Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Legends -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- Miscellanea
The gentleman did as desired. Then Lord Wharncliffe and Jemmy, slipping
in by another door, proceeded to dress up a dummy that was in a closet
hard by in Jemmy's clothes.
Mr. Sadler was then told that all was ready, and he returned into the
room rather the worse for the liquor he had drunk.
The pistol was put into his hand, and he was stationed opposite the
dummy, which with outstretched arm pointed a pistol at him. The signal
was given, and Mr. Sadler fired; then Jemmy, who was secreted in a
closet hard by, pulled a string, and the dummy fell with a heavy thud
upon the floor.
Mr. Sadler, who thought he had killed his antagonist, was sobered
instantly, and was filled with remorse and fear. He rushed to the dead
man and then towards the door, then back to the corpse to see if life
were quite extinct. Then only, to his great relief, he found that the
supposed dead man was made of wood. The company burst into a roar of
laughter, and when he had sufficiently recovered from his bewilderment
he joined heartily in the mirth raised at his own expense. Jemmy,
emerging from his place of concealment, apologised for the offence he
had given, and both shook hands. The carouse was renewed with fresh
vigour, and the sun had risen an hour before the party broke up, and its
members unsteadily wended their way homewards.
Jemmy had bought a litter of pigs, and entertained the idea of teaching
them to act as setters in his shooting expeditions, and therefore spent
a considerable time every day in training them. There were only two that
he could make anything of. But he never could induce them to desist
from grunting. It was impossible to make them control their emotions
sufficiently to keep quiet, and this inveterate habit of course spoiled
them as setters.
When the litter was about six months old, one of the little pigs
discovered his potato garden, and that by putting its snout under the
lowest bar of the gate it could lift the gate so that the latch was
disengaged from the catch, and the gate swung open; by this means the
pig was able to get to the roots. Hirst saw the pig do this several
times, and he determined to stop the little game. He therefore ground
the blade of a scythe, and fixed it, with the sharp edge downwards, to
the lower bar.
Shortly after, Jemmy saw the pig go to the gate, but in lifting it off
the hasp the scythe-blade cut the end of the Snout off. Jemmy burst out
laughing, and called his old housekeeper to see the fun; but old Sarah
was more compassionate than her master, and begged him to kill the pig
and put it out of its pain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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