The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1851-04-23
DEACON sMITH,s BULL;

10 HE FISHER BOYS STRATAGEM.
DEACON SMITHS BULL; .
net OR MIKE FINK IN TIGHT PLACE.
Mike Fink, a notorious Buckeye hunter
was contemporary with the celebrated Da.
Wy Crockett, and his equal in all things ap.
pertaining to human prowess. twas even
said that the animals in his neighborhood
knew the crack Of his rife, and would take
to their secret hiding places on the firstin'
timation that Mike was about. Yet
strange, though true, he was but little
known beyond hisimmedia,e settlement .
When aue knew him, he was an old man
the blasts Of seventy winters had silver
ed DER his head and taken the elasticity
from his limbs; yet in the whole of his life
was Mike never worsted, except upon one
occasion. To use his own language, he
never "gin in, used up to anything tha
travelled on two legs or four" but once
,""That once, we want" said Bill Slasher
as some dozen of US sat in the bar-roon
of the old tavern in the settlement. s
..Gin il TO US now, Mike-you'ye prom
ised long enough, and you're Old now, ane
needn't care" continued Bill d ssa s. saa
"Right, right! Bill" said Mike, "bu
we'll open with Ticker all round fust, it'll
kind o. save my feelin's, | reckon
D. "Thar, that's good. Better than t'otheI
barrel, il anything!' 80 81.
=" "Well. boys" commenced Mike, "you
may talk o. your scrimmages, tight places
and sich like, and subtract 'em altogether
in one almighty big 'un, ,sand they hain'l
no more to be compared to the one | war
in, than dead kitten to an old she bar!
I've fout all kinds o. varmints, from an In
gin down to rattlesnakel and never was
will'n to quit fust, but this once-and twas
with Bull! Is ~ 'a 1 ss
.You see, boys, it was an awful hot day
in August, and war nigh runnin' off into
pure lie, when war thinkin' that dip in
the creek mout save me. Well, thar was
a mighty nice place in old Deacon Smith s
medder for that partic'lar Dizziness. So /
went down amongst the bushes to unhar-
ness. Pdjist hauled the old red shirt over
my head, and war thinkin' how scrump-
tious feller Of my size would feel a wall
erin round in that ar water, and was jist
bout goin' in, when seed the old 7Dea-
cons Bull a maxim a B-line to whar |
stood. is;s ~ 4,.gs ,i t.,,
81 know'd the old cuss, for he'd skar'd
more people than all the parsons o. the
settlement" and cum mighty near KILN
a few. Thinks |, Mike you're in rather a
tight place--get your fix'ns on. or he'll be
a drivin' them big horns o. his in yer bow
els afore that time! Well, you'll hev to
try the old varmint naked, Ireck'n. Sd.
"The bull war on one side o. the creek
and ION t'other. and the way he made the
sile fly for while, as if he war a diggin'
my grave, war distressinl
"Come on ye bellerin old heathin, said
/. and don't be standin thar; for, as the
old Deacon says o. the devil, yer not
comely 10 look on.'
aThis kind o. reach d his understandin',
and made him more wishious'; for he
hooied a little like. and made dive. And
as don't like to stand in anybody's way,
] gin him plenty sea-rooml So he kind o.
passed by me and come out on t'other side;
and, as the captain o. the Mud.Swamp
Rangers would shy, .'bout face for mother
charge @
r'Thongh ! war ready for i'm this time,
he come mighty nighrunnin' foul o. mel
So Imade up my mind the next time he
went out he wouldn't be alone, So when