Show ORIGIN OF SLANG WORD i j i Where Nutty Comes From Ill and Its Meaning fi DESCRIBES CERTAIN LUNATIC I t Legitimate Offspring of a Serifs of Murder 1 1I 1 I 4 Pennsylvania Family Played an Important Im-portant Part and Salt Laker Came I tj Near Losing His Life I The coinage of words one of the principal i prin-cipal sources of the growth of our language I lan-guage Is a decidedly intureHlng study Frequently the origin of a word In 1 farfetched far-fetched and scorns unaccountable t while In other Instances the acceptance It t of new words the application of which I I seem most opportune have been delayed de-layed Indefinitely and without apparent cause The dictionary makers In progress pro-gress are Generally behind the people I tvho are eentuull > the arbiters who J force the recognition of their creations after 41 The slang of one decade is allowed in the polite language of the next and often becomes finally recognized recog-nized as a part of the tongue Skedad dIe was manufactured during the Civil war Blizzard Is said to have been the spontaneous exclamation of a Yankee while viewing for the first time that class of storms to which afterward the J I name was given I MEANING OF SLANG WORD l iW The object of tills story however is I not to give a general history of the I r1 additions made entirely from the new I but to relate the origin and meaning of the woni nutty While this word IB i yet slang and may always continue so to be as describing emotional Insanity 1 and Irritability beyond the point of accountability ac-countability It Is the legitimate offspring off-spring of a series pf murders and attempted I at-tempted murders In which a member of a family by the name of Nutt played un Important part and In tho last occurrence I oc-currence a wellknown resident of Salt I Lake came near meeting an untimely en j ill NUTT TRAGEDY In the early eighties at Union town i Th Prt A C Nutt cashier for State Treasurer I Treas-urer S M Bailey was killed by L man h Dukes a member of the Pennsylvania t J Legislature The two had returned B home for the Christmas holidays and it the murder which occurred In a room i Ii in a hotel was the result of an attempted I at-tempted settlement oC a difficulty Involving h In-volving the ianor of a daughter of Mr F t Mutt whom Mr Dukes had courted and k afterward Jilted On account of the I prominence of the two families both IW socially and politically the affair created 1i cre-ated much Interest all over the count 4t coun-t Nutt was a Republican and Dukes I was a Democrat The county was Democratic and the Jury which tried t the case was made up or members of that party The verdict was an acquittal u j ac-quittal on the ground of selfdefense which was set up at the trial although t the evidence did not conform to the theory as no firearms or other dangerous danger-ous weapon was found on the dead tj mans body I l VERDICT FOLLOWED A PRAYER t I The verdict followed a season of I prayer In the Juryroom by Foreman Breakhon who claimed at the close 01 I ii J his suppllcatlqns that he had received t light to the effect that Dukes should J be acquitted The friends of the prosecution r prose-cution claimed that as It was the J I Breaklrons first attempt at prayer he = had erred In the Interpretation of the Almightys revelation Following the acquittal the feeling grew more Intense f toward Dukes and for a time the community com-munity was in a state approaching a I I universal feud The county Fayette Joins the Virginia line and was tho scene of considerable turmoil during t the war between tho North and the South so that the elements oC reviving a decidedly warm time were not all 1 remote I AVENGED FATHERS DEATH A few months later James Nutt a 1 I minor son of the murdered man I avenged his fathers death which the j law had failed to do by stepping up behind Dukes on the street one night and sending four bullets from a 44 i caliber gun through Dukess body in the vicinity of the heart The death of Dukes was Instantaneous and the physicians stated that either of the wounds was sufficient to have caused death DEITY NOT INVOKED When the trial of Nutt came on the f defense scored an Inning by securing 1 a change of venue to Allegheny coun ty and the lad was acquitted on the ground off emotional Insanity without I 1 invoking the guidance of deity Young Nutt was quiet and bashful and had never been noted for aggressive action The evidence was to the effect that he had always been queer subject to morose spells but that he was resent ful when aroused I I FONDNESS FOR GUN PRACTICE I Afterthe trial it was stated that the emotion which caused Dukess death 1 was not of the spontaneous variety and that during the time between tho tragedies young Nutt had developed a fondness for gun practice to the extent that the locust trees In the rear of the Nutt Huburban home had been well fllled with bullets by him in anticipation anticipa-tion of the revengeful act WHERE UTAH MAN CAME IN He was eventually sent to Kansas and placed on a farm belonging to the Nutt estate and there In the Sunflower State Is whore the Utah man played his part and came near making his exit through the Instrumentality of the aforesaid Nutt This occurred some six years after the killings In Pennsylvania Lu den H Smyth at present chief Deputy United States marshal In Salt Lake was publishing a paper at Horton Ivan The Pennsylvania cases came to his at tention and OK young Nult waR livingS living-S In the same county Mr Smyth thought that a review of the affair would make nn Interesting news Hum His judgment was good The abbbrevlated story at tracted attention all right ASKED FOR EXPLANATION It also Interested i young Nutt to the extent that ho called upon Mr Smyth at his ofllce and asked for an cxplana tlon Mr Smyth saw that he was up against the real thing and complied He a was working under pressure but he responded re-sponded with apparent cheerfulness and with that same suave politeness that he exhibits when he paspes around tobacco to-bacco and beads to the Indiana on tho reservation he kept on piling up vocal blandishments explained that It was un Item of news and not meant to cither Injure or oven offend anyone The editor edi-tor finally won out Nutt departed less sullen admitted that tho article was true and stated that ho guessed Us publication uas all right MANIA FOR MURDER Nutt Marled for home apparently pacified but au ho progressed he evidently evi-dently brooded over the unfortunate revival re-vival of his past entanglements and the mania for murder and revenge doubtless returned On the way he Mopped uL a farmhouse where lived n family that had formerly been tenants on his arm Tin man of the houso was away but the wife and the hired man were at home It was winter time and night was approaching Nutt sat byi the stove gloomily and talked but little He at first declined an Invitation to stay for supper but made no movement toward going home KILLED THE WOMAN Finally the lady In a cheerful manner prevailed upon her unhappy visitor to remain for the night and directed tho hired man to put his horse In tho barn While this was being done tho hired man heard icporls of shooting In the house He rail back and was met by Nutt who In a frenzied condition planted a bullet In the hired man also FARMER WAS GAME But the form laborer was game He retreated to a wood pile grabbed an ax and delivered It to Nutt in such a waIlS > wa-IlS to temporarily end the hostilities An Inventory taken after the excitement subsided showed that the woman had two serious wounds the hired man had a hole through his arm und Nutt had a badly battered head They all recovered recov-ered At the trial the Kansas Jury eradicated both the elements of pity and mercy and cinched the defendant The Judge gave him twenty years In the penitentiary and the term Is not yet completed ORIGIN O FWORD NUTTY Mr Smyth afterward learned l that young Nutt came to Horton for the avowed purposo of killing him There Is no doubt In Mr Smyths mind about either the origin or the meaning of the word Nutty To him It Is neither a joke nor slang but decidedly expressive and vigorous English To him it Is neither vulgar nor farfetched but comes direct from the family name Nutt a living reality tinctured with theo the-o or of death and its sound crates on his ear worse than Hey Rube on the auricular of a professional circus man ORIGIN OF WORD NUTTY To him nutty people are more to be dreaded and avoided In newspaper work han a libel suit either civil or crlm nal He prefers his present calling of coking after real criminals for often the culprit is a bluffer and not really a bad man but he thinks that the professional profes-sional caller on the country editor is not the Joker ho Is generally supposed to be |