The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-11-05

pOuludl lSS VI WulCu lhSluuO NV
heavens above, the earth beneath
and the waters under the earth,
there is nothing upon which men
will not contrive to bet. And
nothing as yet has been found from
an immortal soul to an ancestral
patrimony which men have not
been found willing to wager. If bet
ting abounds in the pathetic and
tragic, it furnishes also plenty of
comedy.
AS the result of an election bet in
Denver in 1896 a devotee of the
16 to 1 had to appear in the public
street with his face covered with
gilt. In Rochester, N. Y, in 1904, a
business man, as the result of a
wager that Parker would carry
New York, was required to go to
his business for two days dressed
as a clown. He escaped the fool
killer, but the violence done to his
feelings caused him to register a
solemn VOW never again to make a
freak bet.
Similar to this was the het of the
Boston man who engaged to go to
the chamber of commerce barefoot,
and the Philadelphia man who had
to sleep all night as a tramp in a
public square.
After the Parker Roosevelt cam
paign of 1904 two Philadelphia men
had to start out at z o'clock one
night with a street organ. In front
of one of the popular dance halls
one played and the other collected.
One of the losers wore placard
announcing that he was fool who
had no better sense than to bet on
Parker, and then go vote for him.
Two other Philadelphians had to
pay an organ bet after recent city
election and during the day got
into several fights from which the
police had to rescue them. A Read
| ing (Pa.) man Jared better. He
gave an Italian S. for the use of his
organ and in the course of the day
collected twice that amount. g.,
Backing the winners boots in
public is another election stunt. A
Jacksonville mlD man was re-
quired to take a brush and a pot OF
black paint and paint the name OF
the candidate against whom he
voted on every vacant fence. He
was evidently union man, for he
refused to work at his job longer
than eight hours.
In st. Paul, Mimi, after the re-
election of Governor Johnson, a
wealthy republican business man
lost his bet with his coachman and
pulled the latter through the
streets of the city in a buggy. In
the McKinley-Bryan campaign a
Cincinnati artist lost his end of the
bet and had to paint portrait Of
the newly elected president, which
was later on presented to him.
The story is told that the mar
iriage of an American business mar
to we'll known concert singer was
made dependent on the nomination
of Mr.. Taft for president. If Tai
was not nominated the parties
were tb separate and never speal
to each other again, but If he wal
nominated they were to be mar
ried.
In 1906, after the election of Nc
Kinley, a Pennsylvania man hat
to appear as museum freak II
the first circus that came to hi
town, while the winner made
speech to the crowd.
The 1900 campaign was fruitful
| in freak bets, it being estimate
} that there were no less than 500
: of them that year. In one city i
the middle west "a losers earn
1 val" was held and the losers di
r their stunts bearing placards, .
D bet on Bryan" Perhaps the mos
( remarkable bet made that year, O.
for that matter, ever made on an
e election, was that between Geore
0 r. Williams, Philadelphia DEM
3 crat, and Henry Rudolph, a repul
e lican Of schuyIkii Falls. whereof
n the winner was to have the e.
n quisite and satisfying pleasure
y burying the loser alive. William
T. manfully crawled into the han
some casket which had been pr
), cured for the occasion. The 1
d was put on and the casker place
e in pine box and the top screwt
n on. Provision had been made Il
the victim to breathe, though as