Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT, CLICK HERE
PART FIFTEEN: Last time around I examined Joel Chandler Harris’ 1902 story Flingin’ Jim And His Fool-Killer, set in Georgia in October of 1872, plus Ridgway Hill’s Facts For The Fool-Killer, set in and around Buffalo, NY in 1909.
Now we back up a year for the great O Henry’s story The Fool-Killer, published as part of The Voice of the City in 1908. In his younger years O Henry (William Sidney Porter) had personally known Charles Napoleon Bonaparte Evans, the editor of the Milton Chronicle.
Evans was the man behind the earliest written examples of Fool Killer stories and published them as if they were letters from the “real” Fool Killer himself, who claimed Jesse Holmes was his actual name. O Henry started his short story The Fool-Killer by recapping the fame of the folk-figure, claiming he was known “from Roanoke to the Rio Grande.”
In apparent deference to his old friend Charles Evans, Porter kept Jesse Holmes as the Fool Killer’s “real” name, but introduced some of his own innovations to Fool Killer lore. Continue reading
DAY TWO, GAME ONE: The 4 seeds – the TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE TROLLS – took the diamond against the 8th seeded INDIANA UNIVERSITY AT SOUTH BEND TITANS. Neither team drove in a Run until the Titans grabbed a 2-0 lead in the 3rd Inning. 
Thank you to readers who reminded me that I did not follow up my examination of the World War Two-era Justice Society of America stories with my usual collection of links. I always did that after similar items like The Celestial Madonna Saga, Panther’s Rage, The Kree-Skrull War and most recently Adam Warlock’s encounter with the Magus, Thanos and Gamora. 
THE FIRST MEETING OF THE JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA (December 1940)
FOR AMERICA AND DEMOCRACY (March 1941)
THE MYSTERIOUS MISTER X (June 1941) 
DAY TWO, GAME ONE: The 8 seeds – the BREWTON-PARKER COLLEGE BARONS – played an elimination game against the 5th seeded BLUE MOUNTAIN COLLEGE TOPPERS. After 2 Scoreless Innings the teams were knotted up at 1-1 in the 3rd. 
May the Fourth is upon us once again. First up are some links to my previous Star Wars blog posts plus my full-length review of The Jet Benny Show, a Star Wars parody. 
THE JET BENNY SHOW (1986) – Buy this for the Star Wars fan in your life … but only if you strongly dislike the Star Wars fan in your life. Buy this for the Jack Benny fan in your life … but only if they’re too old and feeble to be capable of inflicting grievous bodily harm on you. 
Roger Evans directed The Jet Benny Show from a script by Mark Felch. Steve Norman stars as Jet Benny, a take-off on the real-life comedy legend Jack Benny. Norman does not do nearly as good a Jack Benny impression as we’re led to believe by the few positive remarks this pant-load of a film receives. 
DAY TWO, GAME ONE: The 6 seeds – the LINDENWOOD UNIVERSITY AT BELLEVILLE LYNX – played an elimination game against the 7th seeded HARRIS-STOWE STATE HORNETS. The Hornets grabbed a 1-0 edge in the 1st Inning, which stood until the Lynx tied the game at 1-1 in the 3rd. 
PART FOURTEEN: FACTS FOR THE FOOL-KILLER (1909) by Ridgway Hill. 
Facts For The Fool-Killer finds the fictional character operating from Buffalo, NY and vicinity. The Fool Killer now wears the blue uniform and tall helmet of a turn-of-the-century policeman and wields a police officer’s billy-club in lieu of his usual club/ walking stick/ cudgel. 
DAY ONE, GAME ONE – The 5 seeds – the POINT UNIVERSITY SKYHAWKS – took the diamond against the 4th seeded REINHARDT UNIVERSITY EAGLES (Should be the Rottweilers). After a scoreless 1st Inning the Skyhawks went on top 4-0 in the 2nd. 
