Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE
PART TWENTY-TWO: After a two-part examination of the newest Fool Killer Letter (CLICK HERE ) and the revelation of the vigilante’s activities in Texas in December of 1899 it’s back to looking at the 1919-1929 Fool-Killer presented by THE James Larkin Pearson.
The targets of the Fool Killer (I prefer no hyphen) in the January, 1920 issue:
*** Major newspapers which chided American Labor for bringing attention to the unscrupulous activities of the bloated rich pigs who ran the management side of America’s industries.
It’s reminiscent of today’s battles with the Robber Barons of Silicon Valley, like Mark “Skippy” Zuckerberg, Jack “White Male Privilege” Dorsey and their fellow corporate fascists at Google and elsewhere. (And check out the documentary The Creepy Line which exposes Silicon Valley fascists at their worst.)
*** Ever since aircraft were proven to be workable the fictional Fool Killer seemed to have moderated his instinctive assumptions that people trumpeting scientific breakthroughs were fools and/or liars. By 1920 if an inventor or tinkerer boasted about their amazing discoveries or devices the homicidal vigilante had shifted to a policy of investigating the claimant and their scientific breakthrough.
If the claims held up to the Fool Killer’s scrutiny he took no action. But if the claims seemed ridiculously wrong OR like a con or scam to trick people out of their money the folk figure unleashed his weaponry on the “fool” …
*** The Fool Killer investigated a recent claim from “a young feller up north in New York” (no name given) that he invented a “gas vaporizer” to replace carburetors. The young inventor claimed that his device would let your car get “ninety miles per gallon.” Since no such device ever hit the market it would seem the claimant was a con artist and was subjected to the Fool Killer’s usual brand of summary “justice.”
*** In Kansas City the roaming vigilante looked into another inventor’s claim that he had invented “an all-new type of engine” that was “sixty percent more efficient” than the engines currently in use. This, too, seems to have been a scam and the self-proclaimed inventor was dealt with. Continue reading
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The top seeds – the TENNESSEE WESLEYAN COLLEGE BULLDOGS – clashed with the 6th seeded SAINT THOMAS UNIVERSITY BOBCATS (should be the Tomcats) for the NAIA title. A 1-0 1st Inning edge for the Bulldogs became a 2-0 lead in the 3rd. 
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The last two teams standing in this World Series were the 5th seeded NORTHERN OKLAHOMA COLLEGE AT ENID JETS and the 3 seeds – the MESA COLLEGE THUNDERBIRDS. After 2 scoreless Innings the Thunderbirds went up 2-0 in the 3rd. 
DAY ONE, GAME ONE: The UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AT BOSTON BEACONS took the diamond against the WEBSTER UNIVERSITY GORLOKS. Neither team scored in the first 2 Innings, following which the 3rd ended in a 1-1 tie. 
COMIN’ AT YA! (1981) – Directed by Ferdinando Baldi, Comin’ At Ya! is often credited with starting the pointless and bizarre 1980s revival of 1950s-style 3D movies. The film stars Tony Anthony, famous to us Spaghetti Western fans for the movie series in which he played a gunslinger called the Stranger. He appeared in others, as well, some reasonably good and others, like Blindman, so bad as to be virtually unwatchable. 
Our main character, Triple H, ain’t havin’ it and sets out to recover his new bride and set free the other unfortunate women seized by the Thompson Gang. Needless to say he’ll also kill every member of the gang as well as some of the snobbish, upper-class Mexican aristos – male and female – who buy the ladies at an elegantly-appointed mansion/ former convent now used for slave auctions. 
NANG-GAI – Yet another son of Ndengei. Nang-Gai served as the supreme deity’s messenger or emissary. When the sound of the waves crashing on the Rakiraki reefs made so much noise that it was preventing Ndengei from sleeping he sent Nang-Gai to silence it. To this day the surf off Rakiraki is notoriously quiet. 
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: The 3 seeds – the CUMBERLAND COUNTY COLLEGE DUKES – faced the top seeded ROWAN COLLEGE AT GLOUCESTER COUNTY ROADRUNNERS. The Dukes put the Roadrunners on Upset Alert immediately by grabbing a 6-0 lead in the 1st Inning. 
FIRST SEMIFINAL: This game pitted the 2nd seeded UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & ARTS OF OKLAHOMA DROVERS against the top seeds – the TENNESSEE WESLEYAN COLLEGE BULLDOGS. After a scoreless 1st Inning the Drovers seized a 2-0 lead in the 2nd. 
THE RUINED BRUIN (1961) – Written and directed by THE John K McCarthy, The Ruined Bruin was another one of those late “nudie cuties” which would make modern audiences yawn and wince … But would no doubt REALLY excite Furries! 
THE MUELLER REPORT DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO CLEAR ROBERT MUELLER OF ANY POTENTIAL FUTURE KIDDIE PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES. I WILL ANSWER NO QUESTIONS. THIS IS MY LAST STATEMENT ABOUT THE COWARDLY “MURKY” MUELLER, ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST NOTORIOUSLY CORRUPT PROSECUTORS. 
DAY FOUR, GAME ONE: The first of three elimination games pitted the 5 seeds – the GEORGIA GWINNETT COLLEGE GRIZZLIES – against the 9th seeded BELLEVUE (NE) UNIVERSITY BRUINS. The Grizzlies took charge right away, grabbing a 3-0 1st Inning lead that became a 4-1 advantage in the 4th. 
PART TWENTY-ONE: I’ll return to my look at the 1910-1917 and 1919-1929 version of the Fool Killer next time around. For this segment I’ll conclude the new Fool Killer Letter received here at Balladeer’s Blog from THE actual, supernatural entity himself. (SEE 
After I drove my Daddy out of the Tennessee Hills I spent the rest of the 1830s and the early 1840s killing off any fools who tried mining or stealing the hidden gold of the Melungeons. During that same period the fools in Washington, DC started sending men into the mountains of Tennsessee, Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina to stop the Melungeons from minting their own gold coins, so I took to exterminating those federal agents, too. “Counterfeiting” my ass!
Anyway, you don’t need every damn detail, boy. Suffice it to say that around 1880 or ’81 I hibernated again, then pursued my new mission among the Melungeons, this time adding guns and rifles to my arsenal. After several years of that I slept again, then upon awakening I was drawn westward.
In late December of 1899 I was traveling through west Texas, riding along in that wagon I had taken to using during my 1880s activities back among the Melungeons. In the summer of ’99 I had taken a brief return trip to the East and on my way back out west I had that run-in with the sinister, Infernal fair along the Old Pike Road in Alabama. The tale that George Ade wrote about. 
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