Year: 1878

AN ILLINOIS BOY.


What He Caught In His Trap.


The New York Times has an edito-
rial on the wonderful resources Of
the Illinois boy. Master Sloane, OF
Clinton. ILL, invented trap on the
principle used in Africa for trapping
game-that is to say he constructed
q slip-noose Of thongs, and attached
it to the top Of stout sapling. which
he bent down by the aid of a hoist.
ing-tackle, and fastened 1t to the
ground. And this was the result:


Master Sloane had sister, a young
lady Of great worth and of very de-
cided character. Other girls, who
were envious of her beauty, said she
was an ill-tempered, red haired thing.
but this was probably mere calumny.
At all events, so thought the young
minister who was settled over the
Seventeenth Congregational Church,
and who was generally believed to
be Miss Sloane's accepted lover.
That he went to see Miss Sloane on
the very evening when the reckless
boy set his Central Africa trap, was
not strange, for he usually spent
three or four evenings every week at
the Sloane mansion, but 1t was a CO.
incidence that on that precise eve-
ming he proposed a walk, and led Miss
Sloane toward the identical lane
where the trap was waiting for VIC
tins.


How it happened that neither the
young minister nor Miss Sloane no.
ticed the bent sapling or the rope,
no one can understand, unless they
were 50 deeply engaged in the dis
cussion Of theological questions that
they were oblivious to all earthly
things. Still more difficult is it to
comprehend how they could both
have stepped within the moose,
which was spread out In the form OF
q circle not moro than a foot In d.
ameter. 1t Is plain, however, that
the lady was reading a hymn-book
and that her companion had ap-
preached extremely close to her In
order to see II the hymn was correct
ly printed. However this may be, the
fact remains that Miss Sloane's left
foot and the minister's right foot
were Just within the moose when the
trap sprung, and the elastic sapling
suddenly lifted them twenty feet in
to the air, where they remained
hanging like two cherries on . sim
gle stem, and expressing in lively
tones their suspicion that something
unusual had happened.


Half an hour later the Clinton and
Holmesville stage passed that way,
and the driver and his passengers
were astonished beyond measure.
For sometime it was supposed that
some new and curiously complicated
animal, consisting chiefly OF zebra
and black panther, was swinging
from the top Of the sapling; but just
as one OF the passengers was about
to fire at 1t, the driver recognized the
minister, though he was not able tc
recognize his fellow-prisoner. The
latter's voice was somewhat muffled,
but she was distinctly heard to re.
vile the minister, and to assert thai
she would never forgive him, no mat
ter how he might try to excuse him
self. Six strong men finally BEN
down the sapling. released the vic
Tins, and with rare delicacy assigned
the duty Of recognizing Miss Sloane
to the two ladies who were In the
stage. Fortunately, neither Of Mas
ter Sloane's victims were seriousl,
injured, and were both able to wall
home on opposite sides of the street


The results Of this affair were nu
merous. Miss Sloane left town rh'
next day on a visit to the East, ant
has not since returned. The minis
ter was tried for indiscreetly hang
ing from the tops Of trees with younI
ladies. and thereby bringing re
proach upon his profession, but wa
acquitted by a close vote. As 70
Master Sloane, it Is believed an
/ hoped that his father has killed him
At any rate, he has not been seen
and the rumor that he has been sen
to the House Of Refuge in Chicago 1
not generally believed.


An athletic specimen OF the Emer
- r. u