Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1900-08-24
INDIAN SCARED HIM.
But; THE CONGRESSMAN WAS NERvY
AND SHOWED FIGHT.

BUT THE CONGRESSMAN WAS Merry
AND SHOWED FIGHT.
/ Whereby He Afforded Lot Of
! Amusement to the Red Mans Back
ers, Who Soon. However, Found 1t
Convenient to Leave Town.
From time immemorial it has been q
fad with American college freshmen to
appropriate everything that strikes their
fancy; from cigar lighters to barber shop
poles, while out on 4rolic says the New
York Mail and Express. These SPOTS
are used ,1ter in the mural decorations Of
the collegians' rooms. In recent years,
however, the students of the better
known colleges have largely abandoned
this practice, but the custom still exists.
A New York hotel man who formerly
conducted a large house in Washington
tells an amusing story on a congressman
from one of the western states.
! It seems that the gentleman from the
west returned from a gathering of con.
vivial souls at Chamberlins one evening
and on retiring to bed in rather a foggy
state of mind neglected to lock his door
Shortly after the congressman reached
the hotel large number of collegians
who were stopping overnight in the house
trooped into the lobby, fresh from an
evening spent in celebrating a football
victory.
Now, it is an accepted psychological:
fact among hotel men that a collegian in
the flush of an athletic victory is about
as gentle as the proverbial bull in china
shop, and so when the mob CT hilarious,
ribbon bedecked youths gathered around
the desk and attempted to insert humor
Gus biographies of their college professors
in the hotel register the night clerk sim
ply smiled patiently and hoped they
would get sleepy. He did not see two
muscular young fellows. separate from
the rest and steal out into the street nor
in the general disorder did he notice them
return almost Immediately and slip up
stairs bearing between them an object re-
sembling vaguely All unconscious man.
Had he been in position whence an I'M
| obstructed view of the two might have
been had he would have noted that the
seemingly unconscious man was in reali-
ty an Indian cigar sign holding threaten
ingly in his uplifted hand an immense
wooden tomahawk.
Shortly after the disappearance of the
two men with the Indian the crowd
around the night clerk babe him an up
roarious farewell and surged up the
| stairs.
| Ten minutes later the clerk was quietly
congratulating himself on being rid of the
collegians, without disturbing the entire
hotel. when a series Of blood curdling
yells that sounded much like Indian war.
wnoops reused him from his self congrat.
ulatory mood.
! "Kill rat pale facet" cried one voice.
| "Big chief take scalp!" yelled another.
| "Fat pale face got no scalp. Baldhead-
ed" shouted third.
| "Then cut off his headw shrieked the
second.
And then pandemonium broke forth.
| As the night clerk rushed up the stairs
he recognized the voice Of the western
congressman. 'Murder!'' he shrieked.
| Indians, devils, police!'
On reaching the second floor, where
the congressman's room was located, he
found the corridor rapidly filling up with
excited patrons in their nightdresses. He
! rushed straight to the room and burst IL
! the door.
| On the floor lay the representative lock.
ed in death struggle with a wooden
cigar sign. He gripped the arm Of the
! Indian which held the tomahawk. Appar-
emily the wooden 'brave" was attempt
ing to deliver death blow. AS often as
! his exhausted breath would permit the
congressman shouted for help. Grouped
about the scene of conflict were the yell.
Ing, excited collegians, Urging both con-
| testants to their best.
The clerk, with the aid of number of
patrons, shouldered his way through the
! mob of students and rescued the con-
gresham who was on the point Of giving
up the unequal struggle.
The next morning the congressman
! went out and bought a revolver, but on
his return the birds had been warned and
| fed on an early train. Before leaving,
| however, one Of them told the clerk how
they, had started the struggle.
"When we brought the aborigine in the
| hotel, we intended standing him in front
Of an old maids room on the third floor,
but on reaching the second landing some
| one heard the congressman's shores and
tried his door. 1t was unlocked. That
settled everything. Some one suggested
| that we throw the Indian into bed with
! the congressman, but as that might have
resulted in heart failure we stood the no.
bic red man at the head Of the bed, with
his tomahawk Immediately over the
sleeper's head. Then we woke the latter
| with few original remarks, which you
| probably heard down stairs. There was
no necessity for any action on our part.
We simply stood around and laid wagers
! on the result. By the way, who do you
think had the better of the argument?
have couple of bets on the congress-
man"
The clerk thought that it was draw.
| "Well, tell him for me that he's the
most natural born Indian fighter east Of
the Rocky mountains. Goodby. Be up
to see you again next fall"
But when the same crowd applied for
apartments year afterward they were
told that there wasn't an empty room In