Morgan County democrat. (Versailles, Mo.) 1900-1906, 1905-03-03
"Wc'l. dad said he had never tsk.a

well, dad said he had never talt1
"A ride In one of the devil Wagons.
though he had got n good deal OF "a.
erclSc tho last year or two lodging
them On the streets, but he said he
was tickled to death to hear that ]
was an expert performer, and hc
would go ont with me. and II he liked
the sensation. he would buy one. The
machine I hired was onc Of those
doublcts for two persons. one seat, You
know, "A %runabout. II was a runaL3ut
all right. II run about 1S miles In
- minutes. I got dad tucked in. and
touched her or n raw spot. and we
were off. ! run her around town for
awhile on the streets that had no
teams on, and dad was pleased.
Eve had to go through the business
part OF town, and dad looked around
at the people on the streets that he
knew. and he swollcd mp and tried to
look a5 though he owned IA bre very.
and told me to let her out, and !
thought If dad could stand it TO lot
her out | could, so ! pulled her open
just as one OF these station fruit NeH-
dcrs with a hand cart was crossing the
street. The COW catcher in front
caught the hand cart right in the mid
die and threw II into the air. and II
raincd bananas and oranges. and the
dapo came down N his head and
Sworc In Italian, and dad said. Good
shot, ~Iicnnery,' and then the machine
swung across the street n Knocked
the fender off a street car, and then
I got her In the road straight and. by
gosh, ! couldn't stop her. Something
had got ballcd mp, and the mere |
touched things the faster she went.
We frightened fonr teams and had
three runaways, and the air seemed
full Of horses rearing mp and drivers
yelling for us 10 stop.
I'VE kept going faster, and dad be-
gan to get frightened and asked mo
to slow IN, but | couldn't. We must
haze got in the country about eight
miles, and dad was getting scared, and
his face was just the color of sal, pork,
and he said:
"~'licnEcry. this excursion Is GOING
TO wind up in "A tragedy, and IT !
die | want You to have a post mortcm
examination made, just to see II | am
right about thOs" doctors leaving that
monkey wrench in me. For heavens
sake make the machine jump that
fence. for here comes a drove u cat.
tie IN the Dad
gee, but when saw those cattle
ahead and the machine running away,
| tried TO pray. and her I stcercd her
towards an old rail fence that looked
AS though it was rotten. and then
there was q crash, the air was full
of rails, and dad said: 'yhis Il no
hurdle race and We landed in u Geld
whore there was an old hard snow
bank. She went up on the side, hit
the frozen snow, turned "a summer.
sault, the gasoline tank exploded and
didn't remember anything Till some
farmers that were spreading manure
in the field turned me over with a
pitchfurk, ard asked me who the old
dead man was standing ON his head
in the snow bank with his plug hat
around his neck. A. gnun a5 | came
TO ! went to dad. and he was Just com.
ing out Of a trance. and asked him If
he didn't think IA little excitement sort
~ made the sluggish blood circulate.
and he looked al the blood on tha
snow, and said he thought there was
no dOuDt about the circulation II his
blood.
"IIe got mp, got his hat un,ang'aH,
tcld the farmers he was obliged TO
them for their courtesy and then ha
called me one 81, e and said:
"~'ficnnrry. this attempt On yoni
part to murder me was not the sue.
cess that you expected. but yOn keep