Oh! Oh! I know that!
Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk (or Corn Whiskey)
Crack shot Jerome Wilson found himself in hot water following his failed attempt to shoot a glass of milk from atop the head of visiting English dairyman Sir Peter J. Irmsby Forbes at the 1926 El Paso County Fair. The stunt-gone-wrong resulted in no injury to Sir Forbes, but mortally offended the prize winning peach preserves canned by Mrs. Alice Green of Peyton, who was fortunate to have stepped away from her position at the winners’ table when the errant projectile crashed into the quart-sized Ball jar containing the fair’s first-place perfect peaches.
Holding back tears of disappointment, Mrs. Green exclaimed, “Only a moment was I gone” when the terrible act was perpetrated. She insisted that the obliteration of her preserves was no accident, but an intentional deed executed by Mr. Wilson, whose daughter’s preserves were also entered into the peach preserve competition. “It was revenge,” said Mrs. Green, “for my winning the event again this year.” Mrs. Green had held the honor for her impeccable preserves for the past four years.
Mr. Jerome Wilson’s daughter was nowhere to be found when Mr. Wilson was questioned by Sheriff’s Deputy James Cooper. “It wasn’t my fault,” insisted Mr. Wilson, explaining, “Sir Forbes flinched at the moment I pulled the trigger and my intended target, the glass of milk, fell to the ground.” Sir Forbes, who had never before performed in any sort of shooting exhibition was apologetic and remorseful stating, “I could not help but anticipate the shot and my fear got the best of me. . . . I feel wretched that the fine peaches were soiled.”
According to the El Paso County Democrat newspaper, the unfriendly peach rivalry devolved into accusations of cheating and a “rigged competition.” The coveted first-place ribbon was “not worth dying for,” said Mrs. Green, who insisted Deputy Cooper arrest Mr. Wilson on the charge of attempted murder. Cooper, an avid reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries, concluded after his brief investigation that the whole affair was an accident and that Mrs. Green was fortunate that she was unharmed and Mr. Wilson, though indignant over the accusations, was fortunate that nobody was injured.
The next year’s El Paso County Fair in 1927 was far less exciting as no shooting exhibitions were permitted and Mrs. Green chose to retire after her fifth year of placing first in preserves and canning. She did, however, continue to be involved as a judge of pastries and pies, rather than preserves, fearing retribution by Mr. Wilson if by chance any of his family members were to compete for her long-held preserves title.
Holding back tears of disappointment, Mrs. Green exclaimed, “Only a moment was I gone” when the terrible act was perpetrated. She insisted that the obliteration of her preserves was no accident, but an intentional deed executed by Mr. Wilson, whose daughter’s preserves were also entered into the peach preserve competition. “It was revenge,” said Mrs. Green, “for my winning the event again this year.” Mrs. Green had held the honor for her impeccable preserves for the past four years.
Mr. Jerome Wilson’s daughter was nowhere to be found when Mr. Wilson was questioned by Sheriff’s Deputy James Cooper. “It wasn’t my fault,” insisted Mr. Wilson, explaining, “Sir Forbes flinched at the moment I pulled the trigger and my intended target, the glass of milk, fell to the ground.” Sir Forbes, who had never before performed in any sort of shooting exhibition was apologetic and remorseful stating, “I could not help but anticipate the shot and my fear got the best of me. . . . I feel wretched that the fine peaches were soiled.”
According to the El Paso County Democrat newspaper, the unfriendly peach rivalry devolved into accusations of cheating and a “rigged competition.” The coveted first-place ribbon was “not worth dying for,” said Mrs. Green, who insisted Deputy Cooper arrest Mr. Wilson on the charge of attempted murder. Cooper, an avid reader of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries, concluded after his brief investigation that the whole affair was an accident and that Mrs. Green was fortunate that she was unharmed and Mr. Wilson, though indignant over the accusations, was fortunate that nobody was injured.
The next year’s El Paso County Fair in 1927 was far less exciting as no shooting exhibitions were permitted and Mrs. Green chose to retire after her fifth year of placing first in preserves and canning. She did, however, continue to be involved as a judge of pastries and pies, rather than preserves, fearing retribution by Mr. Wilson if by chance any of his family members were to compete for her long-held preserves title.
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Earlier that year in January, Mr. Wilson was arrested for operating an unlawful still in a shed in back of his residence on West Colorado Avenue. Police caught Wilson transporting bottles of moonshine in his open convertible automobile concealed under his five daughters’ dresses. The hidden hooch was divulged when some of the bottles broke after a rough crossing over the streetcar tracks caused Wilson’s frightened five-year-old to retreat from the front seat to the back seat. Already under suspicion and close surveillance, police stopped the car, arrested Mr. Wilson, and returned the daughters home to their mother. The five-year-old girl, not understanding the gravity of the event, told her mother, “Daddy got to ride in a police car!”
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