Show youth th rides R d iff west e t THE STORY SO 80 FAR FAH on their the way to the now new cottonwood gold diggings in colorado I 1 in tho the early seventies robert allaun siti ui terner and hla his partner duck hayden harden ft a veteran miner witness the th holdup hold up of a stage coach from which the ex box la in stolen abolen before the bandits are anre scared off among the he holdup hold uv victims are mra airs con betance doane and mrs airs barnaby who icho intends to open a restaurant in cottonwood gilson meets meeta marcus ilan handy dy editor on his hid way to start the cottonwood courier arriving in town gilson and theether toe ether purchase a mining claim A threatened lynching lunching lyn ching in 18 averted by tho the bravery ot of chris Mc maurath Mca Urath rath town marshal becomes disgusted with nod gold digging ehst with its unending labor and small rewards dB and so BO the sudden appearance 0 of shorty croly old time partner of 0 ducu Is IB not altogether disconcerting to him allson takes a job on the courier und and arran tires to sell bell ht bin share in the claim to it shorty hiim with mrs biro deano 1 eano ripens an AH the courier brows in power a civlo spirit Is awakened I 1 CHAPTER VI Continued when judge colliver Colt Coll lver we all granted film that title took the floor tio lie drew almost as well veil na as the variety shows A little before tills this clIt ilax lie always went out far another drink the tradition of 0 daniel webster still lay strong upon the west the orn ora most brilliant when balf sens over field tho the imagination aalke ol of courtroom and or of jury brushing back lita mop of black hair colliver Coll lver would work himself up like A camp meeting preacher to an oratorical frenzy always lie harped ou on two points tho victim was armed everyone in camp was armed for that matter hut but as colliver Coll lver brought out this point you forgot that and always some soine witness for the defense testified to a quick motion toward tho the thip you were self do bense absolute and proved judge cowan closed the unfair with a pompous charge full of had bad latin wherein mercy stood better vindicated than justice the jurors scarcely left their seats the pickpocket whoso choso escape from lynching lunching lyn ching I 1 had witnessed during my first night in carhop got a quick trial and short shrift judge cowan with special emphasis on oil the mo meanness anness of its his crime sentenced him to ton ten years of minor cosea such as settled communities muni ties usually try in police courts there nono under unde r the tolerant toler rulo rule of Mi marshal arshal chris mcgrath plain drunkenness constituted no of fonso whatever if nn art inhabitant was drunk and disorderly the marshal arrested him put him in the log jail for tho the night and released him blin in the morning my ity and about camp led lea tile constantly to that jail built with a double log wall provided with it a real door reinforced by sheet iron and with a substantially barred window it had as yet no sep orate cells murderer und anti transient drunkard alike slept on straw pallets ballets about the stove of the common room four deputies by turns jailer and po licen lan stood double guard with rifle ride and revolver over those jani janiz zaries arles to marshal mcgrath ruled as chief calef as aa grand gennil vizier one charlie meek ile ho it was who when the marshal stopped tho the lynching lunching lyn ching lit at tho the black jack had snapped the handcuffs on the pickpocket lons long n i mere supernumerary in the drama of cottonwood camp he was to step forth for a day a leading actor jim Iluff akers restaurant had the contract for feeding the prisoners tit tho waiters bringing over or dinner or supper removed the soiled dishes or of the last meal consequently the con game of oc seven up on the floor proceeded always amidst a most untidy fringe tho the sanitary arrangement I 1 shall not attempt to describe anti and the eternal scratch Ings of the prisoners proved that bunks anti and clothing alike were hunting grounds for forms of 0 lower life marshal marsaw mcgrath had nominally till an office a boarded tent on slain main street where proceeded the important bust busl I 1 nesi es 4 of registering mining claims hut but seldom it if ever lid did I 1 mid him in those tits his official quarters qu aiters ills hh hours of leisure lie spent at the jail of fine afternoons lie sat ant in fit a rocking chaar by its ita door smoking it 11 black cigar nd holding forth he llad had a an I 1 nud tit lence once squatted about him librn on oil its beels once on a morning when th alio holdup hold up It ecord tit at the bottom of our last column front page included eight items I 1 asked him film chut lie he ans bullig about footpads not at a tiling thing until they give me a detective or two lie replied ive applied twice or when we got get it ft municipal government ern ment I 1 put in repeating it a political observation of marcus handy marshal McGrat li did not take tills this remark simply ills eyes crinkled up but not with u smile the linns of tits his faco fa went event hard ns as they ditl did when lu he stepped upon the table of the black jack to stop the lynch ing toll tell your aar to keep keel oft off thakill that lie jerked out if