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Show JURY TRIAL CONDUCTED BY OLD MAN GREENLAW Uncouth. Stranger Impels Saloon Keeper and Poker Crowd to Take Drastic Action . in View of Insults. By DAVID A. CURTIS. WHEN old man Greenlaw established estab-lished himself in business in a little saloon in Arakansas City, ' a stone's throw away from the steamboat landing and from the railroad terminal, which was close to it, he took advantage of a favorable condition the importance of which became be-came more and more apparent as time went on. Any saloon that was established in any of the small towns along the Mississippi Mis-sissippi -river, on either side, was sure of a steady patronage, the volume of which depended entirely on the size of the population of the town. Consequently Consequent-ly there was always a ealoon in each town. And in every case the presence of a stranger in the town was looked upon by the proprietor of the saloon as an indication of the probability that extra profit would accrue to him. No one who stopped in any of the river towns was likely to be troubled with prejudice against the' indulgence of the inevitable craving for - liquor which he would experience. The climate cli-mate may have baa something to do with this, but the surroundings m which he would find himself had more. And more strangers stopped in Arkansas Ar-kansas City than in most of the other river towns. This was not because they wanted to nor because they bad been there before.' On the" contrary, one who had been in Arkansas Citv once never went there again if he could avoid it. But when you were going to or from Little Rock you had to connect with the river boats by the railroad and you had to change from one to the other at Arkansas City. Ana the length of your stay in Arkansas City depended altogether alto-gether on when a boat or a train might happen to arrive or leave, which was always a matter of doubt, especially during a flood. Quarrelsome Atmosphere. Therefore in flood times Arkansas City wai occasionally congested with surplus population. Sometimes there would be three or four strangers there at once, in which cas there was always al-ways excitement and sometimes disturbances. disturb-ances. It was not in the nature of things that anybody who was forced to remain Arkansas City should retain his equanimity, and if "he did not clash with some inhabitant of the town he would be likely to be involved in some difficulty with some other stranger. The atmosphere of the place was not redolent of peace and a single drink of the liquor that old man Greenlaw dispensed dis-pensed at his bar would sometimes rouse in the breast of the consumer a burning desire for universal murder. In such a case if the sufferer took another an-other one things ensued. A gloomy person of athletic build, with uncouth manners and a cast in his eye. stepped into old man Greenlaw's Green-law's plai'e one day when the circumstances circum-stances were of the general character indicated by the foregoing outline. He had not the air of prosperity that would have induced the old man to regard him with favor even though his appearance had been less pleasing, but the cock-a-whoop assumption of importance with which he invited the company to regale re-gale themselves at his expense was sufficiently suf-ficiently impressive to raise a doubt in the old man 's mind, aDd he suspended .iudgment, thinking that he might perhaps per-haps glimpse the man 's wad when he came to pay for the round. But no. Slams Dollar on Bar. f lumminc: a stiver dollar on the hi r with entirely unnecessary violence, while he w-iped his Hps with his coa tsleeve after drinking, th st rancor said : "I al'ays onderstood what they wo'nt no po' whisky. O' co'se the?. Is some what's btter'n sm. hut the (ren'l b'lipf is what they ain't nnne oji it had. But ' He Wt liis sentence unfinished, hut as they waited a moment for him to conclude con-clude tt they perceived that the use of any further words would have heen superfluous. su-perfluous. The affront, whih trgj manifestly mani-festly intended, he had erp.veYed fully. Moreover, the ma'evolent smile which dipfimired his countenance left no room fnr douM. He had insulted t lie proprietor of the place wittincly and vs taklne a certain amount of satisfaction out of the fact of havinp done sc. Oid niAn ireenla- .-as ns nuik to resent re-sent contumely s anybody e!