The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-11-25
HE LOST THE MATCH.
sNos WAS GREAT, BUT THE OTTER
MAN HAD a TRICK THAT SEAT HIM.

rens For Miles Around and umpired by
the Mayor of ~. Town.
Il suppose, " said the old circus man,
"that tho 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 "a
moro finished style, but none that could
touch him in producing thunder. His
playing came 10 he one Of the features
of the show. lie was a star attraction
where ho was known. hut TO most people
he came rs surprise, something more
than they had expected, and they en-
joved him all the more on that account
For instance, nc every performance,
before thoacJual beginning Of the show,
we used 70 give band concert, and Mr.
Stulhinton would begin 10 get in his
fine work there. As the people listened
% his first thunderous 'uomphahs' they
were amazed. But whom they heard tho
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 attcn-
tion when Enos raised the instrument
1--WE tried, Of course always % make
a route for the show that wouldn't con-
fiict with anybody else. for there We're
plenty of towns that wouldn't stand but
one show at a time. Two would lose
money in them. however good they
might be. But sometimes we ran against
some stubborn man that wouldn' I 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
thor band, and of course we challenged
'ein for contest. Aud they took up the
challenge very promptly There wasn't
much time to prepare for il, but we
billed the town in an hour and got per-
mission TO put up stand on the public
square, because ii was TO DC a free ex-
hi1ition. and that attracted attention.
1.-The contest was at noon, and Of
course the two bands played a. 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 10 play once,
ard then vote of the people was TO be
AIKEN The man defeated in that round
had right TO call for another If the
man defeated in the first round won the
second, the man who won the first
round had a right TO call for third
round But the winner of two rounds
by the vote Of the people was to be de-
clired the winner Of the contest.
well, the men III our show bet
every dollar they could rake and scrape
on Enos. and some of the more gentle
hearted Of them thought they We're just
rcbbing 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
other show moth eaten buffalo, and he
was 50 dead sure that he threw III "a Gin
namon bear to boot.
"Our side had the first inning, and
our band showed en- how TO play, and
then Enos stood up for his solo. And
how he did make the thunder! 1t was
complain, complain, compliant as it
had never been heard before, and he
fairly carried the people off their feet
"Thcn the other band played tune,
and their man got up. And there's no
ase talking. he raised more thunder
trnn Enos did and set the people
shouting.
"Then the mayor got up to take the
vote, as he'd agreed TO do, and lac was
interested now as much as anybody.
aud the people voted for the other man,
; as we expected they would. But we
hadn't any doubt about the final result,
for we thought that Enos would un.
shackle now and break away and make
the blow Of his life. And he did. We,
who had been hearing him for years,
lad never heard him approach what hc
did now. 1t was wonderful He set the
people wild, and we thought we had
EN- sure.
"But the other mans very first 'oom
phah 7 made US tremble, and as he went
on we knew we were lost, money, ri
rafTe, everything. We'd never heard
anything like this before. 1t wasn't JUS
simple poals Of thunder-it was thun
aAiI ldtlbll III bAtt0b anu WI NIP
with double force of men. There could
be only one verdict.
"That afternoon the whole tow
went 20 the other show and left our biz
tent empty. The other people came ovcl
for the animals they d won before show
time. They wanted to take 'om ovei
and walk EN- around in their ring Tn,
old man had 'em brought out. Wher
the giraffe realized what had happened
; he wound his neck around the centel
/ pole and wouldn't bulge. But the oil,
man finally persuaded him, and over Ia
> went to be made show Of in the othe,
circus.
Z "Euos Stulkinton never blew "A has
horn again. He'd had the opportunit,
Of his life, had missed it and he hadn
( the heart After that he always blew ,
baritone.
For my own part, always though
: there was trick in il. Don't you know
there are things that look fair anc
square on the face of them that you fee
certain, all the same, are Off, in som,
J way. Well. | knew there was sometime