The Heckler Who Fell Flat

One of the most amusing incidents of the campaign took place on Pioneer Place last evening. A large crowd of men of all shades of political beliefs was gathered around the stand put up for Junius Rochester's talk that night. One man, determined to get a hearing, mounted the platform. His appearance was enough to fasten attention on him; he was so long and thin that he looked like a hop pole split endways. His long bony arms waved and his long, shaky legs swung so that he resembled a cross between a scarecrow and a windmill. With a harsh, grating voice, he shouted for attention, but the crowd saw at a glance that he was 'too full for utterance' and set up a yell. He demanded attention 'in the name of the great American people,' but every time he attempted to talk, another yell went up. Meanwhile, the word had been passed among the crowd that this was the man who had hired himself out to the enemies of Seattle to write letters to the Tacoma Ledger, slandering his home. A big husky fellow reached up his hand, the tall man grasped it, and the next instant he tumbled heels over head to the ground. The fun was finally beginning to wane when the correspondent returned, and a big, humorous fellow got up on the platform with him and went through a series of pantomimic motions like a Punch and Judy show that set the crowd wild with laughter.