&e. He al ways kept a hungstarter handy for the purpose of doing it in extreme cases, and on this occasion he glanced at it hastily, as if to make sure that it was In its accustomed ac-customed place, but though he had no misapprehension as to the stranger's intent, in-tent, the circumstances were not 'yet altogether al-together clear. The flashing- of a single dollar was no evidence either for or against the possession pos-session of a wad hy the man who produced pro-duced it, and pending the solution of the question whether the stranger was solvent or not the old man contented himself with a verbal retort. He said: "Them that , hain't never drinked no good liquor afo' ain't 'xpected fo' to know it when they gits it. If I'd a knowed what yo' all was that kyind. I'd a put out some rotgut. I've got some in the house what's good enough fo' roustabouts an' sich." Offers to Make Bet. "Bet yo' a hundred,'' said the stranger promptly, "what yo' rotgut is a heap sight better 'n this." And he produced the wad. It required a preat effort, but the old man controlled himself. Not having any worse Hquor on the premises, he was in no position to take up the bet. "I don't never bet onto a sho' thing," he said, trying to look pleasant, "but if yo' all is beU bent on puttin' up yo' money they is a game o' draw in the back room occasional. I reckon mebbe some o' these gents 'H set in p'vidln' yo' all 'nsists." "I ain't playin' poker, not with no sich crowd as this yer," said the stranger bluntly, and he left the saloon forthwith. "Somepin' is got to be did speedy," said the old man nervously after he had gone out. "The c'm unity ain't safe with no sich man as him trav'lin round ontied. Fust thing anybody knows they'll be a rookus an' he'll be into it. Yo' all 'd best fo' to trail him, Basset t, an' see what he's brung back hyar afo' he gits a chanst fo" to blow that wad. It'll be needed fo the costs o' co't if he's cotched breachln' tha peace." As Joe Bassett was the sheriff and was more or less faithful to his duties when nothing else claimed his attention, he started out immediately, foreseeing a fra,-cas. fra,-cas. Jim Biaisdell and Sam Pearsall, who were also In the saloon at the time, followed fol-lowed along on the chance of finding some entertainment, but Jake WInterbottom resumed re-sumed his seat. Encounters Belligerent. "I reckon they won't be nothin' amizin' did." he said as he filled his pipe. The unmannerly man had not gone far, however, before he encountered another stranger In the town, as uncouth as himself, him-self, who seemed also to be a prey to unpleasant un-pleasant emotions. They eyed each other in no very friendly fashion, but might have passed without words if the path had not been as narrow as it was. As a consequence of thfs their elbows touched when they met and the first one turned instantly. "What was yo' all aimin to do?" he inquired with exaggerated politeness. "Well," replied the other with a drawl, "I kytnder reckoned mebbe I mought jostle them eyes o' yo'n back in place. I don't like the way t'ney's hung. ' Pears like they don't match. Did yo' ail git 'em both to onct, or one to a time?" "I reckon yo' knows what yo' c'n do if yo' don't like cm." said the first man, reaching for his gun. "T reckon yes," said the other, producing pro-ducing a gun of his own with equal alacrity. alac-rity. "1 c'n gouge one on "em an' eat it. on'v I wouldn't know which, one to begin with, an" I wouldn't like to git pizened nohow." Had the two been a little further apart, or had the sheriff leen a little further a way. there would probably have been no more to tell, for these latter utterances utter-ances were punctuated with pi?to! shots, but. the two were so close together that they scuffled as they fired,,- and so destroyed de-stroyed each other's aim. And before thev had succeeded in thir evident desisrn Mr. Bassett had disarmed them both and had seized one of them in each hand. He was was a very capable man and had no per in the art of rough and tumble. iSo as it happened the storv of the day's proceedings pro-ceedings was only just fairly begun. Held Court in Saloon. Tt was co-itinuM afir a brief interval in the little saloon whre- old man Creen-law Creen-law held court on occasions whrn he was ca'led upon to exercis-e his authority as justice of the pca--e The two prisoners did not eo there wiliinglv. but they went. Mr. BasMt kept hoM of them. "T reckon t' e drinks is on the '''t