Bones of a Dog Found in "Bomb"

1920

Senders Now Plead They Are Only Two Boy Jokers

OAKLAND, Cal., Feb. 26. — A supposed bomb sent as a joke by two small boys to L. J. Lamb caused the recipient considerable uneasiness until the package was opened and found to contain the bones of a dog.

When Lamb received the package he noted a suspicious piece of rope hanging out. He summoned Police Inspectors Wallman and Flynn, who gingerly opened the parcel and found the bones of a dog with the following note:

"Dear Sir: We hate to inform you that the bones of your ancestors have to be taken from the grave where they have been buried for the last 400 years. The dues that are to be paid every hundred years are forty years overdue. Seeing that there has been no payment on the space for forty years, we are sending them to you, knowing that we could not get in connection with any other member of your family. You may expect them soon. — Manager Brooke, Lender Glen cemetery, London, England."

The inspectors traced the package to two 13-year-old boys, Lester Burpes and Neal Daniel, who declared they sent the parcel as a joke.

Practical Joke Lands Pair in County Jail

1920

Dance Promoters Get Free Dinner, but "Never Again!"

ST. JOSEPH, Mo., Feb. 26. — A little practical joke landed Frank Mahaney and his bosom friend, Toble Resnik, in the county jail, where they were kept for several hours before they could convince the officers that they were only joking. Now, when they are asked about practical jokes, they raise their hands and exclaim: "We're off that stuff!"

It all came about this way. Mahaney, who is a dancing master, was to give a grand ball in the opera house at Savannah. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon he and Resnik drove into Savannah and went to look over the hall and arrange the preliminaries for the evening's fun. But the fun came a long time before that.

When they came down half an hour later they found a great crowd congregated around their car examining a bottle of distilled water. When a fellow asked if it was their alcohol Mahaney answered in the affirmative, and added that "it's good stuff at that."

Then it was all over but the shouting, for the next act opened with Mahaney and Resnik in the county jail. Their only compensation was that they had a free dinner at the expense of the jailer. They were released from the bastile in time to "go on with the dance."


It Merely Saved Time

A rich old fellow refused a friend the loan of $50. "I did not expect that of you," said the friend bitterly, "and I will never forgive you for your refusal." "Of course, you won't, my dear fellow," said the other; "but if I lent you the $50 you wouldn't have repaid me, and we should have quarreled about that — so it's as well to get the row over at once. Good morning!"

Goes Insane, The Terrible Result of a Joke

1878

A special dispatch to the London Free Press from Ottawa, Ont., says: The man Somerville, belonging in Thorne, Pontiac county, who became insane through a practical joke being played on him, passed through this city last evening in charge of a friend, on his way to the asylum at Long Point, near Montreal.

A short time since a party of shanty men were on their way up the river, Somerville being one of the number, when they all got on a drunk, more or less. The day following, Somerville was told he had shot a certain magistrate while intoxicated, and that he would likely be arrested. In order to avoid this, he was advised to clear to the woods, and during the night, he did so.

It was fourteen days before he was found again, and then it was discovered that he was a raving maniac, having become so through fear of exposure and want of food.