Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-10-22


up reporters hat and left his own
in lieu thereof, Hon. M. A. Austin.
the we'll known railway attorney of
this city, innocently furnished the bas-
is for comedy of errors that would
grace the genius of modern Shakes
reare. AS result of his absent-mind-
edness, the official correspondence Of
the Iron Mountain railway at this
point has threatened to force the post
Office department to establish sub
station, in addition to the establish
ment of another branch telegraph Of
flee. One would be led to think the
big batch of documents relating to
the matter was history of the new
union station here. But it's not: it all
came up about a hat-a derby hat.
The cast of characters includes Gen
eral Superintendent w. 7. Tyler Of
the Iron Mountain railway: Hon. NJ.
A. Austin, attorney for the same COM
pany; the city editor of the Daily
Graphic: railway clerks. stenograph.
ers, messenger boys, telegraph opera
tors, and others. The scene of the
first act is laid in the council room at
the city hall, with councilmen pres
ent. The rest of the scene is laid in
Little Rock and Pine Bluff, and the
territory intervening.
It was several weeks ago that Sup
erintendent Tyler came down to Pine
Bluff to attend a meeting of the city
council and incidentally to ask for
more time in which to build that new
union station. This last explanation
is superfiuous. for Superintendent
Tyler's visits to Pine Bluff always
mean "more time, and the people
have long since learned to goodna-
turedly attribute his appearance to
some such cause, and have learned to
associate his name with .'more time" :"
There are even those who insist that
Mr.. Tyler's initials stand for Willing
Time Tyler.
Superintendent Tyler and Hon. M.
A. Austin left the council room be-
fore the council adjourned and in the
furry of going. Mr.. Austin picked up
the Graphic reporters hat. Throwing
90 Ii
he never noticed the difference in
sizes-for be it known now that the
Then comes along Supt. Tyler who,
instead of picking up his own hat
his own derby lying upon the table.
When council adjourned. the reporter
was left hatless, and seeing Supt. Ty-
ler's hat lying upon the table, and
recognizing it by the initials on the
inside, knew at once that the railway
man had got the wrong hat. He took
it, and started out to find Mr.. Tyler.
but that gentleman had already had
g good hours start of him. and to
anyone who has ever followed Mr..
Tyler's tracks over the city no
explanation is needed. He was gone,
as completely as if the earth had
swallowed him up But the reporter
knew also that Mr.. Tyler would dis
cover his mistake in good time, so he
rested easy and bided his time. wait
ing to see the fun.
Now the strangest part of the whole
performance perhaps is the fact that
none of the three hats was like the
others except in one respect; they
were all derbys, but of different sizes.
The reporters numbered Ia Mr..
Austin's was some larger. while Supt.
Tylcr's was large enough to cover the
reporters entire head.
MrTyler never discovered his mis-
tske It is said. until he woke up in
Little Rock next morning. and then
doubtless though that he had the
worst swel,ed Lead in the United
States or else his hat had undergone
some curious metamorphosis during
the preceding night. 1t may have been
that his relationship with the Pine
Bluff city council entered his calcu
lations about this time, but of course
Supt. Tyler has never expressed him
self on that point In fact, it would
be difficult to say Just what all did
enter his mind.
Next morning Sup perintendent Tyler
got more speed into his legs. so it is
stated, than he was ever known to
possess in the past, and hied himself
hurriedly to the office. There he die
tated a most pathetic appeal to Attor
ney Austin to send his hat home, for