The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-12-31
CHAIR WARMERS ROUTED.
A LESSON FOR MEN VAC TALKED
HORSE TOO MUCH.
The sitters In the once Of Livery Stable
Kept by q Nervous Man. the Possimistie
Youth and the Can OF Powder All
in Combination Caused n Sensation.


in Combination Caused n Sensation.
"Onco in my salad days" said the man from
up the Statc. I lived at Dorp a number Of whose
citizens used to gathe Il Of cold winters day
in the office Of livery stable which was kept by
q nervous man The once was small and yory
stufy nevertheless II was always kept as hot
as a swcatbox in winter There was large
old fashioned stove with bulging body In he
middle Of the once and often when it'grow too
hot even for the seasoned chair warmers the stove
door was thrown open, offering glowing mark
for tho tobacco eaters Now, I used 70 like
to drop In at the Office myself once In while,
but the crowd there used to bore me with their
talk about the wonderful performances Of he
skates they owned. One day con ooved the
brilliant idea of giving this crowd Of chairwarm-
crs a scare which would make them forget for
the time about the horses they owned. 1
lay in bed that night thinking out the details
Of the scheme and IL hours before I got 70
sleep. The next morning sought out my friend.
Whistler who was mighty hunter and whe
owned all the tappngs Of a hrstclass Nimrod.
lie. too. had often been driven 10 drink by the
conversation Of the chair warmers and his eyes
glistencd when laid the details Of tho plot be-
for him He agreed without hesitation to aid me
and we fixed on that afternoon for pulling toR
the score
AT about o'clock strolled into thoSofics
Of the livery stable. II was very cold aitornoon
and the chair warmers wcro there In forcn. The
air In tho place was fling and through the
open door Of tho stove could be seen an almost
white hot fire. Shortly after I arrived con.
triv"d by much pushing, IowdnE and grumb-
ling TO get q seat directly opposite the door OF
the stove. When I took of my gloves slyly
reached into my coat pocket and took out about
q half.ounce Of gun.powder No ono noticed
my action and held the powder concealed In the
palm1of my hand. l pretended To bel vary much
down in the mouth and managed at intervals to
get in a few remarks about the futilty oflife u
wanted them 10 believe that didn't caro- much
whether school kept not
a short while after. Whistler came IN. He
had on his hunting clothes and he'd a biz pow
der can in his hand. He said that tho powder
was Of new brand and that he had Just bought
a pound Of II for trial from his friend. Hydebar.
let me look at IT," ! said reaching over for
II with my unoccupied hand The owner Of
the stable looked at the can and began to hdget
in his chair
For cd sake. be careful. boys' he exclaimed.
You never can tell when that damned stuff 10
going or
! "'oh that's all right old man replied 4
guess know a thing or two about handling pow
der Turning TO whistler asked him II the
stuff was any good
"oh, guess so. he answered. carelessly. Any
way there's enough in that can 10 blow UP this
whole building
by this time The chairwarmers had quit talking
about their skates, and all were looking uncasdly
at the powder The owner OF the stable was
jumping up and down in his chair like speckied
! hen. had the reputation Of being more OF less
reckless, and my pcssimistic remarks when frst
came in seemed to have made deep i'm preston on
him. l could tell by his actions that he feared
was going to do some thing startling.
I'D he nm md AI a.
par, Of It's contents into my hand: Then threw
the loose powder which had been holding into tho
crs nearly fell out Of their seats As for the ner-
yous liveryman, why, he was on the verge Of heart
| TO have care with the powder. whisuer. too
| pretended 10 he frigheued. and cautioned me
stood up and, putting on as gloomy a look as I
could muster. l addressed the crowd something
well, you are . fine lot Of towards. You
when little powder blazed up in the stove make
for me, am pretty tired OF the game and | would
as soon croaI now any other time. While we,
are at We might as well all light out at the same
While was talking all the chairwarmers e1-
! They looked at me with horror in their eyes, but
| not one Of them made move TO escape Tho
liyeryman Jumped toward me and seized my arm
For Gods sake man, what is The matter with
nS m snas to Blow hs building
up. lrcplied, and before he could stop me hurled
the powder can into the stove Was there
been there to see It My descriptive power fails
me when get 10 that part Of the tale. can get
| up 10 the evacuation Of the Office but when come
TO that par, have 10 acknowledge that my vc-
when the can went into the stove the chairwarmer:
bounded TO their feet and all shot for the door
man ieil on the ioor and the others trampled over
his body, They all reached the door at about the
in 'front.' bee anne wcdeed in and those behind fought
like wildcats 60 climb over them One man, who
to ,ns nI ,S awsE rom the s,IGg
taking the sash along on his shoulders He
gathered He managed To make them under
stove Of the livery once and that tie building was
about to be blown TO atoms
cecdcd in getting out Of the stable and they ran
about in various directions spreading the news
story travelled about with the rapidly Of an
electric message Men and women began to pour
h Mss and a s' ss
pended. although the crowd kept at what was
sEnsdeIed Ia safe dIs nn from the building
chairwarmers and we watched the after perform
anee from the window OF a hotel nearby,
why the building did no, blow up Il the end
'h Wlrls minutes lnrS grew DoiucI ana stdrtoQ
10 crowd closer to the structure The lyerymaN
came running up with long pole in his hand
and n lane was opened 10 let him through. I
forget 10 tell you that the stove door faced the
window Well. the siabekeeper approached csu-
tiously with a hundred men at his heels and.
thrusting the pole through the opening made
BY lhe mlga, o, INC rmSrweIme e. began to nsh
10 believe that the whole thing was fake because
every once and while one Of them would coll
out suddenly Look out" and the livcryman
would drop the pole and shin across the street
After this performance had been repeated four
| or 1--WE timea Whistler went out 10 a plumbers
and borrowed a pair Of gas tongs Then he ran
TO the stable and. entering the Office, lifted the
can out Of the stove lie carried II out into tho
street and deposited il in the gutter. whcSeat
there was u cheer. paid for the damage 10 tho
! window AMI also bought wet goods for the chair
warmers when they finally gathered again.
| why didn't the powder cSpl ode? Simply be-
cause there wasn't any powder in the can, 10
was filed with sand" - m 49,