THOMAS, Fred - bugged Buggy man - Putnam

The next time any one wants Fred Thomas of the Thomas Buggy Co. to appear in the Putnam Circuit Court as a witness they probably will have to him there by force. There's a reason. Thursday afternoon Mr. Thomas received a telephone call asking him to go to the court house immediately to testify in the mule case. The attorney who phoned him told him he was wanted as an expert witness to establish the value of a ‘'deceased mule”. Fred hesitated about going but a second call from Howard Harris, the deputy sheriff took him to court house in a hurry. Enroute he stopped off in a barber shop to fix up a little so that he would make a good appearance on the witness stand. Arriving in the court room he took a front seat and awaited being called to the witness stand.  He probably would have been there yet had not Judge Hughes inferred from the expression on the faces of several of Fred’s friends who were in the court room that something amusing was happening.  After Fred had waited for almost an hour, Judge Hughes called him up to the judge’s bench and asked him why he was loafing in the court room.  Then Fred got wise and now he is studying up some way to get even with his “friends.”