Morris tribune., 1898-06-22
ENIGMA OF THE RUNAWAY.
Its Start Mystery, Tts Course Confusion
Its Right OF Way Undisputed.

Its Right OF Way Undisputed.
The runaway" is always an in
cident. The city man never be-
comes Indifferent to it. The coun-
tryman is always on the lookout for
it. 1t is the one thing which can
distract the attention that has been
fixed upon burning building. It
can break up the stateliest process
sion that ever moved. It can also
make the face Of a motorman OF car
driver or teamster, even though
he be a hackman, turn white.
Whenever you see it or hear of it,
it is the same old Interchangeable in
cident. It has an element Of uncer-
tainty which makes it fascinating.
When the winds blow, and the seas
roll, and the storm RACES, and the
building is in flames, you can guess
at the result. You don't know; you
can't conceive the outcome Of run
away.
There comes a time in the life of
ever horseman when he has no in
fuence over the animal he has fos-
tered and petted and Dragged about
This time is when the horse con-
cludes, provided the horse reasons,
to go as he pleases. Pedigree, sta
BILE, outfit, attention or lack of at
tention enter not into the runaway
business. The animal, the "slats"
of which require no X ray scrutiny,
and about which a generation has
capered, and on which the gadfiies
of many summers have squatted and
sucked, will in a moment when
peace is brooding over all creation
break up the quietude by plunging
and running and scurrying like a
Chinese devil down the street or up
or around the corner. The more
cumbersome the vehicle in the rear
of a runaway horse the greater his
speed; the more crowded the thor
oughfare the more zigzag the course
of the animal, with nostrils distend-
ed and ears laid back. He is never
in line with the conveyance. It is
always at geographical variance
with his tail.
There is something unexplainable
in the rapidity with which the news
of a runaway travels and the effect
upon persons in the houses on the
line of it. Start a runaway from
tie intersection of Twenty third
street and Sixth avenue, and people
at the corner of Twenty third street
and Fifth avenue will be on the
lookout for it in two seconds, and
teams and urchins and dogs will be
getting out of the way. A man who
has made study of runaways said
to Sun reporter:
81 was in one of the biggest retail
houses on Sixth avenue, shopping,
when the salesman, to my asonish-
ment, asked me if the runaway of
a few minutes previous had done
any damage. Iasked him how he
knew there was a runaway. He
said he heard it and that he saw it.
And when ] questioned him he told
me he had missed making a sale in
order to see the runaway and said it
was the first one he had seen since
he had come to New York. It SEEM
ed to timber him UP. He kept talk
ing about it as long as traded and
said as ! was leaving he supposed 1t
would be in the papers.
And the runaway item has a good
show for place, generally speaking.
There is no rule for it, but you will
notice that it usually comes next to
the advertising. A man who has
been on the make up of a morning
newspaper many years said he could
tell runaway item in type with his
eyes shut, and he always found
room for it. A peculiar thing about
this item is that it rarely has a gen.
esis. The man who first tells Of it,
the policeman who makes q report
of it and the reporter who writes it
seldom enlighten the readers as to.
the cause of the runaway. The par
agraph usually says the horse start
ed from certain point, but not Of
ten does it tell what started him.
This is not the reporters fault. He
simply doesn't know. Nobody
knows. New York Sun.