The Portland daily press., 1875-03-26
Cold in CoIorado-A Story to be Taken
Cautiously.

Tho Fort Wayne Sentinel has been inter-
waving a gentleman from Colorado in regard
70 the cold weather there, and the following
;nc;dent by "Lone Bill,' the Colorado gentle
man mentioned, is the result
One night Scared Pete, the biggest man and
best euchre-player in Helena, was beatn' all
the boys at the game and gittin' away with
thur stamps like lghtnin.' 1t did come up
awful cold that afternoon. Thar warns no
thermometer an we couldn't tell how low she'd
got But though we'd a red-hot fire in the
stove, and all sot around her, our breath frz
right up, and we had to knock off the cicles
from our mouths every few minutes. The han
die on our ace of spades cracked and fell Oh
and no enc would touch spade cos twas 50
cold. Well, Scared Pete held two bowers al
three kings. Long Jim had three aces = queen
and the "lttle JOKER" Scared Pete pun Wv"
his right Long Jim followed with us 'oAo
Scared Pete took an ace with the lett. nons
Jim gobbled up two kings with two aces 1 cue
swore no man ever before played 1t so 10" on
him and he'd he eternally caterwouled II jim
h.a,,t stockad the keerds. Then there was
go .ba nrettIest little row ever seen; TeIo
yot lin down. and atore minute .heii o: -
had friz tighter vice. Inc ooSs saw W. 80
all nm
Wnn IT zee there wasn't no water nor noIhin' to
,baw 'em out'n that, 80 they pulled Jim ana
Pate 'longside the stuv. T'want no use
Tbey'd friz so tight that hot pitch couldn't melt
'em. :. u.h.
You see everything was friz up; no axes nor
nothin' to chop the ice off. Next day they
stad thar, and: next. night. Yes, stranger, Ior
three days and nights Pete and Jim were 1rlz
together They stuck closer'n brothers, now
YOU may bet your bottom dollar. The fourth
day it began to grow little warmer, and by
night the weather was torable. We also sou
round playin keerds an me an Ugly sam
had just begun to get in some big lcks-me
Sam was pards, you know.
'sAll of suddink like, we heard an awful
crash. looked round, an condemn my plcter,
EFF them two 'Yahoos on the floor hadn
thawed out. Yes, sir, and thar they were
they'd left off afore they'd friz together. By
that time we'd all warmed up to 1t, and there
was a neat little fuss Well, stranger an LIN
a tein' you fax, knives was used pnrfy lvely.
But durnd efl'twa Mt so cold =, one could draw
blood. After an hour CT so the fun let up. Jim
and Pete got onto their feet, loOkin' as fresh as
roses. Hadn't made no more impression on
themselves than flea buttin' 'gainst a barn
floor Well that party broke up bout morn
inc We didn't think anything of it till day
or two after. Then she began to thaw, an
stranger, there was the awfulest time you ever
beerd on. Them as got cut in the little muss
in the store begun to bleed ike STUCK nOgS
Fact. l bled more'n gallen, and thought I'd
have to hand in my checks. But all but one
Teller cot fixed up and did purity we'll Scared
Pete and Long Jim was purity we'll tuckered
out though. You see when she got warm, why
we began to sort O thaw out; and the jabs an6
cuts we got that night began to tell on US, AND
the bigger the cut the more we bled. NOW
stranger that was only one of the effects OF
that little cold snap, 'twasn't nothin' to wha
happened afterward!
Here Lone Bill began to move uneasily
about Noticing that we watched him rather
curiously, he remarked: You see, soon as
rit trife warm feel uneasy like and smart
an have to light out into the air. This climate
don't suit 'zactly, an I'm soin' to strike fo
old Montany again. curu down har IN inJl
any to see bout some people, sort OF relative
like I tried to get 'em to come out thls,-
pull up stakes and go whar man can breathe
easy"
Saying this, Lone Bill spat with amazing ac
curacy at nail head ON the wall, and, wipins
his mouth withithe coat-tal of his linen buster
turned his melancholy face and No. IA boots
toward the door.
Hating with his brawny hand on the door
knob, he hesitatingly said: "If you should
prent anything I've sed, an eff you've got roon
lust say That Lone Bill will swar to anything
he's said. At home I'm sometimes known as
the 'catamount,' aH' no man don't call me
liar twic't"
We FASTENED to assure him that we supposed
lin to be truth embodied, and that any mar
e, who could dispute his word was no better than
he should be, and horse thief into the par