Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1911-08-03
NO FLIES ON PHILLY
Quaker City Is Swatting The Pests
For Small Cash Prizes-AlGO-
As-You-Please Affair.
REMINDER OF A MIDDLE STORY.
A Tale OF The Enemy" Aboard Good
Ship Columbus In lS4S; How The
Middies Practiced The Re-
Count Trick.

Verify there are mo flies on" Phil
adelphia. Through the enterprise of
the Evening Times eight millions have
ceased from troubling. A small cash
prize, fear of the fly and the 10Y of the
chase have worked together to enlist
the working interest of large share
! of the population who could give time
TO the contest.
More than a score of persons have
the enormous record of Staying about
twelve thousand of the pests. 1t
was a go-as-you-please affair so long
as the victims were brought into the
newspaper Office to be counted. it
mattered not to the fly editor whether
Sir Fly had met death by trap poison
or battle waged, so longsas his toes
Were curled heavenward. All this is
fine business as the children say, but
one is tempted to query in thinking of
the editor and his narrowing task of
making faithful count "thas this man
sinned or his parents" that he is so
afflicted. Has the S. p. C. A. no ju-
risdiction over the affair of the poor
quill driver? Surely the faithful soul
who has handled eight million dead
flies for love of his neighbor deserves
the appreciation of all
1t would be interesting to learn
what disposal was made of the bodies.
1t must have been quite an edifying
sight if the pile of dead ones con-
tanned the number believed The pos
sibility of any of the dead flies hav-
ing been twice counted reminds one
of a middle" story related by Ad-
miral Dan Ammen who, though long
dead, is still remembered for his dry
humor and warm heart.
The ne-of-battle-ship Columbus
carried besides officers and men on her
sail to the Pacific coast to lend hand
in the trouble of 1S48, call I'd the
Mexican War, a goodly popul ation OF
cock reaches. The genial waters Of
the Golden gate seemed to rather in
creased the number until it came to
the point of the, enemy aboard being a
greater menace to peace than the one
aboard.
After a council of war, it was de-
termined to begin a war of extermi-
nation, much on the order of the Phil
adelphia fly-killing plan, no matter how
the animal was killed, so long as he
was thoroughly dead, and the midship-
men were to be the heroes of the en-
gagement. AS volunteers were con-
spicuous by their absence, coercion
was resorted to, each lad being COM
PEELED to turn in to the officer of the
deck his bag for the day, which must
contain a given number of reaches.
This, at first, was simple matter,
the reaches strolling by within easy
reach, but as the war was long con-
tinued they became so scarce that the
midshipmen were in great straights
to furnish the desired complement, I'M
til one long-headed embryo commander
discovered that by throwing the
reaches overheard, as directed after
each counting-against the wind they
all came flying back and dropped on
the lower deck, from whence it was
an easy matter to retrieve them for
the next days count.
This went on unsupported until the
bugs wore out from too much handl-
ing, but the trick was forgiven when
it was found that the Industrious boys
had really cleared the ship of the
pests. But Admiral Ammen said he
had no plum-duff for the rest of that
cruise though he would not confess to
knowing the genius who invented the
recount trick.
FRANCES JAY.