Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1904-05-12
;AaGED ~ a LUNA,TIll il;

Travelling Man Tells ! Hair Raising
Tale Of Being Chased BY Lunatic
Il and Lays Scene in North Dakota.
/. Seattle Post-Intelligencer: II was
chased BY q bowling lunatic with an
ak in his hand the other day. said
Walter F. waldron, one Of the best
known travelling men who comes to
the Pacific coast, to q group Of his CO.
workers in the lobby Of the Hotel Seat
tie last night, "and 7 can tell you that
the experience was far from being a
pleasant one. The scene was in North
Dakota and the time, to be exact, was
April 26th last. 4 .S III Il. 1s s=s
! 'By some bad lucksI happened to be
in jamestown on that date, and after
finishing my days work thought I
would go up to the asylum, which Is
Justly noted as one Of the finest in the
middle west. and look around q little.
The place is about mile from town
and when I got there 1t was late in
the afternoon. I was walking briskly
up through the grounds Of the institu-
ton when, midway between the begin
ming of the grounds and the main
building I spied fellow chopping
wood for all he was worth. He was
big, husky fellow and the az with
which he worked was in the same pro-
portion. Naturally took him to be
one of the workmen about the place
and walked past him without paying
much attention to him. ~. :,
4, = well, I do not suppose had gone a
hundred yards past the man when /
heard blood curdling howl and, look
ing over my shoulder, saw that wood
chopped coming towards me waving
his ak and yelling like ten thousand
demons. It was me to the woods then,
and started of at clip that would
put the Empire State Express all to
shame with that shrieking lunatic a
close second. Scared! II it wasn't
for the fact that had to keep moving
to sustain life for few more seconds
I would have died of fright on the
spot.
"For maniac that chap was the
finest Splinter the world has ever seen.
I can run some, but I was a toddling
infant alongside of that man. He
gained steadily and the more he
gained the harder he yelled and swung
that immense AK over his head. AS q
rule I am not religious person, des
pite my business, but going at the clip
was covering the ground at, I lei
more prayers fly heavenwards than q
person at a protracted prayer meeting
with whole lot of souls just ready
to come up and be saved. Nothing tc
1t. I just crowded the whole religion
of lifetime in one short minute, and
anyone else would, too, in the same
situation. 2"
Nearer and nearer came the crazy
man and faster and faster I sprinted
Then my breath gave out when / was
not thousand yards from the big
building and safety, and, after strag.
gering on for few steps, gave one
awful gasp and collapsed. Even then
did not lose my head entirely, but
watched every move my pursue1
made. He came up, and on his face
was the expression of a demon. The
ak was poised over my head with one
hand, the other outstretched to grasp
me. I let out one big Yell couldn't
help it-and looked around around
for help, and then"
'And then" echoed the other trav
cling men. breathlessly.
Mr.. Waldron removed his hat and
wiped the Precipitation from his fore
head. Sand then,'' he said, "that
murderous villain placed his hand
lightly on my shoulder and Whispered
in the gentlest of VOICE: Tag. You're
it! That lunatic simply thought that
was a mighty good fellow and was
playing nice, friendly game of tag
with him. His insanity took the form
was told later, of thinking that he
was little boy"