The Placer herald., 1873-04-26
MARK TWAIN'S ACCOUNT OF Jim
SMILEY.o
As related by Simon Wheeler, Esq., OF
ANGELS Camp, Calayeras County, Clifor-
MA. on being as.ed for infOrma-
ton concerning certain Rev.
leOuiias ~ Smiley

H"as on DtIng 6S"eu Tor 1nIVrma-
u3l Concerning a certain Rev.
Leonidas. " Smiley
There was fellow here once bv the name
If jim Smiley, in the winter of 40 or may
be 1t was the Spring of So don't recollect
exactly, somehow, though what makes me
think it was one or the other is because re
member the big flume wasn't finished when
he first came to the camp; but any way, he
was the curiousest man about, always bet
ling on any thing that turned np,you ever see
# he could get any body to bet on the other
side; and if he couldn't he'd change sides
Any way that suited the other man would
suit him-any way just sos he got bet, h.
was satisfied. But still he was lucky uncon-
mon lucky; he most always come out winner
lie was always ready and laying for q
chance; there couldn't be no solitary thing
mentioned bu, that fellerd offer to bet on it
md take any side you please, as wa-
just telling YOU. If there WAS horse-race.
,ou'd find him flush or you d ind m busted
1t the end oft; if there was a cat fight he'd
net on il; if there WIS a dog fight, he'd bet
on it; if there va, a chicken fsht he d bet on
i; why, If there WAS two birds setting on
fence, he woad bet yo9 which one would
Hy first; or if there was camp meeting, he
would be there reg'l9r. to bet on P.rson
Walker, which he jnoged to be The best ex-
hotter a bout here--,nd 80 he WAS, too and
- good man. If he even seen a slradde-
bug start to 30 any where's, he would be
YOU how long it would take him to gci
wherever he was gong 10; and if you took
him up, he would toi!er that siraddle- bug to
Mexico but what he would find out wlere
he WAS bound for and how long he was on
The road Lots of the boys here has seeu
that Smiley, and can tell you about him
by, it never made amy d'ilerene to him,
he would bet on anything. P,rson Walkers
wife laid very sick once, for good while,
md 1t seemed AS if they warn't going to
save her But one morning he came in, and
smiley asked how she was, aud he said she
was consl Ter tbe better-:hank the Lord for
his infinite mercy--and oming on so smnri
hat, with the blessing of Providence. she'd
get well yet; and Smiley, before he thought,
says: "Wel, I'll risk two-and-A-haf tia,
size don't, any way" This yer Smiley had
4 mare-the boys called her the fifteen
minute nag, but that was only in fun, you
snow, because, of course, she was faster
than that-and lie used to win money on
that horse, for she WAS 20 slow, and always
had the asthma, or the dstemper, or the
consumption, or something of the kind
They used to give her two or three hundred
yards start, and then p,ss her under way;
hut always at the lag end of the race she'd
get excited and desperate-like, and come
cavor'ing and s,radding up, aud scatterm,
her legs around timber, sometimes out
one side amongst the fences, and kicking >,
more dust, and raising more racke,,
with Ler coughing and sneezing and blowing
her noze-and always fetch up at the stAnd
just about neck ahead. as near as you
could cipher it down And he had little
oull pup, that to look at him you'd think he
want worth cent, but 10 set around and
ook ornery, and lay for chance 10 steal
something. But as soon az money WAS NJ
on him he WAS different dog; his under
rw'd begin to stick out like the 70 castle OF
steamboat, and his teeth would uncover,
md slime savage like ths furnaces. And
dog might tackle him, and hully-rag him
md bite him, and throw him over hls
-houder two or three times. and Andrew
Jackson would never let on but what he war
satisfied, and hadn't expected nothing else
and the bets being doubled aud doubled
on the other eide all the time, till the money
vas all up; and then all of sudden ht
would grab thai other dog jest by the int OF
his hind leg and freeze to it, not chaw, you un-
Ierrtand, but only jest grip and hang on till
they throwed up the sponge if it was year
Smiley always come out winner on that pup
Ill he harnessed dog once that didn't have
no hind legs, because they'd been sawed Of
oy circular saw, and when the thing had
zone along far enough, and the money war
all up, and lie come to III Ike snatch for biz
pet holt, he saw n a minute how hed been
imposed on, and how the other dog had him
in the, door. 80 to speak, and he 'p-arec
surprised, and then be looked sor,er dscour.
,ged-Iike. and didn't hy no more to vii
he fight, and 20 he got shnck out bad
He gave Smiley look, as much as 10 say HE
heart was broke. and it was his fault, putting
up a dog that hadn't no hind leg~ for him
to take holt Of, which was hs main depend
ence in fight, and then be limped off
piece, and laid down aud died. 1t was .
good pup, was that Andrew Jackaon, and
would have mads name for himself it he'd
lived. for The stuff WAS in him, and he had
genins; know it. becsnse he hadn't had no
opportunities to speak of. and it don't stand
to reason that dog could make such fight