Mule deaths of late

The Onion this week reprints its issue of 6 October 1783, including such articles as "Thousands More Teeth Lost," "Rural Quaker Scandalized by Intricate Furniture Pattern," "Citizens Now Free to Practise Any Form of Protestantism They Want," and "Mule-Deaths of Late." If, like me, you are the sort who laughs at such things as the Donald Barthelme story "An Hesitation on the Bank of the Delaware," in which a soldier warns George Washington, "But, General, unless we launch the boats pretty shortly, the attack will lose the element of furprife," you will probably appreciate the humor.