Tall Tale

You have been publishing some pretty tough stories about setting hens and eggs, Mr. Editor, and now we wish you to publish the following very laughable incident, which actually happened, and if your readers are disposed to doubt it, we respectfully refer them to that well-known farmer, Mr. J.C. Josey. 
Before the war, all pants cloth was made on a loom at home from yarn that had been spun and dyed in indigo, oak buds, walnut hulls, etc. Just after the war, Mr. _________ of Tiller's Ferry, Kershaw county, had a new Sunday suit made of this cloth. It had been dyed of walnut hulls, etc., and these stains were not washed out of the yarn.
One hot summer Sunday Mr. __________ walked about a mile to church. When he arrived there, he was very warm, and perspiration had dampened his suit, causing the dye to "run," at the same time creating an unhealthy odor. 
Mr. __________ who was somewhat superstitious became alarmed. He went to the pastor and said he wished to be immersed that afternoon as he would soon leave this world. "I am mortifying now," he urged earnestly. "I am decaying. I stinks. I stinks."
After the sermon, the minister with solemn face and sad tone, announced that Bro. ________ would be immersed in a mill pond near there at 4 o'clock that afternoon, that he expected to die soon as he was mortifying then, decomposition having already set in. 
Mr. Editor, this is a bad one, but Mr. Josey is a man of unquestioned veracity and says he saw the young man immersed.

BLUE STEEL

The County Record, June 10, 1897