home » stories » by others » by Jesse Hibbardsearch within stories
Family Stories
A potpourri of stories about various family members or events, written by others and edited by me.
The Husband, the Coward
[This is an item that my grandfather Jesse Hibbard wrote likely between 1968 and his death in 1981. My (Al) role was to first transcribe it, next to add corrections or clarifications [within brackets], and then to add links to people connected to me (that gives more information), links to give more information about places, and for those mentioned but not connected, I sometimes added links to FamilySearch.org.]
Images (skip to transcription)
p. 1
Transcription
A typical down-trodden Amer.[ican] husband worked as a lion handler for the circus.
He was under perennial orders from his wife never to be out after 11:30 P.M., but one evening he forgot to keep looking at his watch and suddenly realized it was after 12:00.
What to do!!!!
If he went to a hotel he would be punished for spending money foolishly, so after some thought he took a taxi out to the circus quarters and crawled in between a couple of his lions
His wife was out looking for him in the early dawn, and eventually looked into the lion cage. She rattled the iron cage door and when he and the lions raised their heads, she shouted "You coward you, you didn't dare to come home!!!"
Comments: Jesse likely heard this story on WCCO radio or read it in a magazine like Reader's Digest. He wrote these down to remember to tell them to his visitors.
Published 2025-09-15.
If you find any error(s) in the text, please let me know. Thanks. Contact me with errors or comments using hibbardac@gmail. [Back to the top] [About the author, Al]
Thienes members visit Jesselisting of family stories by Jesse Hibbard Chicago World Fair - 1933