The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-19

POW does it feel to be hanged?
Naturally to the one reading
- this question will come
E b vision of the death cell ana
of the dark foreboding frame
G of the gallows, from the end
of which swings back and forth the faiai
hemp.
But the man Of this story was neve:
forced to occupy such trying position;
his stand was merely horse, and the
limb of the gallows was but the sturdy
branch of a huge tree. His case-he was
charged with horse steahng-was tried
without court or jury, and within one
hour of his capture, as the sheriff OF the
county expressed his taking, he was lei
to his execution.
Joseph Chombers Of this city is the man
Of the gruesome experience, yet his hair
is not white and his health is apparently
as good as it was before he was strung
up
Perhaus a clear conscience had great
deal to do with the preservation of the
original color of his hirsute adornment
and his naturally good physique. For he
was not the guilty party. His was mersiV
a case of mistaken identity
However amusing the experience may
seem now, at the time it was anything
but pleasant. AS any layman will mag
inc 1t was awful
Chombers has been for a number OF
wears what is commonly called street
consisting OF
table sometimes and a chair, also some
times. and a meager collection of collar
and cuff buttons is his outfit. Almost
anywhere along the principal streets Oh
the city he may be seen doing busl-
ness
Originally he was destined for higher
but perhaps no more honest career than
that of the street corner salesman. Chom-
bers is a graduate of one of the most
prominent universities of the United
States A postgraduate course in an
European institution was also his por-
ton. Yet he sells his buttons as cheer
fully as he who does not know enough to
appreciate anything higher than the ordl-
nary everyday necessities of life. Many
a pedestrian passes him by with super
cilious SMILE the pedestrian does not
know that if it would come to the trans
1ation of the Greek classics. the discus
sion of economics or the converse of mod
ern Languages he would be outclassed by
the poor street tradesman. Such is the
way of the world-this is Chombers
happy philosophy
The one man who for the sake OF sci
ence braved the dangers of the lava
To11t I'll i11ct after the
cent Martinique disaster, Mr.. Robert
Hill, United States geologist, is the only
brother of Joseph Chombers, whose real
name is Joseph Hill AS boys and young
men they pursued their academic studies
together the one has since achieved ma
tional prominence, the other sells buttons
on the street for a bare livelihood. Such
is the way of the world-Chambers will
repeat
Financial troubles caused Chombers, or
Joseph FILL, to become discouraged. Leav-
ing home he wandered over the country,
having as he expresses it, bad luck from
Dan to Bersheba. Every place he stopped
at bad luck met him and stuck with him
until he left. Then it would meet him at
the next station and go over again its old
routine If Chombers is asked with whom
he travelled he will answer: with some
thing which eventually became so famil-
lar to me that 1 considered 1t a friend
bad luck"
Naturally this continuous season Of re-
verses would effect change in any mans
character and life purposes. But Chom-
bers is different from most men-he ac-
cepts his "old friend today as readily
and as philosophically as he ever did
and he is the same jovial, happy go-lucky
Joe that he always has been.
A few years ago Chombers was in
Texas-and there happened to him the in
cident rather accident, to the descrip-
ton of which this article is devoted.
One afternoon he rode away from the
home of a rancher by the name of Viii
kinson. in the direction of the Texas-Ari-
IONA state line, distant some twenty
miles. Early that morning he had
reached Wilkinson's. where with all char
acteristic southwestern hospitality he had
been dined Business on the other side
of the border precluded the acceptance
Of the generous invitation of the Will1in-
son household to stay over, so by an early
hour in the afternoon Chombers was
mounted and away.
The rolling monotony of the Texas
prairie is relieved to a certain extent, In
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