A LITTLE EXCITEMENT IN A CAFE.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4466, 28 April 1883, Page 4

A LITTLE EXCITEMENT IN A CAFE.

A gentleman leaning against one of the iron pillars in Doonet's Cafe, Philadelphia, a few evenings ago, was observed to pitch suddenly forward; and nearly fall on the marble floor. He turned very, pale, and I looked about him to see whether his inI voluntary action had been noticed. It did not appear to have been, and he walked back to the pillar and examined it critically. Then he walked around it and looked up to < the ceiling. He looked at the floor, and ' then to satisfy himself whether the post j had moved from its place and kicked him, he pressed hard against it with the palm of bis bond. In another instant the gentleman was sprawling on the floor. He got up, and finding that he was beginning to attract attention, he wslked back and sought Mr Dooner. "Is this place haunted," he asked, "or have you a familiar spirit that knocks people down ?" Then he explained what bad taken place. " Nonsense," said Mr Dooner, " show me the post, and I'll hug it if you say so." Mr Dooner was shown the post, and he put his arms around it. But it was not for long. In less than two seconds Mr Dooner was where his guest had been a few minutes before. At the same time a howl of rage was heard in the barroom. Mr Dooner ran back. A man was standing there with a halfemptied glass of wine in his hand. " What does this mean P" he demanded. " I attempted to take a drink and a shock : went through me like a galvanic battery. Do you " He was interrupted by another man, | who entered suddenly, with a yell and a j muttered imprecation. " What's the matter here ?" he asked rather angrily. " I 1 put my hand'on an iron post out there," pointing to the cafe, " and I believe I am paralysed." By this time a group of excited men bad gathered around. "The place'is bewitched," said one; "or has been magnetised," suggested I another. "No, gentlemen," ventured a little man, - who was smiling broadly, " It's nothing of the kind. These gentlemen have received an electric shock. Make investigation and see if I am not right." The hotel: proprietor sent for the manager of the Electric Power Company on Arch street, above Tenth. He came, and in less than twenty miuutes had solved tb.6 mystery. It was found that a steel screw, from which depended an electric light, hud been pushed too for through the lath and plaster, and came in contact with an iron girder. The girder rests on the pillar, and. the base of the pillar rested on another girder beneath the floor. . The gentlemen who were knocked downhad completed the circuit by touching the fpost, and the man who thought he was drinking molten lead did the same by placing his foot on the metal rail in the front of the bar after he bad lifted the glass to his lips. The screw was given a naif turn back, the circuit was broken, and everybody wa« relieved.