Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-07-05
BY STRICKLAND w. GILLIAN.


There once was brunette gentle
man living in Venice among the white
trash and other nobility His name
was Booker T. Othello. and he was the
only man of his complexion who had
ever put his brogans under the Vene-
tian White Houses napery.
Whenever he came up from Tuske-
gee he was consulted about affairs OF
state and made perfect fool of. He
was a wise one in the matter OF war,
and as Venice usually had one war on
hand and two on the waiting list, she
kept this African immigrant busy
planning how to clean somebody.
One of the sugar senators of Venice
at that time was Brabantio, who was
as enthusiastic as the others with re-
gard to the ex-Pullman porter. He
| thought Othello would be a good man
to manage the affairs of Cyprus, ter
ritory with an alkaline reaction, which
had not vet been admitted as a state.
So he concurred in the appointment OF
his dingy nibs to that job.
AS soon as the new appointee took
his place he fired an under secretary
to the governorship, named Iago, and
appointed a friend of his named Cas-
sio. He gave Iago some sort OF d1nky
! Job that wasn't under the civil service
rules. and that made the late secretary
sore. The latter job paid nearly as
| much salary, but the chances for graft
were very seldom. So Iago began to
plan to get even, and from the latest
accounts he sure did.
Now, while that man Brabantio
| iol,t
person to intrust with the management
of Cyprus, he had never thought OF the
coon in the light Of son-in-law. "A
rose by any other name would smell
as sweet" but, preserving the figure
of speech, negro by the name Of SON
in-law would smell worse, thought
Brab. He had had Othello at his house
to spend the evening many time, and
the man had told yarns Of his African
campaigns and fights with the canni-
balls and other nonvegetarians, while
i Senator Brab's daughter, Desdemona,
sat around with her mouth looking
like the entrance to the Hoosac tunnel.
'Thell had noticed this, and was keen
enough to know that the girl was pref
/ ty groggy on him. So next time he
would make up and hand out worse
thriller and Bessie would google more
! intensely than before. And when he
thought the case was ripe, 'Thell asked
her how she'd like to tighten the color
scheme of his household. Bessie was
a whole lot willinger than she cared to
admit, but she let him know it was a
go.
), Now, this fired secretary, Iago, had
} said to Rodrigo. a friend Of his, who
: was crazy about Des:
Rod, I'm sore about getting the
guillotine when the smoked savage
turned the rascals out, and l think
can make trouble enough to help us
both some. A tinbadge detective EN-
ployed tells me that Senator Bradan
! tio's girl is about to skip with this pat
ent-leather finish governor Of ours. AL
we have to do is to put Brab next, stil
him up good and strong as 'Thell's con
fidential only-one-to-be-truste friend
l and play both ends against the middle
1 You can do a man lots more dirt al
his friend than you can as his enemy.
:; So they got lantern and wen
! around to Brab's dump, and holleret
' him out. Iago asked him if hi
t daughter was home, and Brab's an
: swer was all it should have been
i Then Iago and Rodrigo got busy hint
S ing to Brab that Bessie was out will
9 the ebony. Again Brab arose ant
Iago squatted till the words quit hit
= ting the ground beyond them. Thel
Iago said:
S "Of course you've always been sor
Y on Rod for fooling around your CIR
ST m Wn
n But if you'll search your Dessie's box
find her missing. Otherwise, you ca
o come out and go around the corne
S with us and say what you'll take"
So down to Dessie's stall toddle
Y papa, but no Bessie. Then there wa
r. more trouble than you could shake
: stick at. He said he wished he'd ma
ried her to Rodrigo or anybody tina
was white. He Joined the two mucl
: rakers and got lot Of innocent b!
e ISLANDERS to fall in, and away the
L. went to Othello's shack, the old ma
% swearing at every jump that the gil
. had been hypnotized.
= When they found the paid, Iago ha
e trotted on ahead and innocently war;
g ed them that he believed some on
le was comm, and that they had bette
S. hit the grit. He knew mighty we
L. how that would affect 'Thell. N
-. % sprinting for the coon. He would sta
t. and see what was what But about til
II time the mob got its tar warm an
10 feathers dumped in, somebody tire
Id scare into Venice by announcing thu
y. the Turks were coming with about
ID million big ships to make the Ven
l. tians hard to catch, and Thell We
I'd needed right away with his razzer. S
he and his wife went with Senate
rs Brabantio to court, and after the ma
ter had been presented to the author
y ties the man that correspondent to Il
President said:
"a "If your daughter wants to go {
S. with his mess alliance, and is real
81 in love with his black sheepship, j
ut her take him. It's about the only thir
a to do. Speak up, Bessie. Is he yo1
only only?"
10 Fright along" said Bessie. "I tai
w to him just the same as ma took
~ -; fo, i,,a