Evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1907-1913, 1912-07-18
THRILLING 81 ! RACES
Between TURTLES
kRs NJ e. asas Fsl
Naval Officer Tells How He
Won Big Wad Of Money
And Some Alleged
'd Cigars
+-,r

"Ya-as that's an imported cigar
from Cuba, drawled genial p. B.
Golden. chief master OF arms OF your
Uncle Samuel's navy, who is now i'll
Martinsburg preparing to recruit men
for the big new hattleships, now
about to go into commission.
Sure it's an imported cigar" re.
peated Pat" as he is known half
around the globe, as he cheerfully
poisoned the air in The Evening Jour
nal office with siX-ineh section OF
inch.thick tar rope. disguised as a
c gar u know it's imported, for |
imported it myself, and didn't tell I'm,
Gle Sam anything about it. either.
Gimme a match"
A, this point one OF the pressmen
from the back Office came running in
with hand eXtinguisher, looking for
the fire, but was waved gently aside
by Pat" who resumed his story.
This cigar, which you ribald young
men are trying TO get funny over. is a
genuine Cuban, hand-rolled article,
and is one of a big box won from
one of nav comrades on the Yosemite,
before that good ship sank near the
island of Guam. way out in the Paei-
fic. Gimme match. That was the
I Ts,1iy rot
into Absolutely nothing dom with
barrels of time in which to do it.
that the fellers began to cast about
for anything that promised diversion.
We had wads of money and couldn't
spend il, so the fellers went daf1y on
the betting game. Gimme a match,
Whey, they'd bet on aything. from
the name of the first guy the Old Man
would call down. TO the weight of the
biggest fish the fellers would catch.
We'll, one day the boys were out
in one of the big boats, and up pop
ped a school OF the biggest porpoises
ever saw You won't believe me,
of course, but some of them We're at
least eight feet across and three feet
thick, and so tame that they swan
right up to the boats and poked their
heads over the guuwales, as if they
were looking for some long-lost
f,ia a match
These blamed porpoises were so
tame that the boys got the idea OF
having some fun with them in their
heads, 50 we just naturally threw a
rope over the heads of two OF them
and towed them to the harbor where
the Yosemite was anchored. We
didn't have any trouble coaxing them
out on the beach, where they lumber.
ed around like a couple of elephants
at play, and seemed pleased to make
our acquaintance. Gimme match.
Finally one of the boys said he'd
bet me $40 that his animal could beat
mine in race and of course took
him up. We managed to get the
brutes both headed in the same direc
ton back of line drawn on the
sand, and got them started at the
word. BY walking behind them and
prodding them with our feet we kept
them at it, but the other porpoise
beat mine by a foot or two-and
lost the ten spot. Gimme a match
That was the dad-burndest race ! ever
saw, and what was odd was the fact
that the animals seemed to under
stand what was wnted We tried il
over two or three times more, but
each time my animal was too SLOW to
beat the other fellows, and | lost sew
eral more ten spots. Gimme Il match
That night tried to think up some
scneme to beat the game, so the next
day | proposed that we put brides on
the porpoises and ride them in the
race. We went out in the boat and
easily captured the same animals
again and brought them ashore. We
rugged up Two brides. with reins long
enough to reach up over their backs,
and shortly everything was ready for
the race. But curing the night | had
quietly rowed out in,o the water and
whistled for my porpoise, and when he
swan up to the boat bored a hole
in his back with gimlet, and when
| went back to the ship | fixed a
nail in the sole o. my shoe. This was
my spur, so to speak, and | figured
that | could get enough speed out of
that animal o make a killing when
the betting came off. Gimme match.
well, we got ready for the race,
and by this time the betting was
heavy. | had several hundred dollars
in my clothes. and put up every cent
on my mount The other fellows
boss was the favorite, and | got
odds OF two TO one. We rode the race
at audiug un--aud say / want IN tell