Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1901 — ADVENTURE IN A CAB. [ARTICLE]

ADVENTURE IN A CAB.

A Young Clubman’s Expsrience with the Man-Monkey. “I was 'never in London but once,” said a young clubman, chatting with a writer for the New Orleans TimesDemocrat, about foreign travel the other day, “and that visit is chiefly impressed on my memory by a very curious adventure I had in a cab. It happened in this way: A good friend had mapped out an itinerary that kept me constantly on the jump, and one evening, after dinner at a swell restaurant, he stuck me in a cab and started me off to meet some fellow Americans at a club two or three miles away. He was coming himself a little later, and had taken the precaution to write the exact address on one of my cards, in -case the cabby got muddled. Well, the cabby did get muddled, and presently he pulled up in front of a very large, brilliantly lighted building to make some inquiries. While he was talking to a policeman, a man wrapped in a heavy ulster and wearing a silk hat pulled low over his forehead appeared suddenly at the cab door. ‘Beg your pardon,’ he said in an agitated voice, ‘but I have a most important engagement to keep in ten minutes, and there isn’t a cab within a mile. I have just overheard your man getting his directions, and you pass directly by my place. Will you allow me to ride that far with you—l assure you it is most important.’ Naturally, I hesitated, but the man was so earnest in his plea that I yielded to a second impulse and told him to jump in. He did so with alacrity, and the driver immediately whipped up his horses. The cab was a four-wheeler, so there was plenty of room, and my passenger, who, by the way, carried a small hand satchel, silently ensconced himself in the corner of the front seat, with his shoulder to the window. That put him in the shadow and. as he left his ulster collar turned up and his hat pulled down, I could get no idea of his face, except that he seemed to be very swarthy. Of course, this evident desire not to be seen was suspicious, taken in connection with his agitation, and I began to reuall all the horrible stories I had ever heard of murders in hansom cabs, chloroformers. sandbaggers and homicidal lunatics until in a few moments I was in such a frame of mind that, ’pon my word, I believe pride is the only thing that prevented me from stopping the vehicle and calling assistance. Meanwhile we had been traversing a very busy section of the city and got caught in one or two slight blockades. At each stop my companion’s nervousness increased, and he was continually consulting a watch that he whipped out of his big ulster. ‘Good Heavens!’ he exclaimed, finally, ‘l’ll be late sure unless I fix up here! Will you allow me."' Without waiting for an answer, he snatched off his hat, and I was startled half out of my wits at the sight of a face painted seal brown, with a green nose and pink circles around the eyesand mouth. ‘l’m Bartoni, the man monkey,’ he said, noticing my amazement—‘the contortionist, you know. I’m performing in four different halls every night,’ he went on, rumaging in his satchel, ‘and I have to make quick connectioti from one to the other. I need a little change of make-up for my next turn, and if you don’t object I’ll fix it up here, so as to be all ready when we get there.’ I told him to go ahead, and as well as I remember, he painted his nose blue. His ulster came open in the process, and I saw he wore a full suit of fur tights. A few moments later we reached the theater, and, thankingbne warmly, he sprang out and disappeared, leaving me somewhat dazed. I heard afterward that it was & common thing for vaudeville atara to play several house* at once in London. Some of them make all their costume changes in cabs.”

A whole armload of old papers for a nickel at The Democrat office.