The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-06-25
Termini Troubles.

When we were all snugly tucked up in our
berths in the gayly-decorated sleeping-sa-
loon, one of the newcomers began dreamily
to tell stories of termini troubles. ''Not
much as it was when we were here and at
Muskogee in 1907 he said. "Three men
were shot about twenty feet from this same
car in one night at Muskogee. Oh! this
was little hell, this was. The roughs took
possession here in earnest. The keno and
monte players had any quantity of tents all
about this section, and life was the most
uncertain thing to keep you ever saw. One
night a man lost all he had at keno; so he
went around behind the tent and tried to
shoot the keno-dealer in the back; he missed
him, but killed another man. The keno
man just got board and put it up behind
himself,a and the game went on. One day one
of the roughs took offence at something the
railroad folks said, so he ran our train off the
track next morning. There was no law
here, and no means of getting any. As fast
as the railroad moved on the roughs pulled
up stakes and moved with it. We tried to
scare them away, but they didn't scare worth
a cent. 1t was next to impossible for stran-
ger to walk throught one of these canvas
towns without getting shot at. The grave
yards were sometimes better populated than
the towns next them. The fellows who
ruled these little terrestrial hels-where they
came from nobody knows. Never had any
homes-grew up like prairie grass, only
ranker and coarser and meaner. They had
all been terminuses ever since they could re-
member. Most ofthem had two, three and
four murders ON their hands, and confessed
them, They openly defied the Indian au-
thorities, and scorned Uncle Sam and his
marshals. They knew there was money
wherever the end of the road was, and they
meant to have it."
''But how long did this condition of affairs
continue? ?"
SIT went on steadily until the Secretary of
the Interior came down here to see the Ter
ritory and TO examine the railroads. He
went down in this same car, and he was
carefully informed of all the lawlessness and
fragrant outrages which decent people had
been obliged to submit to. One night while
they were on the road, the superintendent
in-chief pushed on little ahead of the train
to get a physician, as a gentleman in the
special car was taken suddenly i'll. The
roughs captured the superintendent and pro-
POSED to shoot him, as they fancied him some
local emissary of the general government.
He begged of, however, and explained who
he was. They hardly dared to shoot him
then; so he succeeded in getting physician,
got back to the train, and next day he took
the Secretary of the Interior to inspect this
choice specimen of railroad civilization"
Sand what did the Secretary see ?"
''Oh, all the ruffians iocked to hear what
he had to say. They had killed a man that
morning for mere caprice, and he was laid
out in little tent which the party passed by
as they looked around. One after another of
the rough fellows was presented to the party;
and each one spoke very plainly, and said he
had good right to stay in the Nation,' and
he meant with an oatI) to stay, ana he'd
like to hear any one hint that he had better
go awey. Then they told stories of their
murderous exploits, practised at marks with
their revolvers, and seemed not to have the
least tear of the Secretary"
'What was the resultP'
'Well, the Secretary of the interior took a
bee-line for the nearest telegraph station, and
sent despatch to General Grant, announc-
ing that neither life nor property was safe in
the Territory, and that the Indians should be
aided in expelling the roughs from their
midst, So, in a short time the Tenth Caval-
ry went into active service in the Territory"
"Did the ruffians make any resistanceW
'They got together, at the terminus, arm
ed to the teeth, and clustered a good deal;
but the cavalrymen arrested one after anoth-
er, and examined each man separately.
When one of the terminuses was asked his
name, he usually answered that it was Slim
jim, or Wild Bill, or Lone Jack with an
OATH, and that he was gambler,o or a pound
err as the case may be, and, furthermore,
that he didn't intend to leave the Territory.
Whereupon the officer commanding would
say: We'll, Slim Jim, or Wild Bill, or Lone
Jack, I'll give you twelve hours to leave this
town in, and if you are found in the Terri
tory week from this date, I'll have you
shotp And they took the hint"
ssWhere are these men now?"
"Some of them are at Denison, at the end
of this road. They are secure enough there,
because when they are pursued on crimi-
nal process, they are only four miles from the
Red River, and they can escape into the Ter
ritory, beyond the reach of United States law,
and recross the frontier in some other direc-
ton. You'd will see them at Dennison.
Goodnight"
A moment Afterwards, the voice added:
''By the way, at the next station Musko-
gee, a man was shot before the town got
tqere, and the graveyard was started before
single street was laid out. You can see the
graveyard now-a-days-eleven men are
buried there with their boots on. Good
night, again. ."-Scribner' for July.