The story
“Uncle August hated his many relatives and loved his money. Uncle August kept his keepers busy throwing the relatives out of the grounds. But the kinsmen refused to take such broad hints that they were not wanted. Each secretly deceived himself into believing that he was the favorite of the old man. One of the nephews had himself smuggled into the house in a grandfather clock. Another pretended to be injured in an automobile accident. Two more got in by disguising themselves as the old man’s horse. But all were ejected ignominiously. Uncle resolved to take more vigorous measures. A few days later the relatives were summoned to the house and informed of the rich man’s death. The absence of any funeral was explained by the statement that the late lamented had been amusing himself with a keg of dynamite, and that all that was found of him after the explosion was his will. This document provided for the division of the estate among the male relatives who joined the Optimistic Oriental Occults, a secret society of which, it was said, the deceased had been very fond. All the relatives consented to join, and the initiation began immediately. These ceremonies were more severe than in most orders, and at the conclusion the relatives—each tightly packed in a potato barrel—heard the old man’s voice and knew him to be still alive. Uncle August confessed to his little trick, and then he set the potato barrels rolling. Down a steep hill tumbled the relatives, chased by yelping dogs. They never came back.”
Summary from Reel Life · 4 January 1916
