True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young. Page: 203
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HOUSTON AND HOUSTONIANS 203
The boring continued for several weeks and almost as many
people went out to see the well bored as had gone to try to see
the ghosts, for it was a strange sight to see a well being bored
right through the roof of a house. I don't know whatever resulted
from sinking the well beyond the fact that the ghosts were
apparently pleased to have living beings complete the destruction
of the man's house which they had begun, and so withdrew from
the job. If gold or oil were ever found the man kept it a profound
secret, for no one ever heard of it.
Those ghosts were amusing fellows, that is for everybody except
the owner of the property, and as the spectators were generally
out in the yard with plenty of company it was not the
least scary to be there. I afterward had experience with one of
the silent fellows, one of those kind you can neither see nor
hear, but whom you can "feel" is there all right. I stayed in a
room with one of these one night until after midnight. Then
the lamp went out suddenly, something blew in my ear and I
left. I can give the street and number of this place, but I will
not do so, for I passed it the other day and saw on its front:
"Furnished Rooms to Rent." I don't want to empty the place,
and while it is a good story and absolutely true, I will not tell it.
SINCLAIR'S GOAT RACES.
O NE hot day during the summer of 1892, Wm. R. Sinclair
and Nat Floyd were standing on Congress Avenue near
the corner of Main Street when two boys came along
driving two dilapidated-looking goats, hitched to wagons made
out of soap boxes and mounted on baby buggy wheels. Sinclair's
attention was drawn to the activities of the two boys
who were trying to get some action out of their respective goats.
Turning to Floyd, Sinclair said:
"Floyd, I'll bet you that the far goat beats the other to the
courthouse."
"What'll you bet?" asked Floyd.
"Drinks for you and me and a quarter as a prize for the
winner of the race," said Sinclair.
"You're on," said Floyd. "Line up your goats."
Sinclair halted the two boys and explained the situation to
them and they readily agreed to make the race. Sinclair and
Floyd got out in the street and began the preliminaries.
At that time Congress Avenue had a so-called pavement, but
it was good on one side only. There were no traffic laws then,
as now, so anybody used the side of the street that seemed best
or more convenient. The result was that only one side of the
street being used when the two newspaper men took charge of
the goats, they blocked traffic in both ways. A big crowd began
gathering and everybody wanted to know who had been killed,
what accident had happened or what was the matter. Floyd and
Sinclair made no answer, but went ahead with their work. Just
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Young, Samuel Oliver. True stories of old Houston and Houstonians: historical and personal sketches / by S. O. Young., book, 1913; Galveston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24646/m1/203/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.