The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-11-16
The Story of a Grabbed Old Man, Forgotten
Plaything and Some Troublesome Boys
Wonderful Change Caused by the Shrill
Notes Of a Whistle Gave the Boys New
Friend.

had not done since he was a boy.
Reaching his room, he found his heart
humping like a hammer against his
ribs
What was it?' he asked himself as
he looked at the whistle. His eye
passed along and down his legs, and,
to his amazement, he discovered that
instead Of the shiny black trousers ne
had put on every morning for eight
years, his legs were encased IN knick-
erbOckers, and in the knee Of one of
his brown stockings there was d three
cOrnered hole. Just then he heard a
faint, but oh, how familiar, haIlOo in
the street He sprang up. daTted down
stairs, seized, not his rusty old stove
pipe hat, but a wooden cap that hung
on the hat rack, and opened the front
door.
There at the curb stood his boyhood
comrade and chum, Charley JOY. With
no sense Of surprise he ran out.
Hi Charley" he cried; what does
this mean2 I'm S. years old and you're
dead this twenty-Odd years. Where
are you taking me?"
Charley laughed merrily. He pointed
up the street, and there a few yards
away stood group Of boys. Aurelius
Hamm started and rubbed his eyes.
He knew every one Of then-Harry
Taylor, Amzi Dodd, Wood Adams,
Amos HOlbr0Ok, Orlando Smith Piggy
Williams, Shorty HutchinsOn-every
/ boy of his early days stood there grin
ming with bOyish, If slightly demoniac,
glee at the thought of some impending
mischief. Mr. Hamm let out a yen
of delight and forgot all about his
question Of an instant before. He hur-
! ried to them with eager steps and
cried, Whats IN bOVg2"
In reply they all, as if one boy,
shrank into the shadow of a high
stoOp, the steps of which ran up at
right angles to the next house, and
pointed in silent delight up the dark
street. He peered out and saw a string
stretched tightly from a tree to the
stOOp rails. Just as he perceived the
device, which was intended to knock
off the hat of the very next passer-b
they were all startled by the sudden
/ appearance Of very tall man smoking
a cigar, who popped out Of the next
/ doorway, evidently in a great hurry.
/ He took two quick steps, and all of
/ the boys huddled tightly together in the
/ black shadow. Horror hung in the air.
/ Flight was impossible. Disaster had
/ come ere they had had an opportunity
1 to seek a safe post of observation. The
/ string came in contact with the quickly
moving man exactly at the end o. his
/ cigar A display of fireworks followed
/ The man was enveloped in a shower Of
! sparks that seemed to light UP all the
! street for blocks and the terrified lads
! punched themselves into a small heap
! of mOtiOnless clothes. What the man
/ said there in the dense darkness that
/ followed the brilliant illumination can
/ not be told to children on this page,
/ but it filled up the measure Of their
J 70 hfrr1uaTf
/ to have shrunk TO the size of a rabbit
and he heard his heart beat so loudly
that he was sure the man also could
! hear it if he ever stopped saying things.
Amos HolbrOOk's toe. a cOpper-tOed toe,
! that was as hard as flint, was Jammed
/ against his neck, but he didn't move
/ a fraction of an inch. The man, who
uever. dreamed that his foes were al
most beneath his feet, right at his
mercy sputtered and spat, clearing his
/ throat Of cigar fragments, brushed at
his clothes and hastily passed on, leav-
ing the boys still in state Of stupOr
for several mOmtnts. Mr. Hamm was
the first to recover, and, jumping up. ne
! shouted: "HOOrayi We cotched him
all right, didn't we?"
/ Never. was so scared in all my life, -
said 10-year-old AMI Dodd. I'm bet
my hairs turned gray in single min
utei" He went to the laInp-pOSL and
/ asked BObbie McCarter to look at it
and see if it was its normal and fiery
/ red
Il sat on a splinter" said Johnny
Plummer. and it's deep in me yet
| Now III git blood-poisonin sure!"
You surely viii if you get spanked
on if while it's there" said Arthur
Dougherty. whose father was a doctor
and knew all about such things. Spe-
cially that pine wood. It's dreadful
poisonous.
AMI began to cry, whereupon Mr.
/ Hamm said:
Nonsense Nonsense! I've had splin-
ters in me a thousand times these last
forty years" Then ne stopped and
stared in a mystifed manner at the
others.
Now. one might imagine that the
fright they had just experienced would
have deferred these lads from playing
anv more pranks. But 20; they h2c
more string and felt that they must use
IT. So they attached a ''ticK-tack' Il
the basement window Of a house doWI
/ the street. You know, Of course, JUS
what a tick-tack is, do you notE Ih'
string is fastened by a sharp tack q
the wood Just above a pane and some
four OF five inches from the glass {
small piece of iron. a nail, or whateVel
comes handy, is tied to the string s.