Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-09-13
"HARD MAN, WH0?" is
MOST STRENUOUS SPORT

Next to war; the most strenuous game
Hard man who?" 1t is played by the
Scandinavian lumbermen OF the north
woods or Wisconsin. A Washington law
yer who witnessed the game on a visit to
she lumber camps describes it as follows
Tor the Washington Star:
There are generally about 100 lumber
men i'm each bunkhouse-great one
stored log buildings. banked with earth
ma Win hunks ranged along the walls.
w the center are tables set round with
'nfee-iegged stools, and here a few OF
me !umbermen beguiie the hour of rec
featlon before bedtime with "a game
allied Hard man, who?"
we strolled over to Il clubhouse n
nlsht and there found the ScanIina-
VANS gathered into seven or eight
groups OF a dozen each. Lots were
placed in u hat and every man of the
party drew. The man who got the black
lot was it.
He vas forthwith blindfolded tightly.
ana a stool being brought forth. he
eaned forward and placed his hands
with palms flat on the seat. The palms
nat, remember: therefore. since the
stool was low the victim had to bend
over considerably.
The victim being thus in sacrificial
posture, the remainder of he party now
drew lots again. The lucky man who
gets the highest lot then peels off his
coat from the corner brings forth
what would be called in law the "gist of
he action"
1t is a formidable weapon fashioned
from a III or outside cutting of saw
log, about three feet long and about six
inches wide by three inches thick at one
ma. Ihe other end Is whitfield down TO
form a comfortable handl for the per
SON officiating at the ceremonial.
He now grasps this sinister imple-
nlCl11 nv tho h1Icinn..c and ~ N ~ 1iv,,
sell away behind the lucllless victim
oent prayerfully over the stool. lifts his
terrifying b%ludgeon high tver his hou
aer and, with a swing like the stroke of
a plledrlVer, lands upon the Norseman
With a reSounding whack that echoes
a. shot from an elephant gun
L looked to see the spinal vertebrate
II that poor mortal driven out through
me roof OF his skul as, under the ter
rlflc impact. victim and stool were
.rlVen SPRAYING some dozen feet away,
>ut, TO my astonishment, the invulner-
able Scandinavian leaped unhurt to his
feet and braWled out:
ITS Ole Hansen!"
Howls of CHASTITY laughter greeted
this remark. hen / gathered that the
stricken one had failed to guess the
pane of the striker. Again the hapless
%blindfold bent stolidly over the stool,
palms down; the burly executor who
wasn't Ole Hansen grasped his murder
Gus weapon and. now warmed up to the
work, dealt a blow that would have
felled a Texas steer, and again the
stricken one, picking himself up from
the dirt floor, cried out:
"Ha, it's Lars Orndorff!" he ex-
claimed his time.
But ala for him! Shouts of bolster
GUS glee, rising above the noise Of num-
erous other games in progress through
the long room, told thai he had guessed
wrong lHa1n With tho phi1Nco~Ht<& NJ
OF Sidney Carton the unfortunate sub
1ect o mis- place a third time and once
again faced death backward. AS he
arose a third time in somewhat dis
heweled condition. he cried out:
That bane Left Carlsen!"
Then there was a roar from all the
players except the man with the murd-
erous tool, for he nae guessed right his
time. The m~uch-battered one whipped
off his blindfold and took his place with
the others. while the unhappy Left
placed the bandage about his eyes. his
late victim seeing to it that no loophole
for sight was left. Lots were again
drawn for the office Of executioner and
1t fell to the man lately blindfolded. He
declined he honor, however. as under
the rules, he had a right, fearing lest
the temptation to guess his name would
be too strong in Leif's breast.
In this he showed his foresight, for,
as Left picked himself from the floor.
whether he had beer driven by a sledge
hammer bdow at the hands Of Orndorf.
he brawled out:
Its Olesen. it's Olesen!" the name
IF the late victim.
And l chimed in with Olesen when he
led The cheering over Leif's failure:
he'd certainly earned a right to gloat
owe thai Lief.
For an hour 1 stood and watched
those fellows hammer each other in a
way that in any other company would
have meant a long list Of killed and
wounded-all in the name of playful
sport! Three times the unlucky Garrison
went to the sacrificial stool. Yet, when
1t was over he challenged Hansen to a
wrestling match and flung him t the
earth with a jolt that would have
Knocked the wind from a hippopotamus;
after which he smoked u placid pipe
and played a game of cards, yawned,
stretched. said he was sleepy and went
to bed.