispered to the
one at the pen-wiper stall, There's Cab
belts delivery wagon man.
81 know him.. replied che other; eve
1
and he brought us CASTLE soap"
mo matter returned the other; wen
make him buy something"
| The next moment Lafayette heard a be.
| witching swish and iutter behind him,
and on turning round met the divnest
| creature he had ever seen, all frills and
smiles.
Good morning, Mr.. Bibb. I'm so glad
you came. Won't you buy a tidy?I and she
tn0k hiS arm and him WaV
Butswhy stagger further with this chap
ter of horrors? Let this suffice: At Il
O'Clock Lafayette Bibb went DOWN the
stairs without / cent in his pockets. AT
his room he slammed an armful of tides,
pen-wipers, hat-bands, book-marks, pin-
cushions and other outrages in the cor
ner, and threw himself heavily on the
bed.
It was a feverish night for the young
man, and he slept little. But when he
rose early in the morning there was
strange fire in his eye. AS he pulled on
his hat he Kissed the one word, Re
venge!" and rushed away to the store
without waiting for breakfast. He re-
membered that among the other things
kept in stock by his CHEEKY employer were
mouse-traps. They We're not the kind into
which the unfortunate mouse inserts his
head through a small hole, only to have
his wind shut off by wire, but the sort
into which the creature is lured bodily
but from which he cannot escape; admis-
sion, in short, is free, and all are invited
but
What Lafayette did was Immediately TO
take every mouse trap in stock and set
them down the cellar. The place was over
run with mice and by nightfan he had
an even three dozen. When closing time
came he said to Gabbett: II think, sir,
I'll stay and just wet down that sugar
once more. notice it is heating again"
well, you better" answered Gabbett
encouragingly. Time you done something
sides loaf round and bust things"
AS soon as Gabbett was gone, Lafayette
put a soap box on the top of the molasses
barrel, and a mackerel-kit on top of that
and climbed up with an inch augur lie
then bored hole through the ceiling If
the store and the floor of the hall above
His eye was good, and the hole came out
where 1t was concealed by the tidy-coun-
ter. He then inserted the pasteboard tube
in which had come Gaobetfs copy OF
that weeks Sand: A Journal for Grocers
Descending, he waited for the hour 10
ripen, and made a nutritious meal on
dried apples, cove oysters and waterproof
ginger-sEaps.
At $3.50 the sounds showed that the fair
was in full blast. He shuddered as he
thought Of the dark deeds being done
there, but his courage did not fail him.
Taking basket containing the loaded
mouse traps. he climbed up onto the mack
erel kit He selected trap charged with
six mice, opened the cover and quickly
pressed it over the hoe In the ceiling. The
mice passed up the tube. The low, deadly
hum of the fair continued Cold it be pos
sible that his plan had failed? Was all
lost? No; there came a piercing sdream.
He pressed another trap TO the hold with
beating heart. There was a volley Of
screams Trap after trap he applied to
the opening The screams became deaf
enlng, but the brave youth spared not, nor
stayed his hand till the last mouse had
gone aloft. He could hear the people
tumoling over one another down the stairs
as he slipped out the back door and ran
home.
The local historians Of the affair close
with the statement that the mice stamped
ed the last young lady and broke up the
fair. "Bibb was arrested. but was dis
charged" they add, significantly, which. Of
course is but another way Of saying that
the courts OF Kokomo are still in the hands
OF the men. but the movement started by
an enthusiast 10 give a gold medal TO La
fayette Bib the money 10 be raised from
ao,or,or ffo warIra If the nb,rch e.t..