Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 January 1901 — SHOT THE MARSHAL. [ARTICLE]

SHOT THE MARSHAL.

Ed Byers Fills Marshal Brown’s Anatomy With Bird Shot. Up at Wheatfield last Friday Ed Byers, a citizen of that village, loaded up on Wheatfield bug juice and proceeded to entertain the boys who were juking him. Marshal Brown was in the crowd and was doing his share of the “kidding.” Byers had an old shot gun with him, and it is said that Brown gave him leave to shoot at him, saying that the former could not hit him if he tried, and thinking of course that Byers would riot dare to shoot any how. But here Brown was mistaken, as Byers took him at his as lie was leaving the saloon emptied both barrels at the town marshal. The shot from the first barrel landed in Brown’s back and as he turned to see what was going on in the saloon, the shot from the second barrel struck him in the face. Brown was not seriously hurt and is able to be around on the street, but it is doubtful if lie will take part in any more jokes. Byers was not arrested and the Wheatfield Telephone writes up the affair i.s follows: SUCH A FUNNY JOKE? Wheatfield is a great place for practical jokes, and some of these jokes are darned hard on the victim’s nerves, not saying anything about the village ordinances and state statutes which are fractured in their perpetration.

Ed. Byers owns an old bell-muzzle shot gun, and does know enough to shoot it, but not enough to know where not to shoot it. That’s a joke on Byers. * Major Brown is the whole police force of Wheatfield. That’s a joke on Wheatfield. This morning as Major was sauntering down Main street Byers pumped two loads of No 8 shot into his rotundrf. The portly Major immediately did three bars of the itchy scratchy dance and said “onch!” That was a joke on the Major. A part of the charge broke three window panes in August Lidoke’s residence. Another joke. How funny!

Prosecutor Sink was within a hundred feet of the scene. He is considerable of a joke too. It doesn’t appear as though there would be any prosecution of the case. That is a joke on law and order. Last summer a couple of dynamite bombs with threatening letters were placed on the steps of a couple of residences here. No one was ever punished for it. That was a huge joke. Very funny Hat Ha! If something isn’t done to check this “practical -. joke” business in Wheatfield, some day there’ll be the bloodiest joke by several gallons that ever occurred in the county. Major’s clothing was well perforated, but with the exception of a few shot which went through his ear and cut the side of his tace, he was uninjured. He says his escape is due to the fact that you can’t hurt a good man' Again others are mean enough to insinuate that his escape was due to a bad case of callouses acquired by heavy sitting around. Anyhow we are glad he was not seriously hurt.