The evening times., 1898-04-16
PIE DID IT AND THEN SOUP.
Waterloo OF a Champion Eater Prom
Wisconsin.

Nrom the New York SUM-
/ Speaking OF dinners" said one of
! the younger members of the party as
/ cigars were being lighted. did you see
\ the meal that someone proposed TO eat
| in last Sundays Sum. Ii ran to some
/ thing over 500 medium sized Rocka-
/ ways. four pumpkin pies. and four
| pints Of ale. the pies and ale to be dis
posed Of in two minutes. What do you
| think Of it?"
/ The major puffed at his cigar for a
/ minute. took il out Of his mouth and
watched the smoke till it cOllided with
the ceiling. Then he replied:
1T would have been a mere midday
lunch TO a man / once knew. IL you
care TO hear about il / will tell you
| was travelling through Canada at the
time and found myself at Ottawa. 1t
was in the Spring and the city was full
| of lumbermen and the river full Of
logs. / was looking at the falls one
day when tall. lank specimen who
! looked as though he had recently been
in partnership with the worst of luck.
slOuched up to me and said:
Perhaps, you couldn't lend me a
dollar, stranger
IF he had asked for half a dollar
should probably have handed it over,
So
Not for me- he answered.
Il looked at him closely. / have said
he seemed to be down on his luck. You
could see his toes through his shoes.
and his clothes were just as good as his
shoes. In a chafng way 1 asked him
what he would do with a dollar if ]
gave him one.
e Get something to eat he said.
why, hang it, man. said 1. you
don't mean to tell me you can't get
something to eat for less than a dollar?
- Not for me- he answered.
He had said that before. The ex-
preston and the way he uttered il
made me curious. for the fellows man
ner was of the dead and alive order
So l said:
What do you mean by saying not
for me?'
We'll it's this way. boss he re-
piled. I've been numbering all winter
and spent all my money before We come
out of the woods. I'm broke
oh, WELL / interrupted, II you
gambled 1t away that's your own look
out and you set no dollar from me-
But 1 didn't gamble it away, he said.
L don't play cards nor games of chance
except one
And what's that? / asked.
Eatin',' he replied.
Now, / don't suppose any of you
fellows could have guessed what he
meant" The party shook it's collec-
tive head in the negative. We'll, con-
tinued the major, Il confess it puzzled
me and ! asked him to explain. Ii
came out that until the autumn he had
been champion eater. He was born
in Wisconsin, he said, and after he had
eaten all the antagonists he could find
in his native State into a condition of
abject poverty he moved on to the next
State travelling eastward all the time.
He admitted to me it would have been
better for him if he had taken any other
direction, but of course, he didn't know
that at the time. In three years he ate
his way from Wisconsin to Maine. He
won all his matches. There was one
edible he had never tackled He met
il in Maine and it came near finishing
him.
He struck Bangor one day and let it
be known in a modest way that he
could eat any man in the State out of
house and home. Four or five days
passed. and he was beginning to get
tired of Bangor, as his hotel bills were
too large for small fortune to stand.
So he threw out the suggestion that as
Maine seemed to be rather bare of able
bodied eaters. he would back himself
at the rate of two to one. They are a
smooth people, the citizens of Maine,
and had been waiting for The odds.
The moment he offered them they
were taken up by the hotelkeeper on
behalf of an unknown. The match
was for $3.50 apiece, and the weapons
weren't to be named until the day of
the fray That was fixed for the fol-
lowing Saturday. Saturday came and
so did the unknown. He didn't look
much like an eater, my man said He
was loose -jointed, and his clothes didn't
fit him too closely, but he wasn't as tall
as the challenger by six inches.
What's the weapons?' asked Wis
consin.
Pumpkin pies said the other fel-
low.
My man has never seen a pump
kin pie. It's difficult to imagine a more
dangerous weapon when taken in large
doses There was a small but inter-
ested company TO witness the en-
counter. The man from Maine cut his
pies into quarters. He devoured quar-
ter in three bites. He was an adept,
because he had been brought up on
pies In Maine they eat pie for break
fast dinner and supper, and in be-
tween meals. They would probably
eat il at luncheon If they had such an
They Stand the Tes-"