The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-01-20

Eecollections of a Missourian
Who Knew Him as a Boy.
TRICK PLAYED ON HIS ROOM NATE

aA&st
How the Hamorist Figured In the
Original Story Of Jim Volts Tom.
cat ~ Related by Captain H. Lacy.
Tramp Printer who Sold . skele-
ton and Celebrated.
Captain H. Lacy, editor of the Wet
Mountain Tribune, Westcliff, Colo. who
was in Brookfield. Mo-, recently for the
first time since he went through in
1864 as postal clerk on the Pony Ex-
PRESS" as the Hannibal and st. Joe
mail train was then known. was born
in Hannibal in 1889 and was a play
mate and later fellow printer OF
Samuel Clemens, the famous humorist,
though few years younger, says a
Brookfeld (Mo) correspondent Of the
Kansas City Star. Like most of Mark
Twain's" early chums Captain Lacy
never saw the slightest indication Of
coming greatness in his FREUD.
1.-THE worst trouble about Sam when
be was boy" said Captain Lacy. was
his laziness He was dreadful shirk-
er. When the war came on and every
body was taking sides he Joined Major
Thomas A. Harris Confederate regi-
ment and was in a little fight at Flori-
da, Monroe county. with Colonel U. 8.
Grants command. Harris was licked,
and Sam came home He said he be-
lieved the Confeds were wrong. because
the other fellows were the strongest.
1.-THE first thing that called my at
tention to Sam as a writer while out
west was his yarn about Jim VOLTS
tomcat, which was published in San
Francisco paper. recognized the Incl
dent and knew there was nobody out
there but Sam who could have told it.
Jim was printer. and he rOOmed with
Sam. who he thought was the smartest
boy that ever lived. One night the
girls Of the house gave a, candy pull.
and a lot Of sticky molasses candy was
laid out on the back porch to cool be-
fore pulling. The young folks were
raising high links downstairs, and Jim's
tomcat was out on the back fence sing
ing an accompaniment. $3.50 .,. -.
."Sam couldn't sleep, and he told Jim
to get up and murder his cat. Jim
would have committed suicide il Sam
had told him to, and without taking
the trouble to put on his clothes he
climbed out ON the trellis, intending to
make connections with the fence. But
the trellis was. fragile, and Jim was
good, healthy boy. The thing gave
way with a crash. and poor Jim was
precipitated like a chunk out Of me-
teOr on that redhot molasses candy!
He gave a shrek that brought all the
boys and girls out on the porch. aud the;
landlady kindly fetched lamp. Jim
was never q very, pretty boy. but at
that moment everybody, thought he,
was the sweetest thing on earth. The,
candy hung to his naked legs and
breast like barnacles to an ocean dere-
lict. 1t broke up the party. and every
body blamed Sam for it. Well, he
touched up that yarn in a way that
made 1t even funnier than it was. and
then knew that the careless. fun low
ing lad had struck his gait-that he
was really good for something.
"a, tramp printer named Smell blew
into Hannibal one day and was given
work on the paper. He YVES an uncom-
municative sort Of fellow, but a good
worker and obedient. Sam decided to
bring him out Of his reserve and to do
it borrowed q skeleton from a doctors
Office and slipped it into the printers
bed. Then we got around to window
about bedtime, to see what was going
to happen. The print pulled OF his
shoes. piled his clothes over on the
floor and blew out the light. The next
thing we supposed would be yell and
4 printer shooting out Of the window
In his nightshirt. But there. wasn't
anything Of the sort. There was a
sleepy yawn and: ..s
"'Get over on your own side, darn
YOU rs -1s+
1--WE heard the ghastly bedmate Of
Smell fall to the. floor, and then every
thing was quiet except for the snoring
Of the sleeping printer. The Joke had
failed. and we went mp to our rooms, In
disgust.
Next day Shell didn't show up, and
we began to feel little hopeful that
maybe the trick had worked after all.
But we were again disappointed. Smell
was in gin mill, boiling drunk and
having the time Of his life
KILLED er man deadern q red In
Jun he yelled, an shell corpsus fer
dollar an sheventy-fve! Vow
"He had rolled the skeleton up in q
sheet and sold It to another dOctorv
- 1lflli0as aaA the MikaAo.
The emperor's yearly expense Of Nv
Ing Ia limited For this DurD0Ae he