Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1895 — TRICK ON A DRUMMER. [ARTICLE]

TRICK ON A DRUMMER.

The Boys Filled His Hand Grcnfldc* with Turpentine. It was Into the small town of Newnan, Georgia, several years ago, just after the invention of chemical band grenades for extinguishing fires, that a young man strolled with a valiae full of these globes to sell to the good people of the village. “Yes, sir,” he told th& crowd that gathered around him, “a. half a dozen of these will put out a whole house afire. The grandest invention of the age. In a few moments, gentlemen, I shall get numbers of dry goods boxes, set them afire, and then 6how you the workings of this remarkable fire extinguisher.” Now, Newnan is famed the world over for the astuteness of its practical jokers. The valise had been left under a tree in the public square while the drummer went for the dry goods boxes. An idea of genius took possession of some man In the crowd. He whispered to a friend, the friend laughed incontinently and ran over to the drug store, coming back presently with a four-gallon can of turpentine. The grenades were snatched from the valise, uncorked, and filled as fast as these wicked men could pour the turpentine Info them. They had just completed their task when the exhibitor returned on a dray piled high with shoe boxes.

“Now, gentlemen,” he said with a busy air, “just be patient and we’ll start the circus.” It was a difficult matter for the crowd to be patient, but the exhibitor came to the conclusion that there never was such an interested gathering. The boxes were heaped high, straw was piled about them, and .the hand grenade man wiped his brow of the dampness of ardor and touched a match. “No,” he said, “not yet. Wait till she gets a little higher. I want to give you a good test” “Now, look out, everybody!” he shouted, taking up one of the grenades and hurling it into the midst of the seething flames. It struck, broke, and a great flame shot up twenty feet into the air. “That’s the way she acts sometimes,” said the fire extinguisher. “It generally takes three or four.” ; With that he seized a half dozen and hurled them in quick succession into the fire. Seldom, if ever, was there so large and well fed a conflagration. The exhibitor, in frenzy, threw his entire stock into the midst of the boxes, and when he had completed the task and stood pale, chagrined and aghast, a great shout went up from the Newman-, ites, and one of the best practical jokes for which the town is famous had been successfully performed. Shortly after this an interview took place between the drummer and his firm. The drummer told the firm candidly that he did not propose to work for a set of damned rascals; the firm told the drummer that he was a poor fool—and the drummer took up other lines of goods.