June 10, 2004
Chicken
One or two of you have probably played some form of chicken. I don't recommend this variation:
An intoxicated Davis Park man died after he lit a rug on fire and challenged his roommate to see who could stay in the house on Fire Island longer Saturday night, Suffolk County police said. Police said Thomas Woods, 59, ignited the rug in his house at 9 Driftwood Walk sometime before 8 p.m. As the fire spread, Woods fired one or two rounds from a pre-World War I Mauser pistol, said Det. Sgt. Ed Fandrey of the Suffolk County homicide squad. Police do not know why he fired the gun.Via This is True 5/21/04 mailing. Randy Cassingham collects and regularly publishes stories that show that real life is stranger than fiction.When the fire began spreading dangerously, Woods' roommate, Rod Bennett, ran to a neighbor's house to call 911 a few minutes after 8 p.m.
Volunteers from the Davis Park Fire Department responded, along with neighbors who tried to extinguish the blaze with garden hoses and anything else they could find. But it was too late.
NB: Cunningham does not allow any copying of his rewrites of these stories nor does he give access to back issues of his mailings. The quote above is from a web archived copy of the original Newsday article.
Posted by Steve on June 10, 2004
