The Topeka state journal., 1899-09-14
CLOTHING "DUMMY"
It Furnishes No End of Speculation
For Large Crowd

The circus out in the big tent on the
DOuthitt tract was not the only one IN
Topeka Wednesday afternoon There
was another one IN front OF the estao-
hshment of a Topeka clothing firm,
which, while it did not draw so large a
crowd as the other, was exceedingly
amusing just the same The firm in
question had engaged a young man to
don a fine suit and a light overcoat,
and to pose In the show window as a
mechanical wax dummy. The young
mans face was painted to represent
wax. and his hair was fluffy" If he
could have remained immOvable he
would have attracted no more atten-
ton than the average wax figure, but
this was not the intention of his en-
plOyers. His feet were hidden so that
spectators could not observe their
movements, and at stated intervals he
turned around like an automatOn moved
by clOckwOrk But he did more than
this-he Winked- More than that. his
actions were not quite as regular as an
autOmaton's Near the figure hung
placard on which was, rs it wax or is
it reaI?"
"Hully geei Looky yere.' said one
boOtblack to another soon after the
hgger' was placed on exhibition.
"Aw, come on yere." said the other.
Dat amt nuthin' but wax
Bet yer a cent" said the first gamin.
"Aw, g'lang- XOuse make me tired.
Youse acts like a country bloke''
But, Chimmy, I seen i'm wink"
"Aw, yer dreamin'-"
''Dreamin' uuthin'. Look at i'm
swaller." ExcitedIy.
'Aw. de kids'l t'ink youse never wuz
in town before"
Put up or shut up" said the first
gamin producing. penny from the
depths Of his pocket.
Say, I don't know but wat yer
right, said "Chimmie" looking at the
''fgger'' a little more closely. - e don't
move jest right for wax"
BY this time quite a crowd had gath
cred around the window and were
watching the young man closely, max
ing remarks and noddlng at him.
The young man began to get embar-
rassed.
He stin tried to maintain a CLASSY
stare in his eyes but in spite Of himself
they would try to come down to the
crowd The muscles of his face
twitched-
'Lookyl 1ookyl" yelled one of the
street gamins excitedly, pointing his
finger straight at the "fgger'' and
pressing his face against the window.
This embarrassed the young man still
more and he whirled around with a
clock-Lke movement and turned his
back to the crowd.
Fatal mistakel He had his hands be
hind his back They were not painted
and his fingers twitched.
The bOOtblaCks yelled with delight
Hes de real ting" pronounced
See i'm work his fingers" said an
other.
AA~A ! @GA paint yer A4auOS.
yelled a third.
And the crowd Joined in the merri-
ment-
BY this time the sidewalk was block
AIDED. Among the late arrivals was q
tal girl and her escort. The tall girl
craned her neck to see, and worked her
way towards the window. She was
skeptical about the reality Of the fig
GER and she said so.
After looking a minute her escort
pronounced the ''hgger' flesh and blood
but the girl would not be convinced
They can make wax figures to do
just like that" she declared. 4 got
awfully fooled on them at the Worlds
fair, and you can't fool me any more.
Not much"
All right said her escort Its a
real man. though
No, it isn't persisted the girl It's
wax I'm going to wink at it just to
see what it VIII do
She winked
The effect was magical. The dunn
my evidently had pretty girls wink
at him before, and from a 1ong-fxed
habit he could not refrain from wink
ing his other eye before he thought that
he was dummy. The girl blushed and
hurried of, dragging her escort after
her. while the crowd nearly went wild
with merriment. It was too much for
the ''hgger," and he had to smile, too
Soon after this an old coIored man