Page 17 - 2009 DT 7 issues

I n T h i s I s s u e

Featured Article
The Sazerac Lying Club...................1

Special
Friends’ Update...............................3
Departments
News & Notes..................................2
March 2009 Programs & Hikes...........................4
Desk Schedule................................6
Bulletin Board................................8

The Sazerac Lying Club a saguaro, but with lots of branches, Baron von Munchausen. You may
. . . or, Tall Stories Unlimited rather like a cholla. have read his story of the traveler
“It shone and I thought, at first, on horseback who was caught in a
that it was perhaps the sun reflecting severe blizzard, found some shelter
by Dan Wray
on moisture left by the mist. But as for himself and hitched his horse to
ne day I was volunteering at I approached, I could see that at the a tree stump. Overnight the weather
the Reception Desk when an end of each branch was a beautiful changed and when the traveler
Oelegant lady came into the pearl, each identical to its neighbor. awoke, the snow was gone and he
Visitor Center. I couldn’t help but To whom could such a plant belong? found himself lying in a churchyard.
notice the pearl necklace she was Would it be stealing if I took some? I But where was his horse? He could
wearing. It was made of the most could see no signs of habitation and hear it whinnying, but couldn’t see
beautifully matched pearls I had ever no one around, so I succumbed to it anywhere. The sound, however,
seen. She must have seen me looking temptation and gathered some. Hardly seemed to be coming from above, and
as she came up to the desk and when he looked up, he saw
said, “There’s quite a story his horse tethered to the spire
attached to these pearls.” on top of the steeple.
Curiosity overcame me and Nevada is not free from
I asked if she would mind tall-story tellers. Indeed there
telling me the story. “Not at was a club specially formed
all,” she said. for them. It was called, “The
“One day last fall I Sazerac Lying Club.” Fred
decided I would go for a H. Hart, editor of the Reese
short hike on my own. It was River Reveille from 1875 to
a cool and sunny day when I 1878, began to compose and
set out and I had gone about publish in the paper accounts
two miles down the trail when of the proceedings of the
suddenly, a thick mist came down and had I finished collecting when the mist Sazerac Lying Club, the members
surrounded me. came down again. This time, I was of which met at the Sazerac—a local
“In retrospect, I realize it was more sensible and stood just where I saloon—and competed in telling the
foolish and dangerous. I could hardly was. How long it was before the mist most outrageous stories. In 1875 he
see where I was going, yet something cleared I do not know, but when it published a compilation under the
urged me to walk on. I edged my way did the cactus was gone, and I found title, “The Sazerac Lying Club – a
cautiously forward. I don’t know how myself back at the trailhead. So that’s Nevada Book.”
far I had gone when suddenly, the mist the story of my necklace.” Little is known about Hart. It has
lifted and there in front of me was a A tall story, but then, people have been speculated that he was a cousin
giant cactus unlike any I have known. always told tall stories. Perhaps the
I can best describe it as looking like most famous of these storytellers is Sazerac, continued on p. 6