Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1902-11-12
MISTAKE or
MURPHY'S DOG
The Yochuck MANS: Story az the
4 Drowned Lands Tork1e. :


by persisting in saying he comes
F. from over toward Pochuck, arrived the
other day at the Rowland house
. charged with even aslarger load of con.
fidence in himself than usual, and there
was perceptible self-reproach in his
manner as he remarked to Badly, the
landlord: ,l... w..
II ought to have been here before
with this news from Pochuck, I know,
= cause it's somethin' amazin', but I've
had to git here between rains, and
that's made times for travelin' ding
swizzled short and fe,sfor quite spell
back, as you mowt a. noticed. You
been expectin' me, o.course?"
Badly. the landlord. said no, it WASH t
quite as bad as that. j..
'Good! Then I hain't been disap-
p'intin' you'll" said the man of the al
legged Pochuck domicile, sitting down
with cheerful smile. "That lifts load
off O. my mind bigger'n the price O.
coaN I hain't never disappointed no.
body yit, and it'd jest hook me in with
sorrow to begin a-doin' of it now. And
some O the news from Pochuck that
I'm stuffed with this trip is that all
the signs says that the weather's goin'
to settle, and we're goin' to have an
open winter.
jest mark that down on your slate,
along with the ruin fgger for. about
five fingers O. Jersey ginger till come
in ag'in, SOS you won't fergit it,"
IAN open winter!' And five fingers
of the Jersey ginger. Five'n be plen-
ty. The weather's goin' to settle, and
we're goin' to have an open winter!"
Badly, the landlord, said he'd stand
for the open winter, all right, and he
was glad the weather was going to
settlc. But he said he didn't believe
the weather would go so far as to set
tie for the five fingers of Jersey. That
would be cash, he said.
The Pochuck citizen shook his head
and said something about the people
being all wrong in charging the trusts
with putting the necessaries of life be-
You'd their reach, when anybody with
half an eye ought to see that it was
the spread of the No Trust sentiment
that was doin' of it; then he cracked
the middle finger of his left hand and
the thumb on his right and said:
Eyes, sir; an open winter. That's
good news, O. course. And there's more
news than that. Murphy's bulldog
made the mistake of his life, and the
amazin' Drownded Lands snappin'
torkle is dead. Deader'n marble slabs,
and it's hard blow to Aunt Sally
Beckendarter.
"Uncle David is takin' on consider BILE
about it, too, and Murphy is madder'n
wildcats. Murphy's bulldog had grit,
all right, though, but he ought a.
knowed that amazin' Drownded Lands
snappin' torkle better.
Eyes, yes. I've got quite wad O.
news this trip. Quite wad. But the
dyin' O. that amazin' snappin' torkle
sort O. bows me down. Spot cash, you
think, il the best you could do as to
little fve-fngers deal in Jersey gin
ger2"
Badly, the landlord, said he thought
it was. The Pochuck citizen cracked
his other thumb, and said:
1--WE don't know exactly jest how old
that snappin' torkle was, but the fig
gers he carried on his undersheu, cut
good and deep, was 1901, B. c. but he
must "a been a good deal older than
that yet, because
Hold on!" exclaimed Badly the
landlord, rising quickly to his feet and
lifting up his hands, while Terry, the
Scotch-Irish terrier, stood ready to
take hand in if the proceedings be-
came strenuous. "Any snapPin' turtle
with pedigree datin' back to 1901, b.
c., is plenty old enough. If you've got
one older than that you must go some
where else to talk about him!"
'Jest what Sam Bailey thunk, by
cats!" exclaimed the Pochuck news
carrier, slapPing his knee. "Jest what
Sam thunk when he came onto that
torkle as it was pullin' turnips in his
patch, in the fall o 1926, and turned
him over and read them fggers!"
"'Great Gabriel's Trumpet says
Sam. Here's the father of all snappin
torkles, by gimblets! 1891, B. CT
Father of all snappin' torkles, by GIN
blets! And his father and)mother was
with Noar in the ark, I'll bet farm.
says Sam.
Jest what Sam Bailey thunk, b,
cats! And Sam spread the news along
the Drownded Lands like wildfire, sc
that folks went pikin' to Sans turni1
patch to see torkle that mebbe ole
Nimrod himself had laid low for ant
couldn't git. |.''
1.-THE torkle had pulled and eat twt
bushels o turnips and was on his wa,
back to the water, and when old So
Terpy see him, he says:
"'Why,' he says, that's Ben!
Bolivar! That's the torkle Ben Car
penter ketched on a set line in tn
spring o. 1901, and cut the year and hi
initials on to the torkle's shell and lie
him go ag'in. 1901, B. c.. Yes, sir
That's Ben's Bolivar, sure as pigs a
rootin'!' says Sol, and Sam Bailey wa
the disappintedest man that eve
titled the soil in Pochuck's sweet vale
Yes, sir! Jest what Sam Bailey thunk
by cats!" :~{tfa 9 ~ IT, .
Badly the landlord sat down an,
glared at the seventeenth centur
Claudius Smith musket changing su
pinely on its pegs over the door. Terry
the Scotch-Irish terrier, hurried, on
to inquire of Ike Edwards bull pu,
what business he had nosing aaroun,
there Farmer Bill Leonard who live
opposite Goose Pond Mountain, turne
to Farmer Green, of Jolly Farm, an
remarked that if eggs didn't 60 u
y pretty soon you might as well kee]
guinea pigs as chickens, and Farme
Green said yes, and ding sight better