Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-07-18
DONNA, ,ANA,S INHERITANCE.

DONNA,ANA INHERITANCE.
The town seemed to re growing more
dull each week. The cheap glitter of
the saloons, and the tink1ing of the
guitar, seemed to be losing their old
time attractiveness. The monte dealer
sat with his back to the wall, and
yawned and whistled for want OF busi-
ness. Beyond the struggling outskirts
lay the sandy valley, checkered by in
Vulnerable bitches, and green and yel-
low with ripening wheat. But the
june sun and cool starlight fell alike
upon utter idlcness and stagnation.
It was not that society had become vir.
tuous, or any unwonted reform had
been iuaugurated. The group of
Auaeyica,aos. who loitered dis .ontent-
edly upon corners and lounged in sa-
looms, were idle only from scarcity of
victims. The market, which is con-
trolled by ivory checks and reckless.
ness, is liable to dullness and collapse
like any other. And this was the case
here, where once the attraction had
been so great as to gather small army
of such as live by nlmbleness of fingers
and stolidity Of acountenance.
Mr.. James Matkin was ne who, had
such position been created by stat
ute, would have been q admirably
qualified individual for Principal
Sharper. He had been in this locality
year, and during that time had been
frequently suspected of cunning par
ticlpation in some of those border ir
regularities in which mail-sacks are
opened, the contents of money-draws
Investigated, and sundry horses led
astray. Mr.. Matkin was % quiet
man, who buttoned his black coat
around his gentlemanly person with
habitual neatness, whose hat was with.
out wrinkle, and whose linen was
stainless. He was one of those whose
lives are decidedly good or quietly
desperate, and whose career is decided
by some freak of youth or accident of
ancestry. He could nave been a
clergyman, and was q professional
gambler shrewd, imperturbable, des-
perate. There was never a sign Of
disappointment upon his colorless and
closely shaved face; no tales in his
cold green eye. He was as rem orseless
as fate, as implacable as death. He
had cheated the rough men with whom
he associated until, in the want OF
fresh victims for their own cruder skill,
the whole fraternity were dollarless.
In all the legerdemain of the card
table he was privately, but perfectly,
proficient; and no man understood bet
ter than he the mighty secret which
victims are 80 slow to 1earn-that in a
gamblers success there is no such
thing as chance.
Had Mr.. Ma tkin been suspect& d oi
no other pursuit than the one which in
that country is considered not only
HONORABLE, but eminently genteel, al
mated, such was not the case. Only
that morning, while making his gentle
manly toilet, he had espied dingy en-.
velope lying mysteriously upon hls
pine table, which contained the follow
ing suggestive communication:
! Mr.. James Maxim; Sur:
Yoa mir by this enformed that you air moan TO be,
party aginst the peas and safety Of this communit,
md ef you vslyor you're pereonsl oomfert you vi
talk the furst opportunity to leav and Be kes.ywl
| zHats the opportunity soon.
p.s. ef you doant leve your neck ~tl strech ..
l Su4o - AoAs
The popularity of such friendly mis-
sives on the frontier consists in the re-
markable pnnctuaitly with which theil
promises are performed. The gamble,
knew this: Such occurrences we're moi
out of the range of his personal knowl
edge, and as he looked up and around
to discover the means by which the
document had been conveyed to him,
his cowardly heart was sick with ap.
prcbcnsion. But he placed the paper
in his pocket and sauntered out upor
the street. to watch and wait and think
For other reasons than those which
acuated the Principal Sharper, the
whole fraternity of victimless sporting
men in the old town desired q change
of residence. Your frontier gamble,
has one unfailing resource against the
dullness of decaying towns. He is a.
migratory as a gypsy, and you will
find him ever where the rattle Of tn,
checks is ive]iest, utterly forgetful O
his residence and his friends of month
ago. He is being whose characteris
tic is nonchaloncc, and time, place
and surroundings are the minor Incl
dents of life which is made no of tn
vicissitudes of fortune and the excite
ment of the most fascinating of all tn
villanics of mankind. The aboundin,
wealth and the abject poverty whicl
come and go in the chances of night
are but the common incidents of lif
which has in it no honor, no love, an.
no home which acknowledges no CO.
and no fear; anu which, at some mid
night not far in the future, is sure of
sudden ending and an unmarked grave
And SO it was not the incidents O
dangers of the journey of three hun
dred miles to the Arizonian capita
which those men discussed that sam,
night, as they stood at the shadow,
corner OF the street. 1t was only tn,
means they talked about. The las
stage of the "Overland" had been tax
en- of month ago. Mangas Colora
do, or "Coloraow," held every pas,
and watched every spring, and ever
month earning anew his sanguinar1
cognomen. But the donbloons wer,
very scarce in the sleepy town, and thi
congress OF gamblers had grown tiret
of lite Which was wanting in all ex
c'tcment, tired Of their mistresses. ant
even tired of themselves. Therefore
IT. was agreed that they sh"nll buy tn,
'dic c"":il and the six mules of til,
company that no longer needed them
''rni and equip themselves with umus,a
prodigality, AMI start for Tucson will,
in the week.
Softly, as was his wont, Mr.. Jame