you dont like the way the bunty governments run therell be an ani election tit in november wont therell but as though his case needed apology lie he went on what do atcy expect those reform reformers ersT A mining camp aint ft a sunday school nive by will irwin copyright bg by will trita hervle r 2 had a lynching lunching lyn ching yet Is that record it appeared was the marshals mar shalo special pride cottonwood continued to boom and grow dally the courier reported strikes or alne prospects in the mines Nv OrTing on liverpool hill whore where the last inch of ground had long been staked out and developed and in those gulches and crevasses cre of the mountains where experienced prospectors were sinking shafts with bucket and winch the stages arrived brimful every night the public corral overflowed with the wheeled transport of new arrivals under my eye this crude settlement was transforming itself into ft a town a city in a gulch above the river valloy valley n R brickyard begun began operations its kalns kilns were scarcely formed before it had orders six months ahead fattier father cas aldy signed the first order already ills his ladles sodality was advertising in the courier its fair for the building fund mr air sipple the presbyterian was clearing ground for lila his now new wood pit PH church tit the methodists under the nery flery mr orcutt got along with their gospel tent saved souls mightily and let the lord take care of the future voctor doctor cowells wells episcopalian arrived ot at about that time found quarters for sunday services in an assay ollice office beside the comstock lode saloon gathering my shear sheaf of ecclesiastical news for the sunday morning paper I 1 found that lie he had sent an urgent call for funds to his denomination in fit the hast fast pending their response lie he did us christian service by pending ing the last of the funds lie he had brought up from denver to lease a tog log cabin and start a pay school father cassidy cassady fearing the winds of adverse doctrine immediately added to tits hta building plans a parochial lal school three sisters of charity whom lie had brought with him film possessed themselves of a largo large tent and started a hospital for pneumonia cases gunshot wounds and othor other really serious disabilities the odd fellows had clubbed together and built a wide low pine shack floored for dancing within a week after the first timber was laid they held field their grand dedication ball it paid for itself almost within a month scarcely a night but the AN masons the Ancient Order of Hibernia ns the 0 A it II the alie confederate veterans or the knights of pythias rented it for lodge meeting or rout our camp was already developing an aristocracy wives of mining engineers the richer milne owners and the he more prosperous tradesmen odd fellows hall was hut but a fortnight completed when they hold held an assembly carpenters Carp untera for a time got double wages so that every minor miner with the least skill it at sawing or driving nails deserted the drifts and sought employment nt at building doors windows and window panes wore were now arriving by alx lx the truck load the burlap burial port lerea leres blan to disa disappear the port portiere lere of gunny sacking at the door of the courier passed into memory the pioneer sawmill had now a rival but though tho the two establishments worked duble double shift and transformed half it a mountainside from a dryad grove into a littered ruin they could not steep keep the uri of daniel webster still lay strong upon the west lince with the deni demand and assay ofil ces groceries general il stores a pharmacy innumerable saloons sit loons operated operate in tents or suspended operations while alm 0 owners suited for lumber and skilled allied men lien we grew and grew ly without organizations organization by tile Iro process cess of adding cells cella like it JellY jellyfish tIsh no stage or canavon but brought some of it new and necessary trade Il lumbers slept out the first night on the floor of the st louls lodging house beside physicians liar bar bets beis beside dentists plasterers beside assayers soyers us stationary beside mining engineers but fast as they came caime gamblers and prostitutes bartenders and sure thing workers carno canio faster now a telegraph line was preparing to start atan front froin denver and the courier was authorized to state on the best authority that ft a n narrow arron vi gauge railroad was coming coining I 1 how 0 N v u unreliable n rp liable that best authority was mar alar cus and I 1 alone knew but marcus would have printed that report if he had been obliged to invent it for na as he said we were bound to have a railroad some conio jay after marcus had a way now of stopping short on that word after I 1 knew what lie meant I 1 my eyes open I 1 was wak beginning even to grow interested in what he meant we should have bave in cottonwood camp none of the sober development which a railroad symbolized until wo we achieved security for lite life and investment gun law by a withered lind weakly corrupt government a days journey away was waa outworn already responsible citizens said that but said it under their breaths yet day followed day and marcus did not its as lie ho had enigmatically threatened cut