Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1900-03-29
AN UNFORTUNATE SKUNK.
in a Tin Can and Cleverly Cap
tured by Woman.

"Of the funny things that come up
now and then in the rural towns on my
route think the funniest N my expert
ence was the way a skunk made the peo-
pie of Lake View in Maine hustle them
selves a year or two ago." said COM
mercial traveller. Lake View is a lit
tie settlement in the woods on the main
line of the Bangor and Aroostook rail-
road, and was waiting over train
there on the chance of selling bill of
goods. was in the biggest store and
had the storekeeper pretty well in
hand; five minutes more and he would
have been hypnotized to the point of a
$500 order, at least, when a fellow loaf
ing on the platform outside the door
sung out:
Jerusalem crickets! What's that
that's come ter town.? Then he stuck
his frowsy head inside the door and
called: Jess look here, fellers. Every
body come! 1 want ter show you a sight
ter beat n circusi'
Every lounger in the store and the
clerks started for the door, and the
owner was not long behind them. The
spell that l had been weaving about
him went 10 pieces Ike a soap bubble,
and there was nothing better for me to
do than accompany him to see what the
excitement was. It was a skunk that
had raised the commotion. Now it is
nothing unusual for a skunk, or even
larger animals from the woods, to stray
into & Maine village; but this one, be-
fore he showed himself, had been nos
ing round the houses and had got his
head fast in an empty condensed-milk
can. Ills head was completely extin-
guished to point back of his ears, but
he had found his way into the street
and now was wandering about, mad all
through, and wholly unable 10 get his
bearings. All hands kept out Of HIS way,
and every man shut his doors and tied
up his dog, for they know all about
skunks in Lake View.
1T was the tin can over the skunk's
head that made the trouble. But for
that over his eyes he could have been
'shooed' out of town and thus have been
got rid of on the easiest terms. To kill
him within the village limits was not to
be thought of, for, like blind Samson
among the Philistines, he would in his
dying have worked a revenge thai
would be remembered in Lake View for
many day. As it was, he stopped ali
business in the town for half an hour or
more. while he meandered around with
everybody making way for him.
"All this performance was interest
ing, and TO an outsider, with nothing at
risk, was very funny in its episodes.
But the next train was due within the
hour, and it was plain that so long as
that skunk was at large a man could
not have bought jaelel1nife OF pound
of tea in the town with the cash in his
hand, to say nothing of getting an or
der for goods, so prayed with the rest
for deliverance. There was advice
enough on tap of ways and means for
dealing with the skunk; 1 think every
body present, myself included, pro-
posed some plan, but the trouble was
that no proposer would volunteer to put
his idea into execution. 1t was a woman
who at last solved the problem, and re-
stored confidence in the community.
She appeared upon the scene with an
empty -four barrel, and, laying it upoz
the ground in front of the skunk, be
walked into the open end. Then, tilt
ing the barrel upright, the open end up |
ward, she held him q safe and harmless |
prisoner. Two young men took the bar
rel down to the lake and drowned the |
skunk. and Lake View was saved. I |
missed my order, but the object lesson
gained in woman's courage and re-
source in emergency was well worth the
commission l lost through the affair"
N. Y. sun.