Morris tribune., 1900-12-01
STORIES THAT GROW
BIG YARNS THAT ARE EVOLVED FROM
SIMPLE INCIDENTS.

SIMPLE INCIDENTS.
Some of the Newspapers Sensations
which Rural England Gets Up to
Puzzle, Astonish or Amuse the Good
People of London.
These are some Of the newspaper
sensations which rural England gets
up to amuse the Londoners:
It was recently announced that a
county council in the midlands had
passed a law forbidding COW racing
and that several other councils all over
the country were following suit. More.
over. it was said that sermons were
preached in scores of pulpifs every
Sunday against the great rural vice of
COW racing and it's effects on the ma
tic. The matter got into the London
papers, and all over the country the
news was Spread. zzsHEs
Everybody asked what was cow rae
ing. 1t was explained that wide
spread custom in country districts es-
pecial1y on Saturdays, was to collect
cows and race them as if they were
horses, each one being ridden BY q
special Jockey, and that grand stands
were erected, betting rings formed and
hundreds Of people attended the races.
Then followed narrowing accounts of
the way the poor cows were ridden to
death and died on the course, and SO
forth. Great establishment reigned ev-
erywhere till it was found the whole
thing originated in a sermon a certain
rector had preached because two farm
hands had chased some cows round a
field and bet on the fastest. Result: A
little ho1nily Oh cruelty and gambling
by the parson, reported badly in a
country paper. The statement grew on
the SNOWFALL principle till it shook all
Britain, and then it died:
It was reported lately that as a doc
tor was driving a friend to a Surrey
village the horse, a fine, big animal
showed signs Of thirst. The doctor
pulled him up at wayside fountain
mile or two from the town, and the
horse drank a good deal of water very
quickly. Suddenly the horse blew up
with terrific. explosion, wrecking the
whole turnout and scattering bits 0
horse, dogcart and passengers all about
the place.
This yarn, which originated locally,
got into the country paper. Thence it
spread over the kingdom, and the
great horse explosion case" became
famous for two or three days, some
scof1ng, others gravely publishing the
cries as to the cause.
The way it began was that otter stop
ping at the trough the horse had fallen
lame and was put up at remote way
side inn. A keeper near the well.
hearing a poacher's gun fired some
where near. hurried to the spot and
found round the well lot Of rubbish,
III reality some broken axletrees and
pieces of horsehide left by gypsies
who had camped there Horror strick-
en-, he rushed to the conclusion given
here, having seen the dogcart stop there
just before, and spread the news. which
reached vast proportions before it was
Shown up.
A fearful announcement came from
a quiet district in Denbighshire that
the Internal regions had found an out
let on lonely moor there and that
from dark and smoking pit, miles
deep, the evil one and his cohort of
fiends had habit of issuing in patches,
arising from the depths to emerge and
deyastate the world. The report, too,
swiftly got into nearly every paper IN
Britain in few days and caused ire
mendous commotion among impress
sionable people. The satanic messen-
gers were said to be Jet black, with
white teeth and flashing eyeballs.
The alarm subsidized when it was
found that a local landowner, having
struck coal on his ground, had kept the
news close, but had quietly sunk a
shaft and started work. importing min
ers from the south. The supposed
black demons were the miners emery
ing after work. The countryside folk,
however. knowing nothing of coal
shafts. were terribly alarmed.
OF two gorrillas which. according to
nearly all the big newspapers and re
ports in the country. were devastating
Scotland, news is still being heard.
This story said that two huge mon
keys. standing seven feet high, wer
prowIing the hills and dales Of Ayr
shire. They killed cattle and fed 0
them, leaving the carcasses aboul
They had slain shepherd. stolen hi
clothes, and one Of them is even nov
roaming the mountains clad in a Mac
gregor kilt and tartan.
The best family catartic is Hoods
r,.1l.