You know how somebody pulls an April Fool’s joke on you and then when you figure it out you’re like “oh piss off, dude” and then maybe you all have a chuckle? Some folks aren’t much for chuckling, it turns out.
Young Mr. Tom Rogers at Kaufman Texas was itching to get off a first-class April fool joke. He went to Dr. Mosley’s office and wrote an order on the slate for the doctor to go three miles in the country to see a young lady who was critically ill. Of course the doctor suspected nothing when he read his slate. It never occurred to him that anyone would trick him about such a serious matter. He rode out to see his patient and found that he had been made the victim of a cruel hoax. When he returned to Kaufman he was boiling with rage. He ascertained that Rogers was responsible for the joke, and meeting the young man he at once attacked him with a knife. The doctor was furious and showed no mercy. He stabbed Rogers repeatedly in the face, neck and body, and did not let up until he had inflicted several fatal wounds.
Such a butchery was not justified by the provocation, but Rogers brought his punishment upon himself. His idiotic little joke was well calculated to provoke wrath, and the man who without just cause makes his neighbor angry should stand the consequences. If Kaufman could get rid of all its foolish April fool jokers the community would be better off.
[April 5, 1886 – Atlanta Constitution in Georgia]
This, as you may have figured, comes from another roundup of insane April Fool’s pranks from the 1800s similar to ones we’ve previously covered.
By the way, am I the only one who finds it almost as crazy as the stabbing itself that the newspaper seems to be advocating this sort of thing? That last bit reads an awful lot like he shouldn’t have killed the guy but we’re glad he did to me.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing.