Show R d W em aki wil THE STORY SO FAR on their way to the new cottonwood gold diggings in colordo colorado in n the early seven seventies ties robert a I 1 t oon easterner tt terner and ilia partner buck hoyden hayden a veteran miner witness the holdup hold bold up of 0 it a state stage coach from w which bach mhd lh tx press box Is stolen before tile the bandits are scared oil off among the holdup hold up victims are mrs contance tance deane and mrs barnaby who he intends to open a restaurant tn in cottonwood gilson meets marcus randy handy editor on his way to start the cottonwood Cotlon wood courier arl arriving r ving in town gilson and R hayden A adon together purchase a mining g claim A threatened lynching lunching lyn ching la Is averted by the bravery of 0 chris mcgrath town marshal gilson be becomes cones disgusted with gold fold digging what with its unending labor and small reward re wardi 4 and so the sudden appearance of shorty croly old time partner ot of duck buck la Is not altogether disconcerting to him gilson takes a job on the courier and arranges to sell his share in i the claim to shorty HIS acquaintanceship with t mrs deane ripens As the courier grows in power a civic spirit Is awake awakened ad I 1 CHAPTER VI continued when judge colliver Coll lver we oil all granted him that title took the floor he be drew almost as well as the variety shows allows A little before this climax he always went out for another drink the tradition of daniel webster still lay strong upon the west the oratorical lawyer most brilliant when halt balf seas over held the imagination alike of 0 courtroom and of jury brushing back his mop of black hair Coil colfver lver would work himself up like A 4 camp meeting preacher to an oratorical frenzy always he harped on oil two points the victim was armed everyone in camp was armed for that matter but as colliver Colli vcr brought out this point you forgot that and always some witness for the defense testified to ta a quick motion toward the hip there you were self de bense absolute and proved judge cowan coban closed the affair with a pompous charge full of bad latin wherein mercy stood better vindicated than justice the jurors scarcely left their seats beat the pickpocket whose escape from lynching lunching lyn ching I 1 bad witnessed during daring my first night tn in camp got a quick trial and short shrift judge cowan with special emphasis on the meanness of his crime sentenced him to ten years of minor cases such as settled communities muni ties usually try in police courts there were none under the tolerant rule of marshal chris mcgrath plain drunkenness con constituted no offense whatever it if an inhabitant was drunk and disorderly the marshal arrested him put him tn in the log jail tor for the night and released him tn in tile the morning my and about camp led too me constantly to that jail built with a double log wall provided with a real door reinforced b by Y sheet iron and with a substantially barred window it had as yet no separate cells murderer and transient drunkard alie slept on straw pallets ballets about the stove of the common room four dep deputes umes by turns jailer and policeman li ceman stood double guard with rifle and revolver oyer over these jacl Janiz zaries arles to marshal mcgrath ruled as chief as grand vizier one charlie meek ile he it war who when the marshal stopped the lynching lunching lyn ching at the black jack had the handcuffs on the pickpocket long a mere supernumerary in the drama of cottonwood camp he was to step forth for foe a day a leading octor actor jim Huf Huffa kerg restaurant had bad the contract for feeding the prisoners the walters waiters bring bringing brin ing ping over dinner or bu upper kutiper removed remove the soiled dishes of the last meal consequently the continuous game of seven up on the floor proceeded always amidst a most untidy fringe the sanitary arrangement I 1 not attempt to describe and tile the eternal scratch ings of tile the prisoners proved that bunks and clothing alche aellie were hunting grounds for forms forma of lower life marshal mcgrath had nominally tin an office a boarded bearded tent lent on main street streel there proceeded tile important business of registering regi mining iut hut seldom if ever did I 1 find liim him in those his official quarters his hours of leisure lie spent fit at the jail of one fine afternoons lie he sat eat in a rocking ch chai hi 13 Us its door tim smoking oking a black cigar and holding forth usually lie he had an audience ludi ence squatted about him on its I 1 liels bean once on a morning when the holdup hold bold up record neco rd at the bottom of out our laba column front page included eight items I 1 asked him what he was boink about footpads not a thing until they give elve me inc it a detective or two he replied ive applied twice tivice or when we get a municipal gov ervill cut I 1 rut put in repeating a political observation of marcus handy marshal mcgrath did not take this simple remark simply hl HIs eyes crinkled up but not with a smile the linc of lils ills face went hard asi as they did lie stepped upon the table of if the black jack to stop the 1 lynah rab ing flag tell your A r to keep off that I 1 lie jerked out oui if you dont like the why way the county run therell be au election in november wont there but as though his case ceded biology lip lie went on what do they those reformers A min alir lug lai canio aint a sunday school Kli ool we by will irwin copyright bv br will irwin service had bad a lynching lunching lyn ching yet yrtl I 1 that record it appeared was the marshals special pride cottonwood continued to boom and grow dally daily the th e courier reported strikes or line fine prospects in the mines inloes working on liverpool hill bill whore where the last inch of ground had long been staked out and developed and in those gulches and crevasses cre 0 of the mountains where experienced prospectors were sinking shafts with vath bucket and winch the stages arrived brimful every night the public corral overflowed with the wheeled transport of new arrivals arti vals under my eye this crude settlement was transforming itself into a town a city in a gulch guich above the river valley s R brickyard began operations its kilns kalns were scarcely formed before it biad ad orders six months ahead father cassidy signed the first order already ills his ladies sodality was advertising in tile the courier its fair for the building fund mr sipple the presbyterian was clearing ground fur for his new wooden church the methodists under the fiery mr orcutt got along with their gospel tent saved souls mightily and let the lord take care of the future doctor howells II episcopalian arrived of at about that time found quarters for sunday sen ices in an assay office beside the comstock Comsto cb lode saloon gathering roy my shoat sheaf of ecclesiastical news for the sunday morning paper I 1 found that he be had sent an urgent call for funds to his denomination in tile lie gust cast pending their response he did us christian service by spending the la last st of the funds lie he had brought up from denver to lease a log cabin and start a pay school father cassidy fearing the winds of adverse doctrine immediately il added to his building plans a parochial school three sisters of charity whom he be had brought with v him possessed themselves of a large tent and started a hospital tor for pneumonia cases gunshot wounds and other really serious disabilities the odd fellows hart had clubbed together and built a wide low pine shack floored for dancing within a week after the first timber was laid they held their grand dedication ball it paid for itself almost within it a month scarcely a night but the masons the ancient order of Hibernia ns the G A R the 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 mine owners and the more prosperous tradesmen odd fellows hall was lint but a fortnight completed when they held an assembly carpenters forn fora time got double wages so that every miner with the least skill shill at sawing or driving nails calls deserted the drifts and sought employment at building doors windows nod and window panes were now arriving by lie truck load the burlap port leres cres begau bebau to disappear the portiere port lere of gunny sacking nt at the door of the auiler cuutler ou iler passed into memory the pioneer sawmill had now a rival but though the two establishments worked double shirt shill and transformed half a in mountainside from a dryad grove into a littered ruin they could not keep 43 lo 10 I 1 1 the tradition of daniel webster still lay strong upon the tha west pace with the demand assay offices groceries general stores a pharmacy innumerable feli k loons operated in tents or bu suspended operations widle while the owners waited for lumber and killed frilled men we grew crew and grew am ly without organization by the process of adding cells like a jellyfish no stage or caravan but brought some representative of a new and necessary trade numbers slept out the first night on the floor of the st louis lodging house beside physicians barbers beside dentists plasterers beside assayers assa stationary engineers beside mining engineers but fast as they came gamblers and prostitutes bartenders and sure thing workers came taster faster now a telegraph line w was as preparing to start from roni denver and the courier was authorized to state on 1 tile the best authority that a narrow gauge railroad won w coming how un 1 rell reliable uble that best authority was kar cus cos and I 1 alone knew but marcus would have printed that report if he 11 had ad been obliged to invent it for as lie said we were bound to have a railroad some day after marcus had a way now of stopping short on that word after I 1 knew what he meant my eyes open I 1 was beginning even to grow interested in III what lie he meant we should have in cottonwood camp none of the sober development which a railroad symbolized until we achieved security for life and investment gun law supplemented by a withered and weakly corrupt government a days journey away was outworn already responsible citizens said that but said it under their breaths yet day followed follo cd day and marcus did not as lie he had bad enigmatically threatened cut his wolf loose less an and less indeed did lie he talk about the necessity of a municipal government more and more did lie he draw into himself almost he seemed morose As