The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-01-23
BY HUGH PENpExTER.

BY HUGH PENDEXTER.
I never had the good fortune to
meet Tiberius Smith. the veteran
Snowman. but nave known that 9th
er remarkable man, Billy Campbell,
and from his lips heard many chron-
icles of his patrons hardy and unusual
doings. AS he told me these yarns,
his eyes often grew moist, and he
would murEur In parentheses: "Ah,
but he was man. Heaven knows
why his folks dubbed him Tiberius;
maybe to get away from the Smith.
But when 1t came to writing down the
real answer he was the only Roman
on the asphalt"
first met Campbell at the Away
from Home club" and as | came to
know him. learned to love him, and
through him, his old master. And
thus, as the winter nights drove us to
our pipes and the coZy cOmpaniOnship
of the blazing hearth, he detailed that
which has until now escaped the pub
lie ken. except as garbled press re-
ports have at times hinted al mex
plicable situations without furnishing
the solution. | can see now that
Smith, in his worldwide wanderings
in search of circus and menagerie fur
nishings, or in plotting some theatri
cal venture, was the blind factor in
many half-publshed equation.
If | remember correctly ! had been
commenting on the frequency of revo-
lutions in quarrelsome Central Amer
ica when Campbell first opened his
heart. filled his pipe and began the
narrative which was to charm me for
many an evening.
1t is true" he began, that Cen
tral America has been a bargain coun-
ter in petty warfares for years, and
has peddled out more genuine lem
Ons to would,be Caesars than any
other spot of its size on the map.
Some of the disturbances have been
exceedingly eccentric, others, just
plain, vulgar Killings but | doubt if
ever there was a more picturesque
insurrection than that in which ii.
berius Smith of Vermont filled the
presidents Cozy corner for one week,
and with his reserve battery of comic
opera singers and his ever-reassuring
'Ha! ha!" defied all comers. The
passing of Tiberius and his admins
tration is not mentioned in history,
nor did the consular agent hear of it
in time to stir up the Washington
newspaper men with sanguinary
wires. And probably the slob element
down there, known as the common
people, have long since forgotten
It,
But the story of that glorious
week should make brave reading,
nevertheless, and the battle put up
by the Green Mountain man and his
light brigade of giggling danscuses,
REINFORCED by sad-vOiced contraltos,
an Alpine shepherd. a regulation pi-
rate, and much green-roOm truck. Incl
dentally demonstrates that art and
science need not always stagger to
the ropes because of ranttng brute
force.
''Tib-you know We called him Tib
for short-had a way of making every
one and everything loyal to him.
When his round, brown eyes concen-
-trated in two beady twinkles, yOu had
to believe in him and do his bidding.
He believed in himself, and simply
bubbled over with assurance when
making the hardest shots Imaginable.
And he had the blamedest schemes
Yet, most of them pulled through in
one way or another. If he didn't land
what he was cunning for, he'd net
something else almost as good. So
when he decided to take a comic opera
troupe to Guatemala City, Ma2ic Ad.
ans sidc-stepped thirty per week in
order to lead the ballet, and | was
hypnotized to GO as first tenor, There
were 2S of us all told, four men and
two dozen women. Tiberus said he
could surround enough Aztec gold in
Guatemala to make bOndholders Of us
all for life He believed it, and hang