STEVENSON HALL HHH HASH #  90	


Date: April 20, 1986 

Weather: sun, warm 

Set by:  Wachspress

Runners: Ed Hirsch, Dave Effross, Carolyn Havens, Matt Baker, MJ, MJ,III, 
Bob Pascal, Stu Sharp, Andy Kaufman, Dennis Moore, Craig Courtney, Don 
Miller, Ned Jackson, Evy Parker, Sue Weinbach, Jerome Mertz, Doug Galbi, 
Matt Tarlach, Bill Hiser, Andrei Lupas, Josh Weinstein.   Rookies, Rob Nick, 
Paul Dietrich, Chip Tweddel, Jason Brueschke, Lynn Algar, Osman Sayan 

"Order of Finish"   Joe Burns,  Baker, the geezer, Pascal....


Description, comments:  Old haunts were revisted on this one  (see #10, 
23,60,71).  The course wound through Mercer County Park, ultimately crossing 
the famous Dam where Ira Davis won by mistake when he was persuaded by 
two geriatric hashers to check around the dam for them.  It was here, too, that 
we lost Bernstein who was never to be seen again.  
     We started in the park amidst picnicers, volleyballistas, and strolling lovers 
recoiling in horror at the motley array disgorged from the vans.  After a 
particularly compelling lecture by Dan on hashmarks (what does an arrow 
mean?  Nothing.) we set out.  In and out of woods, a brief look at the lake and 
then into open fields sparsely marked.  Lost we were, and at one point a 360  
survey of the horizon revealed hashers at all points.  It was a short cutter's 
paradise and one could float from the lead to the rear with ease.  Finally we 
were on again, Jackson, and Hiser in the lead as the trail led inexorably to the 
dam.  Those with long memories had that figured out by now, but others with 
too little experience or too much brain damage from excess Stegmaiers were in 
trouble.  The trail leading into the swamp below the dam  was surely as good a 
trail to avoid as had ever been, but only Baker (who had seen a mark  "dam x" 
), the geezer (who hadn't seen a mark since the opening) and Pascal were 
willing to scale the fences and cross the dam.
          There were the marks on the other side and it was with some pleasure, 
leavened only a bit with pity, that this trio heard the groans and "are you's" 
coming from the depths. At this point the pack was badly 


scattered:  some were mired in the swamp, others were deciding whether to 
follow along the dam and some were completely gone.  Mertz  could be silent 
with good conscience on this one, as he had set out in exactly the wrong 
direction starting from the point at greatest remove from the cooler.  Kaufman 
was paying for his crimes of the previous week on a similar excursion 
somewhere in the remote distance.   For some unaccountable reason Baker 
and Pascal departed from their successful strategy after crossing the dam and 
headed directly for the swamp.  In they went and it was the geezer who picked 
the marks up again as he sauntered along the trail leading from the dam.  But 
as anyone knows a hash cannot be run from in front and he was soon joined at 
a long check by Effross, Courtney, Miller, Moore and even Pascal who had 
apparently come temporarily to his senses.  Through fields and thorn hedges 
went the marks finally ending across a field of corn stubble punji stakes from  
the van.  The geezer, calling on all the wisdom of his many decades of hashing 
was shortcutting diagonally from the trail and  saw the van. He was trotting 
easily to it, waving to Wachspress and feeling superior when Baker magically 
appeared from the rear of the car and was the first to the cooler. Baker had 
emerged from he swamp only to happen upon a Baker trap laid by 
Wachspress. He followed the bogus marks all the way to Quaker Bridge Road 
only to find an "SCB".  Enraged, and flashing obscene gestures  in the hope 
that Wachspress was watching he cut across a field only to see the van, a 
miraculous vision. 
          Many were still wallowing in the swamp at this point.  MJ III, for instance, 
was just short of going belly up and becoming gator feed when he summoned 
up the smarts to go back and cross the dam.  Perhaps a few more years of 
hashing will bring that essential wiliness that comes from experience.  
However, his remark that "swamps make great shortcuts" leads one to suspect 
that there's a long way to go.
          Did anyone ever find Mertz?

Next Hashes: 

#91 Sunday, April 27. The Cuban Assassin sets. Be there! 2:00 pm, Stevenson 
91.

#92  Sunday May 4.  Weinstein, Moore set.  2:00 pm,  Stevenson 91 

#93  Saturday, May 10, a pre-Mother's day Hash set by two real mothers, 
Tarlach and Courtney.   Note change in day!

Saturday/Sunday September 13/14  SHHHH Hash #100.  Save the weekend.