t time." he said, panting a. little. Even so stronjr a man as he cannot dr:r two others as husky as these two were without with-out fee'ing the exertion. "That'll be all rirr"-.t." said the old man. setting out the classes. "O" co'se." be sdd'd as if to himself, "the price c'n be took outn the costs o' ro't." ?o thev drank, and tb fmr'r Af the first strancer was evidentlv not improved. Some pponl ar nic in thir c'oic of :iior. evn thourh hf v may try to forge for-ge it in Arkansas Pity. Tvis man wa positively si;r'v nhn the shr-r'.f n:-de a coarse acalnpt him of disturbing dis-turbing the pace. and he pic aded not guilty. The other, having had only one drink, was reckless, but not defiant. "I reckon the easiest way's the best, Judge." he said carelessly. "I'm guilty, all right. I devilled this yap some, an' he drawed, so just nachully I drawed too." He took some bills from his pocket as he spoke, and the Justice, seeing at a glance about how much he had, let him off with a fine of that amount. Then he placed the recalcitrant one on trial. - "I demand a jury trial," said the prisoner. "Th' ain't no real n'cessity fo a jury." said the old man, "an' it'll be figgered in the costs, but 'codln' to the constitution yo' all is 'ntitled to It, if yo 'nslsts. I reckon these yer gents what's uere'll do fo" a jury. Jake, yo' all c'n be fo'man, an' they's fo' others In the room. That'll be enough fo' a triflin case like this." Wanted More Jurors. "They'd ought fo to be twelve," grumbled grum-bled the prisoner. "Not 'nless yo' want to he tried fo manslaughter they hadn't," said the old irTan. "Five is enough fo' a breach o' the peace." But just then Mr. Owen Pepper entered the saloon, and the old man offered of-fered to make it six if that would be considered con-sidered satisfactory. "Git on the jury. Pepper," h said without with-out waiting for a reply. "Oh. I don't know," said Mr. pepper. "I know yo' don't." said the old man. "Yo' ain't 'xpected to, on a jury. That's what yo's fo'." t But the prisoner said, "I challenge that hell yon I was fightin' with. He can't serve." "Now look a here," said the old man sternly. "One mo' break like that an' I'll shut yo' up fo' c'ntempt o' co't. They can't be no challengln' did in the co't , room." '"I take a exception to that," said the prisoner, "an' if I'm gwine to be tried now I want a lawyer." "Order In the co't," exclaimed old man Greenlaw peremptorily. "How does yo' all 'xpect to git fair treatment if yo' p'slsts in interruptin' the p'ceedin's? Th' ain't no lawyers in Arkansas City, nohow, but I c'n take yo' case for yo' if yo' pays my fee. Bein's I'm a Judge, I reckon that'd be reg'lar enough. I c'n 'djourn co't while me an' yo' goes In the back room fo' a consultation. Mebbe that'd be a good idea. Mo'n likely I c'n 'dvise yo' how to git outen yo' trouble. Anyways Any-ways I'd be willin' to deduct the fee often yo' fine." Strangers Are "Cleaned." The prisoner did not seem to be entirely en-tirely satisfied with this suggestion, but after a little consideration he said; "I j reckon I can't be no wuss off 'n I be now," and he and the old man went Into j the back room. What happened between the prisoner and his counsel cannot, of course, be dt- , vulged, but after the two came back to i the courtroom tha old man said: j "Gemmen o' the jury, they ain't no 1 question but the prisoner is guilty, but they is extraneous clrcumstants. Bein' called outen his name he couldn't do nothin' else but d'fend hisself. Yo' uns . i c'n fetch tn a verdick recommendln' him j to the mercy o' the co't, an' I'll fix it up j satisfact'ry ! "He says he'd ruther take a chanst into i a poker game 'n to go to the calaboose, ! an' he's got enough left to set in with. ! , so a'ter the verdick's rendered I'll dis-! dis-! miss the case." "Oh, I don't know." said Mr. Pepper, but the old man interrupted him. i "I didn't reckon yo' would," he said. 1 "but. 'taln't nec'ary, nohow, seein's yo' I ail ain't, 'xpected to set in at the game. I This yer other gent what was let off c'n i take a hand if he c'n dig up the price o' 1 the chips. Otherwise th' ain't no mo' to be did, on'y fo' to git busy in the back ! room. Prinks c'n be served at the table if p'ferred." Accordingly the ordinary routine of business in the place was resumed, and nothing more of an unusual character happened. When the two strangers left the old man loaned them boat fare to the next town. |