The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-10
A PECULIAR MIsHAP.
Unfortunate Experience of Fat
Man With MousctruD


From the New Orleans Times Deuocrat)
Talk about your peculiar mishaps. ="
said young man employed in one of the
! railroad offices in St. Charles, something
happened at our boarding house the other
night that / think is entitled to first
| money. One Of our dodgers is very fat
| man. who has a job as bookkeeper in a
wholesale house near the river. He is al
| most as tall lying down as he is standing
up, and, with such pauneh is rather
slow in getting around but for all that
he is perfect bundle Of nerves and the
most excitable man ever knew in my life
Well. he has room directly under mine,
and lately we have all been bothered more
or less by mice. The landlady declared
war on them. and for light artillery she
bought lot of small wire traps--those
dome shaped affairs with holes around the
top for the beasts to stick their heads into
The servant put one in each room, and a
few evenings ago. when she was going
around batting the lot. was careless enough
to leave the fat mans standing on top of
his dresser. He happened to be out at
tending singing. society that night, and
didn't get home until about a. m. His
room was pitch dark. but he knew there
were some matches on the dresser, and
moving cautiously across the floor. he be-
the first plunge he made he stuck his fat
forefnger into one of the apertures of the
mousetrap. and the thing snapped down
on him like the Jaws of bulldog
Now. imagine. II you cam continued
the railroad clerk. "how you would feel
yourself If you were prowling around in a
dark room and some unknown monster sud
denly nailed you by the finger and hung
on. 1 am free to say would probably
have howled just as loudly as the fat man
did. He supposed of course that the thing
that had hold of him was alive, and when
he tried TO knock it off his hand encoun-
tered the corpses of two mice that had
been caught in the other holes before he
came in. The touch OF their soft, furry
bodies confirmed the idea that II was a
living creature. and it was then. as he ex-
planned afterward. that he tried to escape
to the hall. and got tangled up with the
furniture. How he came to demolish so
many different things in such short time
is a mystery. but you know how easy it is
to bump into all the articles in dark
room under the most ordinary cIrcum-
stances. and fat man with a mousse
trap hanging to MS finger would naturally
be great deal more destructive. Anyhow.
it was that first below of mortal terror
that awakened me, and the next thing I
heard was succession of frightfuI crashes
mixed up with the noise of breaking glass
shutting feet. torn cloth, falling furniture.
and ten-ply profanity. l could have sworn
that my neighbor was having a fight with
at least eight burglars. and. needless to
say. the whole house was up in moment.
OF course nobody was anxious to go in and
get murdered while that awful row was in
progress, but presently it died down. and
when we pushed open the door we found the
bookkeeper sitting in the middle of the
room, totally collapsed with the mousetrap
still hanging to his finger and the floor
Uttered with the wreck Of all his belong
ings. A ffty-pound lyddite shell couldn't
have produced a more picturesque ruin.
Ever since then desperate argument has
been in progress as to who is responsible
for the damages. The landlady declares
the fat man will have to pay for the smash
ed furniture, ard he swears by the nine gods
he won't give up cent. On the contrary, |
he wants remuneration for his lacerated |
finger. the shock CT his nerves. and the |
suit Of clothes ruined in the battle. I |
wouldn't be surprised if the case got into |
the courts with the mousetrap as 'Ex- |
hibit A."