The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-10-22

him in his seCluslOn' leI SolhO POiA'
formalities had been exchanged, and
some easy vituperation of backward
season offered by each of the parties,
Tom Wingate approached the subject.
"Sorter dropped heavy on Jack Ham
lin, the other night, didn't ye? lie al
lows YOU didn't give him no show for re-
yenge. said you wasn't no such id
fool, didn't, Dick?" continued the artiul
Wingate, appealing to a confederate:
"Yes," said Dick, promptly. You
said twenty thousand dollars wasn't
coin 10 be thrown around recklessly.
You said CYRUS had suthin' better to do
with his capital" supegadded Dick, with
oratnitous mendacity. 81 disremember
now what particular investment you
said he was goin' to make with II" he
continued, appealing with easy indiher-
ence to his friend ~
OF course Wingate did not reply, but
looked at the Fool, who, with atroubled
face, was rubbing his legs softly After
pause he turned deprecatingly toward
his visitors.
aye didn't emmy of We ever hey sort
of tremblin' in your legs-a kind O.
shakiness from the knees down? Suth-
i'm" he continued, slightly frightening
with his topic, "suthin' that begins ike
chills, and yet amt chills. A kind O.
sensation of goneness here, and a kind
o. feelin as If you might die suddint!
When Wright's pills don't somehow
reach the spot, and quinine don't fetch
you?" -, J,
"No," said Wingate, with a curt di-
rectness, and the air of authoritively
responding for his friends. mo, never
had. You was speaking OF this yer IN
vestment.
"And your bowels all the time irregu-
lar?p continued Hawkins, blushing un-
der Wingate's eye, and yet clinging de-
spairingly to his theme like ship
wrecked mariner to his plank.
Wingate did not reply, but glanced
significantly at the rest. Hawkins evil
IDENTIFY saw this recognition of his men
tai deficiency, and said apologeticallyr
"You was sayin' suthin' about my IN
vestment."
eyes" said Wingate, so rapidly as to
almost take Hawkins's breath away
"the investment you made in"
"Raferty's Ditch" said the fool tim
idly.
For moment the visitors could only
stare blankly at each other. "Rafferty's
Ditch" the one notorious failure of Five
Forksl Raferty's Ditch, the impracti'
cable scheme Of an utterly impractica-
BILE man; Rafferty's Ditch, a ridiculous
plan for taking water that could not
be got to place whereit wasn't wanted
RafFertys Ditch, that had buried the
fortunes of Rafferty, and twenty other
wretched stockholders in its muddy
depths. go.
after a gloomy pause "Thets 1t! l see
| it all now, boys. That's how ragged
Pat Rafferty, went down to San Francis.
co. Yesterday, in store clothes, and his
wife and four children went off in a
kerridge to Sacramento. Thet's why
them ten workmen of his ez hadn't q
cent to bless themselves with was playin
billiards, last night, and eatin' listers
Thet's whar that money kun frum-one
hundred dollars-to pay for thet long
advertisement of the new issue Of Ditch
stock in the Times, yesterday. Thets
why them six strangers were booked at
the Magnolia hotel, yesterday. Don't
you see--it's that mOney-and that
Foolp
The Fool sat silent. The visitors arose
without word.
"You never took any of those Indian
Vegetable Pills2" asked Hawkins timid'
ly Of Wingate.
"No" roared Wingate, as he opened
the door
"They tell me that took with the Pan.
aeea-they was out O. the Panacea when
went to the drug store, last week-they
say that, took with the Panacea, they
always effect certain cure But this
time Wingate and his disgusted friends
had Notwithstanding the door on
the Fool and his ailments.
Nevertheless in six months the whole
affair was forgotten, the money had
been spent-the "Ditch" had been pur-
chased by company of Boston capital
ist, fred by the glowing description Of
an eastern tourist, who had spent one
drunken night at Five Forks--and
think even the mental condition OF
Hawkins might have remained undis-
turbed by criticism but for single in
cident.
II was during an exciting political
campaign, when party feeling ran high,
that the irascible Captain McFadden, oi
Sacramento, visited Five Forks. Dur
ipu n haota1 Jiaouaaio,, - kIo D.os.;o a
Rose Saloon words passed between the
captain and Hon. Calhoun Bungstarter,
ending in challenge. The captain bore
the infelix reputation of being notori-
GUS duelist and dead shot; the captain
was unpopular; the captain was be-
lieved to have been sent by the opposi-
ton for deadly purpose, and the
captain was, moreover, a stranger. / am
sorry to say that with Five Forks, the
latter condition did not carry the equal
ity of sanctity or reverence that it usu-
ally obtains among other nomads.
There was consequently some little hes
itation when the captain turned upon
the crowd and asked for some one to act
as his friend. To everybody's astonish-
ment, and TO the Indignation of many.
the Fool stepped forward and offered
himself in that capacity. l do not know
whether Captain McFadden would have
chosen him voluntarily, but he was con-
strained, in the absence of a better
man, to accept his services.
The duel never took place. The pre-
nminaries were all arranged, the spot
indicated, the men present with their
seconds, there was no interruption from
without, there was no explanation or
apology passed-but the duel did not
take place. 1t may be readily imagined
that these acts, which were all known to
Five Forks, threw the whole communi-
ty INTO fever Of curiosity. The princi-
pals, the surgeon and the seconds left
town the next day. Only the Fool re-
malnedIhe resisted all questioning-de-
claring himself held in honor not to di-
Vulge-in short, conducted himself with
consistent but exasperating folly. It was
not until SIX months had passed that