his him wolf loose less leas and less indeed did he talk about tile necessity of a municipal government more and moro more did lie draw into himself almost lie ho seemed morose As often as the job permitted lie he absented himself from the office when lie he returned he brought no news once running into our bedroom mi dafter noon on some trivial errand I 1 opened the lie door to und find him I 1 in n cle ca confer it for once with three other men excuse ll cuse me kid I 1 lie ho said quickly I 1 stepp stepped 0 back closed the door but not before I 1 had recognized the good humored frog face of isidore colien cohen the jeweler and the lean yankee features or of taylor president of the bank once again plodding up nn an unfrequented trail to Nver liverpool pool hill I 1 saw before me lite the familiar backs of marcus and doctor II the clergyman they were walking with their heads down like men in intimate but perplexing conversation I 1 turned up a side trail then it was toward the end of my third week on the courier the incident arrived which cut the wolf loose CHAPTER VII ne returning turnIng from sup supper per to walto up my sheaf of miscellaneous inform i tion gathered during the afternoon I 1 found marcus handy alandy in close boiver co conversation iver with a stranger I 1 surveyed him film casually as I 1 pushed through the door and set him down in the tenderfoot class then he turned revealing a stark small featured american countenance now veiled in deep gloom ono one would have said indeed that lie had iwen been crying marcus looked up come here kid shake hands with mr curtis he said 1 1 I I want you to listen to this 1 with conscientious precision mr air curtis told lits ills story ile iio had arrived only three lays days before bringing ten thousand dolin dollars rs receipts from the sale of tits lila grocery business and tits ills house in cairo illinois this money lie he deposited in the hank bank of cottonwood while lie he saw the town a and nd looked for an opening in the bar of tile the black jack he met a stranger at also from illinois who knew some of his people precisely at this moment I 1 anticipated the whole story the proceeding ce as mr air curtis told it t in tits his dead grief stricken voice was typical orthodox the meeting with two other strangers the deal in mines by which lie invested nothing and could not lose the necessity just when the deal stood at completion for proving that lie had funds the trip to the bank for tits his ten thou thousand dollars the display of the lite money in the back room of the black jack the discovery when lie he returned to the hank bank that he held field only a packet of waste paper mr air curtis offered no excuses for tits innocence and gullibility lie he was past vanity only when lie he told us that he had find left tits his faintly in the east and had expected to send for them did tits his voice choke and break this was the see sec ond lesson lessan to my slow imagination in the essential invariable cruelty of erline crime i the story varied grew more interesting ond especially to when mr air curtla curtis tou touched clied on the aftermath ite he had thought it over swallowed lits his pride and reported the matter to chris mcgrath Mc Oruth chris had prom iscil to look into the matter seem eem s much enuch interested added sir air curtis anti anil he did nothing at this point marcus handy and I 1 exchanged furtive burtle fur tle significant glances el ances it was wai part of nn an unwritten agreement that chris mcgrath should inform me inc of all crimes concerning this the most sensational sat ional confidence operation which had happened as ai yet in cottonwood he had dropped not even a hint I 1 mr curtis resumed sinned re tits his narrative getting no further with the town ml marshal arshal lie he had addressed himself next to st sl conway headman head man ninn pre chief stockholder in that syndicate of gamblers which conducted the black jack ile he real astonished that such things could happen in tits house said mr air curits but while lie he was talking it was in the bar I 1 saw one of the fellow lowa that robbed me come out of the back room chimil him I 1 says 1 I and started to grab him and the bartender started too but lie w got stuck in the door in front of me ine and before I 1 could shove past him my wan man was gone you did that ii a purposed says 1 I and lift hit win hut but they pulled pull il me on off win and threw me ma out oat S sa I 1 come to you I 1 want to know if there la Is any juatco in this town I 1 here mr curtis orbed his subdued voice for the first time struck a clenched fist into tho the palm of th the e other hand marcus handy spoke bloke lite hla voice unwontedly low kid icid 11 ho he said eald you youve lye heard this story you I 1 wont want you to RO 90 8 over to ch carla ris mcgrath and put this up to him put iut it strong ask aak him why eliy we heard about this little affair and what lies hes done and on your way home soo see sl SI conway and touch film up similar then c owe back bach find and tell rno me what they 1 havo ilive to any ile he tu turned arned to mr air curtis As I 1 approached chris mcgrath sitting in tits hla rocking chair chewing tits hla cigar I 1 felt that I 1 was not going to relish tills this job Ifo however wever the |