Show KNEW CASS KITE HITE A sixteen year old boy on the river and a few ot of ills impressions and experiences SEES SOME TOUGH put aut comes it bight right side up and all together A great mine of historical lore open to the del ver who wishes to dig rube turner knew casa cass hite rube was then sixteen and hauled mall mail from Hanks hanksville ville to hite A plot ure of the grub kitchen the cabin where rube ate and the snubbing post the boat was tied to in high water Is shown in the improvement era of january 1924 casa cass hite was a man of dark corn com alexion about six feet tall no fat black hair black eyes a cuss to toj swear when the notion took him but harmless swearing tor for he was at fable easily approached good hu mored and a man of good manners educated and of pleasing address he was a dead shot his ills marks manship was superb he would shoot at cans bottles rocks any thing and everything and the way he hit them was uncanny ilia his rep for being a dead shot was not exaggerated exa he was all that he wore a black mustache which he waxed that was the fashion back in those days and twisted neatly up into a cute curl at the sides and a goatee which it was his wont to let his play in when he was rum in thought he wore a stiff brimmed black hat and when he was likker ed up it was his standing joke to fillip that stiff brim with a flick of his finger bail to make it smack and say pretty tough old hombre hosteen hosteen was his indian name in the navaho tongue and they thought all the world of him would come from acres the river to visit with him and in case of need would no io doubt have taken up his cause although he was good natured jolly and full of tun fun yet he had the look and action of a man it was sat cr er to let alone than rile up and once on his dander look out he wanted action and craved the other fellow a gore ren turner hears a on case cass life lit and the sequel one day lorenzo turner rube a dad was in green river utah there toe fhe was met by a man by the name ot of coalter who said your name turner dessir from prom over on the river yes sir air know cass hite deed I 1 do come have a drink and in the saloon coalter said to ren you take word back to casa hite that luat this ere world aint big enough tor for me n him one or of us has to die when we meet take it to him ren turner gave the empty prom use lise that he d carry word but thought that coalter didn dian t know what he was playing with to tor threaten his good friend cass hite whose hand eye and trigger finger were all greased a quick erne r n chained lightning light nin ren thought cass could take care of himself in in any company so let the thing drop leaving it for others to be tattle tales though he would confirm the tale to cass it if ever need arose but the thing leaked and coalter made the crack to others and even dually it got to cass cass got r led up tor for here was affront coalter was indiscreet gainly and lacking good judgment of that cass would convince him cass casa had a habit of shooting from the hip it saves time on the draw at this time he took to practicing that art assiduously and let no op port unity pass without making the draw and nailing an imaginary one ene my in the least calculable lapse of time it was greased lightning well aimed so cass brooded over the taunt and when he could stand it no long er business called him to green river he rode over from Hanks hanksville ville and took a room at the hotel and after registering took a newspaper and p a chair and walked out on the lawn away from the hotel and squared around facing it he ile then bly began to carefully read that paper calmly facing the hotel but though the paper waa was apparently up before his face but he was very careful not to shut out the view ot of the hotel he was facing he waited reading word spread that cass hite was in town coalter heard it buckling duckling on his pun gun coalter went to the hotel from behind and stalk ed his man fate walks A form was sen to slip out irom from the side aide of the hotel the tho newspaper sagged on the right side from a hip position a six gun crashed and coal ter pitched forward dead A friend of coalter a was there to back his principal up and when he hove in sight cass nipped him nicely in the leg as a warning that more would follow it if he didn dian t mind hia his own business cass was put up tor for trial but the testimony developed that he was strictly peaceable stalked by another man armed who had threatened to kill him on sight so the verdict was self defense the sixteen year old kid isn t made to drink the rot gut slip the years past and let us turn to ancher deltan who knew casa cass hite cass took sick was taken to a hog hos pital nearly died and when released our fellow townsman court stewart hauled the sick man from green rivier ier utah in his wagon over the san ratel swell of which court says J the wagon was six spokes in the sand the horses got stuck and 1 I piled out still they couldn coulden t make it caas said he d get out too but he was so weak I 1 asked him it if I 1 t help him but he said no let me try what I 1 can do after much effort he got on the hub but it was getting too much tor for him and to step down the six inches or so from the hub to the sand he fell flat forward on his face afterwards cass hite was found dead in his cabin heart failure cass hite was an easterner once rich coming from an influential family and all the river people tell me once an editor of a paper his brother ben came to utah and rube saya says it Is his understanding that hite on the colorado river was named after ben there was also a john hite on the river and a nephew homer hite tradition Is that cass hite had been forced to kill a man in self de tense in st louis and another in denver but that Is hearsay and rube doesn doean t state it for more than such one day rube rode into hite and there on a big outdoor table in front of the mess mesa shack were seven men playing cards seven bottles of tan sat on the table in all stages of depletion some sa shooters were reposing in safety on the table top but others were still in place in belts the men were drink ing but not quarreling when rube got through with his duties and was ties from the responsibility of the he walked over toward the ta in ble when one vociferous one unarm ed but noisy yelled hey kid come have a drink no I 1 don t drink the hell you don t well you will this time and the big duffer lurched forward grabbed the boy around the neck with a huge arm and dragged the unwilling lad to ward the table to force a drink down him simultaneously an old codger with badly crippled feet both partly clubbed with a pistol in hie his belt arose grabbed hia his cane with which he always had to steady himself in walking and began to hunch himself over sideways to the struggling pair gurgling and mumbling in unsteady voice I 1 it you do cass hite quietly arose withdrew to one side where he had full view and was unobstructed in free play ready and watchful the makings of a tragedy were fermenting just one false move and things might happen the crippled fellow nick named granddaddy hooked his cane into the arm of the vociferous one lurch ed on it and broke the other others s hold there was a kerible oath a flash of hand to an empty holster a full look of angry defiance and then one glance toward cass hite and he was seen tense vibrant just like a steel spring ready to draw that one look tor for the bully was enough he ile saw what he saw the tenseness relaxed cass coolly turned bis his back and strode away the crippled one hobbled back to his pals but all interest in the party had vamoosed by dy unanimous consent it was broken up and each man buckled on his own artillery for cass was not a man to fool with tragedy came mighty near walk ing in that half drunken scuttle scuffle the curtain one day ren taylor came up the river from work tired hungry and as it was dusk he thought to eat and bed down at cass cabin with cass as his host he walked over to the cabin knocked on the door got no response pushed the door open and there on the floor was the body of cass hite death had occurred while he walked across the room attired in his night colches col thes several nights or so before for decomposition was well advanced his hat was on its usual peg the fiddle on the edge of the table where the he d laid it after enjoying his last earthly music and a magazine open on a story he d been reading until bed time the curtain had been drawn cass hite existed thereafter only in memory he had said to his friends a long time before it anything ever happens to me bury me just id fa front of the cabin door I 1 ve always liked the place and I 1 m willing to stay rube says he always liked cass hite respected him and thought very well of him but always felt that cass hite was not the kind of man one should tamper with it wa n t exactly sate safe |