Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1908-04-27
A TOWN SCOLO STORY
How Sylvanus Crabb Escaped
Being Tarred and Feathered.
INCIDENT OF THE LATE PANIC
Man Who Always Had Run Down the
Town Met His Waterloo When His
Neighbors Determined to Save the
Factory and Also Enjoy Joke.

|
Neishbors Determined to Save the
Factory and Also Enjoy Joke.
of Coryville. He was a native of the
place, but no stranger to whom he
talked ever would have suspected the
fact. Sylvanus never missed a chance
to abuse Coryville and everybody and
everything in Coryville.
Eyes, sir" Mr.. Crabb would remark
transferring his quid of plug tobacco
from the right to the left side of his
mouth, this here old town amt fit
for the junk heap. Why. I've lived
here, man and boy, for forty-nine
years, and the towns been goin' down
ever since | can recollect. Yes, sir
Coryvilles a mighty pore town to live
in, but some of us can't get OUT
The stranger to whom Sylvanus con-
fided these lifelong impressions would
sit patiently in his chair on the hotel
veranda or stand patiently at the depot
awaiting his train. Sometimes he
would reply with question:
Are you in business here, Mr.
Crabb?"
Business! should say not. I don't
mix with the people of this here town,
l don't. My folks left me the old
homestead and some rentin houses
and live off the income. But don't
spend my money around here-no, sir!
I buy my supplies in bulk right straight
from Chicago and get my clothes there.
too; send my measure In by mail.
When need any new furniture look
1t up in a catalogue and send right of
for it myself. These here Coryville
people don't make nothin' of Of Syl-
vanus Crabb-no, sir!'
One day q stranger of distinguished
appearance came to Coryville. 1t was
in the midst of the late unpleasantness
the financial depression.
Eyes. SIR" Mr.. Crabb took occasion
to say to the stranger, this towns no
good at all. No place for business.
SIR"
II was beginning to think so my
SELF" replied the stranger, from what
l have heard from my representatives
here"
"And who might you be7" inquired
Sylvanus.
"My name Is Hawkins" said the
stranger, land I'm the owner Of the
| Coryville shoe factory. I came down
here half inclined to close up the fac
tory for good and consolidate 1t with
my main works in Chicago, and what
you have told me about the slowness
Of Coryville has determined me to do
SO. thank you"
Mr.. Crabb stopped in his tracks and
stared. He was worried for two rea-
sons. One was that two or three
young men who on other occasions had
told Mr.. Crabb that he was a useless
ornament to Coryville had overheard
him running down the town and had
heard Mr.. Hawkins statement as to
closing the shoe factory, the one insti-
tuition which kept the town from dis
| Indignation during the panic. The 9TH
er reason for Mr.. Crabb's worry was
that his four houses. which rented for
| SIS a month each and supplied bis en-
| tire cash income, were occupied by
men who would be compelled to leave
| town and look elsewhere for employ
ment when the factory closed, they be-
| ing skilled employees therein and hav-
ing no other trade.
Its '23' for you," remarked one of
| the young men mentioned as he passed
| by Sylvanus. Those young men work
ed in the shoe factory.
That night Sylvanus sat In his home
feeling truly detected. His fro knock
| ut Coryvflle had had results disastrous
to himself. But he did not brood long
in somber silence. Suddenly somebody
knocked at his door. Mr.. Crabb opened
the door and found himself confronted
by nearly a hundred ablebodied men.
They wore no masks or any other dis
guises. They were young men from
the shoe factory. merchants Of the
town, lawyers and others whom Syl-
vanus had been running down for thir-
ty years. They carried with them
large bag Of feathers and a pot Of tar
with brush stuck in It.
The spokesman was the young man
| W HO ldu ulSSSu 80 ~ tAC tO"A S~oiu'
This man, after Sylvanus had obeyed
the order to come out into the street,
said sternly:
"Sylvanus Crabb, town scold and
| general nuisance, unless you march
straight to the hotel call Mr.. Hawkins
out, get down on your knees before
him and before all of US tell him that
Coryville is the best town on earth
and plead for him to keep his factory
here We'll tar and feather you and set
every dog in town on you"
Sylvanus had met his Waterloo. He
walked to the hotel surrounded by the
stern faced men, his neighbors with
whom he never had neighbored. and,
after kneeling to Mr.. Hawkins and
making his declaration and plea In
whining tones, he was permitted to go
home.
Next day the local paper contained
an account Of the affair and also stated
that Mr.. Hawkins had determined not
only to leave his factory in Coryville,
but to enlarge 1t.
Mr.. Crabb also learned from the
newspaper story that the committee