Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1900-08-03
MAN AND MOUSE TRAP.
wreckare Made by m Exciting En-.
counter Between Them In
Dark Room.

Ialk about your peculiar m1shaps,
said n young man to n New Orleans
Times-Democrat reporter, something
happened to our clearinghouse the
other night that think is entitled to
first money. One of our lodgers is O
very fat man, who has n job as book
keeper in n Wholesale house near the
river. Well, he has room directly un.
der mine, and lately we have all beer
bothered more or less by mice. The
landlady declared war on them, and
for light artillery she bought n lot
of small wire traps - those dome
shaped affairs with holes around the
top for the beasts 20 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. IL.
happened to be out attending sing
ing society that night and didn't get
home until about one n. IN. His room
was pitch dark, but he knew there
were some matches on the dresser
and, moving cautiously across the
floor, he began paving around for the
box. At about the first plunge he
made he stuck his fat forefinger into
one of the apertures of the mouse.
trap, and the thing snapped on him
like the jaws of bulldog.
"Now, imagine il you can," con.
tinued the railroad clerk, 'how you
would feel yourself il you were prowl.
ing around in a dark room and some
unknown monster suddenly nailed you
by the finger and hung on. i am free
to say / would probably have howled
just MS loudly as the fat man did. He
supposed, Of course, that the thing
that held him was alive, and when
he tried to knock 1t off his hand en-
countered 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 1t was n living creature
and 1t was then, us he explained after
ward, that he tried, to escape to the
hall, and got tangled up with the fur
niture.
"How he came to demolish so many
different things in such n short space
of time is mystery, but you know
how easy 1t is to bump into all the
articles in dark room under the
most ordinary circumstances, and G
fat man with mouse-trap hanging
to his finger would naturally be G
great deal more destructive. Any
how, 1t was that first below of morta
terror that awakened me, and the
next thing ! heard was succession
Of frightful crashes mixed with the
noise of breaking glass, shutting feet
torn cloth, falling furniture and ten
ply profanity. i could have sworr
with at least eight burglars, and
needless to say, the whole house was
up in u moment. OF course nobody
was anxious to go in and get mur
dered while that awful row was il
progress, but presently 1t died out
and when we pushed open the door we
found the bookkeeper sitting in the
middle of the room, totally collapsed
with the mouse-trap still hanging tc
his finger and the floor Uttered with
The wreck of all his belongings.
"a 50-pound lyddite shell couldn''
have produced more picturesque
ruin. Ever since then n desperate ar
gument has been In progress as t.
who is responsible for the damages
The landlady declares the fat mar
will have to pas for the smashed fur
niture, and he swears by the nin'
gods he won't give up cent, On thu
contrary, he wants remuneration fol
his lacerated finger, the shock of hi
nerves, and the suit of clothes ruined
In the battle. wouldn't be surprised
II the case got into the courts will
the mouse-trap as Exhibit A."
AProposnI 10 Married Ladies.
EDITOR JOURNAL:
Please announce that we are sending
postpaid and free of charge, an elegan
sterling silver-plated sugar shell, sucl
as we sell regularly at 40c each, U
every married lady in the Unitet
States who writes for 1t. There !
nothing to pay. The gift is absolute
Each lady will send her own name only
as this is too valuable gift to send l.
persons who don't ask for it themselves
We give choice of any Of our 40
designs, and will send illustration
from which selection may be made
Our object Is to advertise Quaker Val
ley silverware. We believe that tn
most effective way OF doing this is I
get samples into the homes OF tn
people. Ladies, please write to-day
State that it Is your first request 70
one OF our souvenir gifts. Quake
Valley Mfg. Co., Morgan and Harriso
Ste. Chicago. IN