The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-06
THE WAYS OF THE JOKER

pear ridiculous. The American nation Is almost a nation of jokers Every business man, no matter how Weighty the affairs of his business. loves a joke --on the other fellow. At one time or another nearly all the prominent men have indulged in some little prank at the expense of their fellow workers. Many a political career or business venture has been marred or destroyed entirely by one.
 Probably the best known joker of the present time Is Brian G. Hughes of New York city. paper box manu- facturcr real estate broker, clubman and all round good fellow Mir. Hughes does not take the world seriously and whenever opportunity offers for cap- ital joke he Is quick to take advantage of 1t, no matter who gets hit or what the cost may be. Among his numer- ous sells none stands out with more prominence than the "Nicodemus" joke on the New York cat show Judges. While sitting in barber's chair one day Mir. Hughes was approached by a colored boy with . cat in his arms.
 Say boss, don't you want to buy a cat?" asked the boy. You can have him for the price of a drink"
 Mir. Hughes thought of the mice that had eaten his paper boxes and gave the boy ten. cents for the cat. but at the art of rat scatching Nicode- mus was full fiedged failure.
 That cat can't cain his keep. He's it for nothing. but he is sort of or- namental Guess I'll enter him In the cat show. said MT. Hughes.
 After paying the entrance fee of s1 it became necessary to have a pedigree, so they called him Nicodemus. by Broomstick. out of Dustpan, by Sweep CT, by Brush. With such a remarka- ble pedigree. no ordinary cage would do, and to have him housed in style Mir. Hughes had his workmen build a large, roomy cage, which was then lavishly decorated with gold leaf and almost covered with flowers. The next step was sign. handsome in the ex- treme, showing the valuation of Nico- demus at s1,0o0, exactly twice the value of the next highest priced cat on the list.
 The exhibition opened and Nicodemus was given tho finest position. MT. Hughes never does anything by halves. His valet in gorgeous uniform was in structed that during the rush hours he was to carry chicken and ice cream to Nicodemus for his dinner Spectators crowded around his cage; the ice cream and chicken, added to the valuation. handsome cage, etc. put on the finish ing touch and 1t was a foregone con- clusion that Nicodemus would win the first prize.
 The judges came, they saw and were conqucred; they looked at the pedigee card and said wisely: "Yes, yes, Nico- demuE, by, Broomstick, out of Dustpan, by Sweeper, by Brush. Dear me, yes. Very fine specimen of the breed" And promptly awarded him the first prize. Soon after his Nicodemus joke Mir. ftaNlGp ha n e.. papers of New York as the result of a bet. He had bought an old desk at auction and one day in. looking 1t over ran across a secret drawer which con tained nothing more valuable than some old gas company receipts. Then the idea of the joke presented itself and he proceeded to put a pile of can celied checks and old bonds of extinct | ar bogus companies in that drawer. Along Park Row there presently was waited a story of the discovery In
 Mr. Hughes desi-a discovery of bonds
 and diamonds, aggregating a value | well up in the hundredsNo Of thousands | It was dull day for news and every 1 city editor proceeded to assign his star writer to cover the incident. which
 seemed to contain such romance.
 wealth and just suggestion of mur- der. all being given orders to play 1t
  of the writers let his imagination run riot and the tales that appeared the next day would compare favorably with l the romance of Aladdin and his wonder | full lamp
 Mark Twain" once lost a position through practical joke. It was when | he was a sub editoh on a California paper and his friends used to swell | his record by giving him exclusive | nferhf a frinnd hrnnUht fr | an account of a smash up." and
 Mark" tickled with the idoa of a l scoop. sent 1t up without reading. | The next day people wondered wna, l happened to good Mir. Schuyled, for this is what appeared:
 | Distressing acident.--I4ast evening about o'clock. as William Schuyler,
 an old and respected citizen of South | Park, was leaving his residence to gc | downtown. as has been hts custom foi
 many years, with the exception of only l a short interval in the spring of 1850 l during which he was confined to his bed by injuries in trying to stop run away horse by thoughtlessly placing himself in its way and throwing ur his hands and shouting. which. if he had done so a single minute sooner
 must inevitable frightened the animal | still more instead of checking his speed | although disastrous enough to himself as 1t was. and rendered more melan- | choly and distressing by reason of the l presence of his wife's mother, who was | there and saw the sad occurrence. not | withstanding 1t is at least likely though
 not necessarily so. that she should be l reconnoiterlng in another direction when accidents occur. not being viz vacious and on the lookout as a general | thing. but even the reverse, as her own | rnofhar Is said to have stated uho is
 no more. but died in the full hope ct | a glorious resurrection. upward of three years ago aged s6. being a Chris | tian woman without guile, as 1t wore, or property. in consequence of fire | in 1S49. which destroyed everything
 she had in the world. But such Is life. Let us all take warning by this solemn occurrence and let us endeavor | of conduct ourselves that when we our hands upon our hearts and say with earnestness and sincerity that from
 this day forth we will beware of the flowing bowl.
 Thomas w Lawson finds the time oc- casionally to afford amusement for himself and friends by some prank or other and has engineered two or three that are famous One of these related to the visit to Boston of Ed Scatter skill" who came to call on his cousin ,'' Allen Arnold. Ed" held the town for four days and the story of that trip has become one of the classics of the street"
 This occurred before Mir Arnold and MT. Lawson entered into partnership. Mir. Arnold was doing stock broker age business in the Sears building. from his cousin. addressing him as .sFriend Al" and Informing hi,o thet