The Barrel Story (Leo & Grandpa Jack)

--Matthew Karl (and Kitty Lou McCullough Karl) to Elizabeth Churchett via e-mail in 2002

"One day, after a game of some sort--baseball, maybe--Leo and Faye Ruth (a local tavern owner in whose establishment many other stories were created) were seen walking up North 5th (Leo lived at Levines, a boarding house, on N.5th) in barrels. Evidently, they had lost at baseball, but how that translated into the obvious loss of clothing Kitty Lou did not have a clue. [The version I heard didn't have Faye Ruth in it, but that Daddy was drunk, had lost his clothes in a fight, and was wearing a robe.] Having lost his clothing and his keys, he was unable to gain access to the rooms he shared with his Dad, as the owner of the house was celebrating the marriage of a daughter and Grandpa, Leo's Dad, was at that party also. Later......
The wedding party now over, the folks returned to the boardinghouse to find your grandpa asleep, buck naked, on a swing, his barrel discarded as too untidy for a front porch swing. At at this point, his Dad collected him and up to their rooms they flew and, according to Grama, Leo was read his rights, or words to that effect.
The version I heard had no swing, and a robe out of which your Grandpa rolled while asleep on the porch.
Evidently, Faye Ruth did not tarry to help Leo out of his situation, since he had one of his own."