Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1900-12-18
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The ExDeFieAces OF IN American
Baron Manchausen8 Who onlncted
II = F1oarishinE Trade I'm This Coun.-
"A Try as ]. Prof ssional yandal. "
1 May i ask what line 81 business you
were engaged in at that time? n said one
I OF group Of guests in the Grunewald
corridor. addressing dapper little gem
tleman who had Just narrated rather
remarkable story OF adventure. IN ~
q = Ny occupation was never officially
classified. replied the little man, smi.
ingly, "but I suppose ! might have been
termed a professional vandalism expert
.defacer OF public and private property"
4 A what r" exclaimed the questioner In
amazement: and, in response to q general
demand, the dapper stranger proceeded
/ to explain himself more fully 3ss
II can best make the matter clear,
said he, ..by telling you briefly how ]
came to invent the business. In the sum.
mer OF 1892 / happened to be in a certain
large northern city. out Of work and bad.
" in need Of money. One Of the local
merchants was flooding the place at the
time with all sorts OF advertisements for
a new So shoe, which was then a trade
novelty, and seeing his announcements
at every hand / conceived a bright idea
In front Of magnificent public library,
which was the pride Of the city. was q
statue OF Shakespeare seated in q chail
with his dogs crossed. He twas supposed
to be in an attitude of reelection. but he
was also inthe attitude OF a man trying
OH q new pair Of shoes What will you
give me- / asked the enterDlising ner-
chant. If ! put one of your So shoes on
Shakespeare's raised foot, another in his
hand and banner ON his shoulder pro.
claiming the merits Of the goods?' IN
give you $780, he whispered, but no
guarantee against iynclling. I took the
contract, and next morning the whole
city was aghast at what the newspapers
called a ,fendish Dissertation OF a noble
work of art OF course the. merchant
promptly denied all knowledge of the af-
fair, and the exploit was generally at.
tributed to larking college students, but
enormous crowds gathered around the
statue, the papers discussed the outrage
BY the column, and incidentally the new
s. shoe received an advertisement Of in
calculable value. 49,.
my scheme, in few words" contin.
ued the dapper man, twas to put up ad.
vertisements in strange, unexpected and
forbidden places, and the row that inva-
riably ensued gave my patrons species
of publicity that was absolutely unique
They could always stand from under by
simply denying connection with the at
fair. and it was then certain to be set
down to unknown practical jokers. In
such business it was, Of course, impos-
sible to lay down any fixed, rules. The
work in each case depended entirely upon
circumstances. .s%aalei + - -. ".lH.
"You may remember. for example, the
terrific uproar that was occasioned by
the mysterious appearance of q baking
powder nd. on the marble foored ro-
tunda Of the statehouse in one Of the
north Atlantic capitals. The. facts, as
afterward developed by the senate in-
vestigating committee, We're very strange
Ind puzzling- The rotunda had been
freshly scrubbed, it seemed, by an old
! Irishman, who had done q particularly
neat and thorough job, and dozens Of
people who passed through Il during the
next two days testified that the marble
was absolutely stainless On the third
morning however, curious dark spots
began to appear. and soon resolved them
selves into letters. They grew blacker
and blacker, and by noon the baking
powder ad. doomed out in all it's glory, rs
feet long and 8 feet wide. To cap the
climax it was found that the discoloration
extended into the marble fully an eighth
Of an inch and later on cost the state
nearly $1,000 to have it removed BY
sand blast. The matter has since been
arranged with the authorities, so don't
mind telling you that while the innocent
old 1rishman was scrubbing the hall he
quietly traced the letters in Il colorless
solution Of nitrate Of silver. That chem
!ical, as you probably know. becomes
black after being exposed to the light
for a2certain length of time. The identity
of the honest scrubber will leave you
to imagine. - .-..'.
e ""Another coup that attracted wide at
stention at the time was the inexplicable
presence of so foot streamer flying
from the pinnacle of one Of the tallest
church spires in the United States and
bearing the name Of a well known pat
ent medicine. 1t was discovered one bit
ter cold morning in January and created
profound Amusement, for the'temperature
stood at 5 degrees below zero that days
and it was manifestly impossible for any
human being to have scaled the sleet
coated spire. The congregation was f1ri-
Gus, but it was impossible to get the
thing down until the following spring,
and it remained a standing ad. for near
.ly 100 days." &s.2'~s: .s.',}43s5 r
".The explanation of this singular oc-
currence was absurdly simple" the dap
per stranger went on, twisting his little
straw colored mustache. GU see, every
body had forgotten about a humble stee-
pie jack who had assembled the spire
away back in the preceding April to re-
gid the metal work at the tip. This stee-
pie jack carried with him under his
blouse q tightly rolled streamer and
small wooden box. He attached both to
the side; Of the pinnacle and fastened
down the streamer with a bit Of wire
which passed through q hole in the box.
Inside the latter was some simple
mechanism operated on the thermostat
principle and so adjusted that when the
mercury in small thermometer fell to
5 degrees below zeroFit formed an electric
connection and released the wire. After