Here is item from the Alton Democrat Newspaper in September 1886. Name
has been changed to protect the perpetrator's innocent
descendants.
Pieter's Picnic (anonymous name)
Deke Pieters is the name of a devil-may-care sort of young fellow that
has been working for various farmers in the vicinity of Orange City and
Hospers. Dirk is counted a
pretty good worker as long as he shuns the flowing bowl, but he will
presist in occasionally absorbing Republican Pharmacy whiskey and get
howling drunk. Hospers
does not boast of a municipal government and a marshall and Pieters
being aware of that fact, always goes to that town, when on a spree, and
paints the town dizzy red
without fear of molestation.
Last Sunday morning Pieters made his appearance in that quiet, little
town, and from his actions one would not long remain in doubt that he
had swallowed enough red-eye
to float a ship. He amused himself for a time by driving his horse up
and down the streets, at breakneck speed, at the same time yelling like
a Comanche Indian. The
peaceful inhabitants of Hospers were dazed for a while and wondering if
Angel Gabrial had not blown his horn and bidden the corpses in the
gravyard to arise and shake off
the drowsiness of death. Gradually, however, they realized that it was
only Pieters on one of his high lonesomes. For three mortal hours they
listened to a torrent of
inelegant language and profusion of howls from the intoxicated young
tough and then forbearance ceased to be a virtue. Half a dozen men went
out, caught the horse, and
yanked Pieters from the vehicle in a jiffy. Then they tied the horse to
a fence and requested him to go away and sleep off the effects of the
poisonous whiskey he had
swallowed. This he refused to do, and attempted to untie the horse.
While scuffling at this, somebody unsnapped the halter-strap, unhitched
the horse and put it in a
stable, and Pieters was still struggling for posession of the strap.
When he secured it, he was amazed to find that the horse had disappeared
as completely as if it had
taken wings and flown away. This dazed the young tough for an instant,
but he soon recovered and the volley of profanity was shocking that he
uttered against the town
and its inhabitants. Finding that he was a nuisance and not to be abated
without using heroic measures, a dozen citizens took him by main force
to the depot and dispite
his struggles and curses, they thrust him into an empty freight car and
fastened the door upon him. After he had sobered off, he was released
and emphatically informed
that the next time he came to Hospers, got drunk and tried to run the
town that they would assist him form the town with a bonbardment of
ancient eggs. The grand Jury
will probably wind up Mr. Pieters little ball of yarn if he remains in
the county until the courts sets.
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