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| LSU's 1910 football team 2001.031.013;Katherine Poole Antrobus collection |
The
Planters’ Press shared the following incident in its
October 27, 1938, issue.
“Deputy Sheriff Ira Harbuck paid off a football bet
Monday at noon when he trundled a wheelbarrow in which the winner of the wager,
Jimmy Swords, was riding from the front of the Court House up through the town
of Benton and back again.”
“The two had bet on the outcome of the State
University-Vanderbilt football game, played last Saturday night down in Baton
Rouge. Being a staunch Centenary fan,
Ira naturally couldn’t see LSU at all.
Well, he lost.”
“Several of their friends contrived to borrow a
wheelbarrow and ‘dress it up’ in LSU’s colors.
A placard reading as follows: ‘I won, he lost’ was prepared and Jimmy
carried it proudly as the bet was being paid off.”
“The big crowd attracted by the novel ‘stunt’ proved
about as embarrassing to Jimmy as to Ira, for ‘tis said that Ira managed to
make the ride a most uncomfortable one what with finding all the holes and
rough spots from the Court House up town and back.”
“One pleasant diversion during the affair took place
at the D.H. Stinson home. Tax Assessor
T.J. Caldwell, a graduate of LSU, and an ardent football ‘rooter’ for the
Tigers, stopped the parade to call his ‘Friend Dewey’ outside ‘to see what
happens to fellows who bet against LSU.’
When Dewey appeared with a shotgun the Tax Assessor’s dignity deserted
him and he flattened himself out on the sidewalk in nothing flat, to the
amusement of all present.”
“Since that time the Assessor hasn’t been so active
in promoting football bets—in fact, he’s declined to make a similar wager with
Health Director H.N. Barnett, a loyal Vandy man, who’s betting Tennessee upsets
the Bayou Tigers this weekend.”
For more light-hearted Bossier humor that appeared
in the local newspapers, visit Bossier Parish Libraries History Center.
By: Ann Middleton
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