Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-06
THE STORY TELLERS.
The Englishman Who Capped All
Stories Save One.

From the New York Tribune.
The Lord save me from an Englishman
who has done things or says he has" said
a western man a the WaldOrf-Astoria re-
Gently. Such one will spoil any party
and throw gloom on any gathering ne hap
pens to be in. An EngIishman of this type
was once visitor in my town and at the
club he became an uumitigated nuisance
No matter what story was told, the Brit
isher Invariably went the narrator one bet
ter. For example. one man told of a big
faro game he had seen at Cheyenne in
those acknowledgements days when cat
tie sold at s75 a head and every one in the
cattle country simply reeked with wealth.
1t was good story, but as soon as it was
finished the Englishman rang in one OF an
experience he had had at Monte Carlo that
made the Cheyenne tale seem like a bottle
of fat champagne.
Then an ex-army officer told OF a COM
pany OF infantry at Gettysburg that had
been sent to capture a certain hill They
didn't secure it, but 20 per cent of the
company lay dead or wounded on that
bloody hillside before the boys in blue could
be driven back.
The Englshman capped that with an ex-
perience of his in India. Out of a COM
pauy of as Sikhs that he comma nded only
two escaped-himself and another the
other shot so full of holes that he looked
like nutmeg crater.
when the refreshments made necessary
by this last aneCdOte had been imbibed an
other man so forgot himself as to relate
an experience he had had while hunting
bears The Englishman chimed in at once
with 4 legend of a bear hunt of his own
He had only six shots In his magazine rifle
and was attacked by four adult and two
cub bears. After an exhibition of fancy
shooting that must have made the per-
fOrmances of Wild BIZ or Billy the Kid
look dmatpuriSl the oil hot
through the heart, only six feet from where
the doughty Engishman stood.
The silence that followed the relation of
this Munchausen positively hurt but when
It was at length broken the fate that En-
giishman had so long been tempting was
upon him
That experience said the soft voice Of
a SlX-TOOt mining man, who had been silent
reminds me OF a similar one I myself once
had. | was after antelope and had chased
a pair of them all the afternoon. They
finally cam to a canyon and made for It,
Just as they got To It's entrance | shot twice
al them, missing both times l didn't fire
again, for the reason that those two shots
were all that | had In my magazine rifle
Nothing daunted, l spurred my weary
mount forward and soon found myself with
In the shadows of the canyon, which rose
preclpitOusly. With the idea of resting NV
horse l dismOunted and that wretched
broacho took prompt advantage of my kind
ness by Jerking the reins from my hand
and making bolt OF 1t. Looking around
for the cause l saw a grizzly at least nine
feet high rushing toward me with open
mouth. can tell you l legged il l!p that
cany on and busy brain accompanied me
l couldn't shoot the grizzly for nv last
snot had been fired at the antelope Just
then rock came into view. anu, utterly
spent. / cast myself upon 1t
Here the miner came to a fun stop. and
the deeply interested EnSlishman leaned
brea thlessly forward What ne qucried
what did the bear do, my dear fellow
Why, returned the other. without batting
an eyelash, he ate me up, Of course"