"IF you receive through the mails some day in the near future a startling note sheet, decorated with skull and crossbones, don’t be panicstricken. It simply means that you are invited to one of the new White Cap parties, which are proving so popular at present.

The invitations will probably be couched in the following astounding terms:

“Citizen: You are invited to meet the White Caps who will come together on Thursday evening next at Elmwood, the Lucas homestead. If you can be present, please come, bringing all your accustomed cleverness. You will need it to avoid being hanged. Please come in white costume and masked. Sincerely yours, The Vigilance Committee.”

On arriving at the house the invitee is met by a committee costumed in ghostly white, and wearing white peaked caps, with masks attached. A hearty welcome is given him, but he is warned that when all the company have arrived strenuous efforts will be made to hang him.

When the last man and woman have arrived upon the scene a general hanging begins. This is accomplished by means of a blackboard placed on an easel at one end of the room. On this blackboard the hostess draws a scaffold. No artistic effort is necessary. The scaffold may look as shown in the diagram. She then makes a mental choice of any noun, proper or common. This word, when chosen, is represented upon the board by a series of little dashes. One dash stands for each letter. Thus, if the word chosen were “elephant,” there would be eight dashes on the board, written in sequence like the letters of a word.

Some hint of the character of the word must be given to the person who is endeavoring to escape the gallows. Thus, if “elephant” were the word agreed upon, it would only be necessary to explain that the word hidden was the name of an animal. No further hinting is allowed.

The guessing is done by letter. The player choosing a letter and hoping that it will fit into one of the blanks of the concealed noun.

For example, if the P is guessed, the hit is a lucky one, and the fourth blank in the word is promptly filled out with a P. If he guess H, the guess is also a fortunate one and the fifth blank is filled in with this letter.

But suppose that he has guessed incorrectly and names a letter not to be found in the word “elephant,” such as the character S. In this case the hanging begins. The scaffold immediately displays a wee head.

If he makes a second mistake the neck goes on.

A third blunder produces the body, and the victim begins to tremble for his life. A fourth false step adds one of the arms. A fifth another arm. Sixth and seventh add the legs. The next four blunders will give hands and feet.

When these are finished the unfortunate is completely hanged, and looks like the last sketch shown in the accompanying diagram.

In all, the victim has seven chances to avoid hanging, and if he can guess the word any time before the last limb is actually on he escapes alive.

Each person present is brought in turn to the scaffold, and, if possible, extinguished, the bystanders watching his efforts with lively interest and meditating upon their own possible fate to come. No outside help is permitted by the rules of the game. Each victim must name his own letters and guess his own word.

A more difficult and, consequently, more exciting hanging results when an entire sentence is chosen instead of a word. The sentence must be something appropriate to the occasion; otherwise a proverb or quotation is in order.

In using an entire sentence more chances of escape should be afforded the unhappy captive. In order to do this, give the prisoner hands and feet, two ears, fingers and toes, all of which must be lost before he can be considered hopelessly hanged.

Each player that escapes the hanging receives some little gift as a tribute to his dexterity. One of the pretty pins representing coils of ropes with a pearl imbedded in them, would be charming as a souvenir."

Diagram captions:

• Gallows Ready
• First Mistake
• Second
• Third
• Fourth and Fifth
• Sixth and Seventh

— A White Cap Party

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1930. Public domain works must be out of copyright in both the United States and in the source country of the work in order to be hosted on the Commons. If the work is not a U.S. work, the file must have an additional copyright tag indicating the copyright status in the source country. Note: This tag should not be used for sound recordings.PD-1923Public domain in the United States//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_White_Cap_Party.webp