Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1883 — He Didn’t Relish the Blamed Joke. [ARTICLE]

He Didn’t Relish the Blamed Joke.

“I have a good joke to tell you,” said an Arkansaw Colonel to his friend the General. “The other day, you know, Higgins announced himself as a candidate for Judge. Well, I met him, and told him that you made fun of the idea, and declared that he didn’t have sense enough to serve on a Coroner’s jury. He is a notorious coward, you know, but he became furiously angry. Now, here’s where the joke comes in. ‘The General,’ I saidj ‘is the biggest coward in the world.’ ‘ls that so?’ Higgins asked. ‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘and what you want to do is to meet him and thrash him. He won’t fight you, and you’ll have an easy victory.’ Everybody that is acquainted with you knows that you are a brave man, General, and when the joke gets out we’ll have a good laugh.” Several days afterward the Colonel again met the General. “Hello, General, what’s the matter with your eyes and nose?” “Your blamed joke. You know, you told that fellow Higgins that he could whip me. ” "Yes.” “Well, if he didn’t do it.”