The sun., 1904-12-25
MISSOURI s, /. j r MEMoRlES.-...:. !.
W. 5Of MaRKiTWAN
Recalled bY..s Maa Who! WasHi
Playmate and Fellow ;hintef 4
Befose He Became FainoSs-se 1

MAcoN, Mo-; Dec. N.--Capt: Il. Lacy
editor OF the Wet Moantain Tribune, Of West
cliff, COL, was here this week for the hkst
tin,e. since he. ran through here IN, teetr
as a postal clerk on the pony expreas, a.
the Hannibal and st., Jee mail train :gasT
then known. beoause u ocnueete edbdNttE,
the real pony express at the latter torp-a (,
Capt, Lacy was born IN Hannibslln
1888, and was q, playmate and lat1rsa teiri
lowipnnter Of Samuel l.: Clemens, thoaght
few years younger. t=hike most Of nt4fh
Twain's early 'chiirns y Capt. Lacy nevee 4
saw the slightest Indication -ofa oofni6g:'
greatness In his friend: Il a q 49, rrE
"rhe worst trouble about Sam. twtssiBf
he was boy" said Capt- Lacy, .wxs phis:
laziness. He was q dreadful shirkerS y, ssf'
when the war came on and everybedts
was taxing ades he joined Majoe fhonsessi
A.. Har1is's Confederate Rsgifncnt, sAd~
was In a nttle fight at Blorida,i Modf6s'
county, with Col. u. u. Granite oomffahdH'
Harris was licked aad Sam came hotaes
He said he believed the Oonfeds swers wrong
because the other fellows were the strongest;
'Tbe first thing that called my attention,
to Sam as q writer while out Wost rwas. :.
his yarn about Jim VOLTS toInoat 4 which
was published in San Francisco paper =
I recognized the incident and knew thetv'
was nobody else out there who could have
told II. =. -'. . -..t 'a' . rac.n.G@ @|3'
Jim was printer, and he roomodswith,i
Sam, who he Thought was the .snnartest
hoy that ever: lived. One night the gfftc"
Of the house gave a candy pull and a lct
Of sticky molasses candy was laid out fon
the back porch to cool before pulling. The"
young folks were raising high jinksdo~n
staire and Jim's tomcat. was! out on the
back fenos singing an accompaniment. >",fT
Sam had gone 10 bed and the cat's
bo~hng annoyed him.. He told Jim to drive
the cat away. - .sf'' 80 'EH'f .Zf-
Jim would have committed suicide
IL Sam had told him to, and without TAX
ing the trouble to dress he climbed out on
the trellis, intending to make conneotions'
with the fence. But the tfeilis was .fraEAe
and dim was good healthy boy, The thing
gave way with crash apd poor. Jim wast
precpitated like chunk out Of meteoTa
on that red hot molasses candy.
AHe gave shrek that brought all the
boys and girls out on. .-the porch, and
the landlady kindly fetched lamp, !, jim
moment everybody thought he, was, the.
sweetest thing on earth. for the candy
covered him. The accident broke ups the
party and everybody blamed Sam for it,:
We'll, he touched up btAC yarn IN a way
that made it even fupnier than it was, and !;
then ] knew the careless, fun, loving lad
had struck his gait-that he was really
good for something. a. N
"A tramp printer named Smell blew. into
Hannibal one day and was given work on
the paper. He was an uncommunicatiys.
sort Of fellow, but. a good worker and
obedient. o. -"
sam decided to bring him out of his
reserve, and to do it borrowed q skeleton.
from al doctors Office and slipped it into.
the printers bed Then we got around
to a window about bedtime to see what
was going to happen. : =, '5l.a <W. y
The printer pulled of his shoes pileii
his clothes over on the floor and blew OUT
the light. The next thing we supposed,
would be yell and printer shooting out
OF the window in-his night shirt. 'Fl > Oh
But there wasn't anything of the sort, =
There was a sleepy yawn apd--.Geto oYeE,{
on your own side. darn you!' .;....-e- = y,f
I'VE heard the CHASTITY bedmate OF Small
fall to the floor, and then everything was
quiet except for the snoring Of the sleeping
printer. The joke had failsd, and;we wentz
up to our rooms in disgust. .,.,--,
Next day Smell didn't show UP, and We
began to feel a little hopeful that maybe
the trick had worked after all.s But va
were again disappointed Snell'wss IN
ginmill, boiling drunk, and having the
time Of his life.
Killer man deader'n rod Ininnp he
yelled, an shell corpsus fer dollar an
sheventy-five! Wow!' ,..-,,,,,
HE had rolled the skeleton up in sheet
and sold il to another doctor -