often as the job permitted lie he absented himself from the office when lie he returned lie he brought no news once running into our bedroom on some trivial errand I 1 opened tile the door to find him in close conference with three other men excuse me kid he said quickly I 1 stepped back closed the door but riot not bafo before re I 1 had recognized the good humored frog face of isidore cohen the jeweler and the lean eon yankee features of taylor president of the bank once again plodding 9 up an unfrequented trail to liverpool hill I 1 saw before me the familiar backs of marcus and doctor howells tile the episcopalian clergyman they rhey were wae walking with their heads down like men in intimate but perplexing conversation I 1 turned up a side trail then it was wag toward the h e end of my third week on n the court courier the incident arrived which cut the wolf loose CHAPTER VII returning from supper to write up cp my sheaf of miscellaneous information gathered during the afternoon I 1 found marcus nandy in close conversation with a stranger I 1 surveyed him 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 co courdle urile notice nance now veiled in deep gloom one would have said indeed that he had been crying marcus looked up come here kid shake hands with mr curtis he said 1 I want you to listen to this with conscientious precision mr curtis told ills his story ile he lint had arrived only three days before bringing ten thousand dollars receipts from the sale of his grocery business bl and his house in calro cairo illinois this money lie he deposited in the bank of cottonwood while he be saw the town t 0 wn and a n d looked for art an opening in the bar of the clack black jack he be met a stranger also from illinois who knew some of fit his people precisely at this moment I 1 antiel anticipated the whole story the proceeding ce as mr curtis told it in his dead grief stricken voice was typical orthodox the meeting with alth two other strangers the deal in mines by which he invested nothing and could not lose the necessity just when the deal stood at completion for proving that he had funds the trip to the bank for ills his ten thousand dollars the display of the money in III the back room of the black jack the discovery when lie he returned to the bank that he be held only a packet of waste paper mr curtis offered no excuses tor for hla his innocence and gullibility he was past vanity only when he told us that he had left ills his family in the east nod and had expected to send for them did his voice choke and break this was the second lesson to my slow blow imagination in the essential invariable cruelty of crime the story varied grew more interesting and especially to marcus when mr curtis toadied on the aftermath lie had thought it over ovied ills his pride and reported the matter mattei to chris mcgrath chris had promised to look loto into the matter seem much interested added mr curtis and he did nothing at tills this point marcus aandy and I 1 exchanged furtive significant glances it was part of an unwritten agreement that chris mcgrath McGrat li should inform tile me of all crimes concerning this tile the most sensational sat gat ional confidence operation which had happened as yet in cottonwood he had dropped not dot even a lint hint mr curtis curels resumed ills his narrative gottlog getting no further with the town dowil marshal he be had addressed himself next nest to sl conway headman head man presumably surn ably chief stockholder in that syndicate of gamblers which conducted the black jack ne lie seemed real astonished that such things could happen tn in ills his house said mr curtis but while he was talking it was in tile the bar 1 saw one of the fellows that robbed me come out of the back room himl him I 1 says 1 I and started to grab him and the bartender started too but lie got stuck to in tile the door in front of me and before I 1 could shove past him my man mail was gone you fild lid that purpose a says 1 I and hit him but they pulled me oft him end and threw me out so I 1 come to you I 1 want to know it if there Is any J ustice justice in this town P 1 here I 1 mr cards Us subdued voice for the first time struck a clenched flat into the palm of tile the other hand marcus handy spoke hla his voice unwontedly low kid 11 lie he sold youve beard this story you I 1 want you to go straight over to chris mcgrath and put this up to him film rut put it strong ask him why we heard about tills little affair and what lies done anti and on your way home see sl conway and touch him film up similar then come back and toll tell me what th they ey have flare to say any ile he turned to mr curtla curtis As I 1 approached chris mcgrath sitting in his fe chair chewing ills cigar I 1 felt that I 1 was not going to relish this job however the plain recital of mr curtis had warm warmed ed my own indignation I 1 let some of my feelings into my voice I 1 suppose when I 1 retold the story and as a I 1 talked the s smile wrinkles smoot smoothed a hed out from about the marshals eyes they grow grew hard came to your paper I 1 he be interrupted who does he think runs this ca camp mr the county government or your little liffie two by four sheet 1 I suppose he felt he had |