There was a man in Francis who had a mule. We had teams on the road all the time. We had a big feed barn where we fed 'em you know and this ole mule would get out and come up there. He could jump any fence in the country. He'd get into the lot and get in the stable and if there was anything in there to eat, he'd just stand there and eat and kick at you, and you couldn't get him out. You'd have to lasso him and get up in the loft and throw the rope out the door one boy would pull on the rope and the other would punch him with a pitch fork and turn him around and put a bridle on him to lead him out. We'd tie old buckets and things on his tail and turn him out up there and he didn’t care for it, but he wouldn’t run. I was up to Fredonie one day and I seen some Roman candles sittin' in the store window. They was 40 shots, and as long as a broom handle. I asked the feller what he'd take fer 'em, The merchant there. He said what do want with 'em? I said I want to put one of 'em on a mules tail. He said if you'll put 'em on like I tell you to put 'em on, I'll take a quarter for both of them. I said all right, how do you want 'em put on? He said lay the fuse up, let it come up to just about on top of the tail about where he's sheared to. They sheared A mules tail up real close. He said take your binding twine and just go to wrapin' tight up there and wrap it plumb down almost to the end of the bone on his tail, then double the bush back and come back up the other way a wrapin' it, then tie it and light it and turn him loose. That’s the way I want it put on. I said all right that's the way I'll put it on. So when I come home it was gettin' about night and my brother Forest was there. He said what are you going to do with them Roman candles? They was long nearly as a buggy bed. I said I'm goin' to put one on that mules tail next time he comes up here. He said, well he's up here now and I can't get him out of the barn. I said all right, we'll put it on him when it gets dark. We was afraid to let our daddy know it, afraid he wouldn’t let us put it on. So we got us a big ole ball of bindin' twine and after it got dark and caught him and started down to the old ice house. There was a big ol' gate there, a big ol' plank gate. We were goin' to back him up to that, I was goin' to get up on the gate on the inside and Forest was goin' to hold him while I tied it on for he was mean to kick. Well, there was a boy come up there a talkin' to my daddy, in a two horse buggy stopped out in front. Well we had to hide this ole' mule behind the ice house. We waited 'till this boy left, and gave him time to get to Francis before we lit it. Instead of goin' on, he met a fellow right out in front of the house a walkin' comin’ from Francis, and he stopped to talk to him. Forest got the bridle ready, and I said jerk it off him and fall back out of the way, for he might kick ya. I lit it and he thought we'd put a bucket or somethin' on his tail 'till sparks went to comin' out before it shot. He cocked his head up that a way and looked back and kicked with one foot and it throwed his tail up and that first ball hit him right between the ears. He throwed his head down an' he bawled, you know how a mule will bawl so and the next one went straight up. He wrang that tail you know and they'd shoot this a way and that a way and when he'd kick maybe they'd go way down the road in front of him. This man out in front of the house said, look out, get your team out of the road, here comes a shootin' star. He got almost to the church down there before the last one shot. When he'd wrang that tail they'd shoot this a way and that a way and some of them would hit him on the back. The next morning we went on to Mexico with a load of spar and passed this fellers house, we was about afraid to go by there He hadn’t got up yet for he was workin' of a night, and that ol' mule was a standin' up beside the barn with that Roman candle still tied to his tail. Every where a ball had hit him, his hair was the color of the ball. He was spotted all over. He never come back up there no more, he stayed away.