Frank McGonigal kept a good house, and a black cow named Darkie.
Each night after Darkie was milked, she was turned out to graze on the town streets.
The streets were lush with pasture and there was little traffic to hamper the cow’s unlawful roaming.
One night two locals roaming the streets stumbled upon Darkie, near the fire station.
They decided to get Darkie a feed but reckoned she should sing for her supper.
“Borrowing” a sheaf of hay from a nearby corn store, they tied it to the fire bell pull-rope in the adjacent fire station.
The practical jokers hid to watch the results from a safe distance.
Sure enough, the cow tugged at the sheaf and the alarm was raised.
The firemen arrived on the run, and the jokers directed them to head east (towards the rising moon’s glow).
The firemen raced east with reel and equipment.
Half an hour later they responded to another false alarm.
This time they surrounded the bell tower to catch whoever was raising the alarm, only to collide with Darkie, who had blended deeply into the night.
She fled, sending the two conspirators sprawling, and took refuge in a shed behind the Farmers’ Arms.
At next morning’s milking an angry McGonigal rounded on the fire brigade for spooking his cow to the point where she “wouldn’t let ’er milk down”.
