Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1883 — HOW HE GOT A BLACK EYE. [ARTICLE]

HOW HE GOT A BLACK EYE.

A William street saloon-keeper dropped into his store one morning. He had been absent for a week, and 'when he arrived his face looked like a chop-ping-block. “What’s the matter?” asked a friend. “I don’t see anything the matter,” he answered. “What you got your head bound up like a bass-drum at a soldier’s funeral for?” “O that’s all right.” “Where did you get that black eye?” “Now, see here,” said he. “For fear that you’ll go away with the idea that I’ve been splitting wood, or got up in the night for a drink, or that my moth-er-in-law is in town, I’ll tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me 25 cents! My neighbor’s cat eat up all my chickens, and I shot the cat.” And then the interviewer shook his head knowingly and remarked: “I see! The gun kicked.” “No,” responded the saloon-keeper, “it was the neighbor who kicked.”— New York World.