The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1875-12-16

BIZ PRENTICE MULFoRD.

jack Myers and his crowd owned q
claim in the bed of the river, which they
turned and worked every summer; and
this clsim covered the ground occupied
y our copper lode. They had been
working all winter in GarrOte Flat,
about eighteen miles distant, and COM
ing DIVA in the spring took the copper
fever severely, and finding we were on
apartof their ground, laid claim to such
gp0fti0n OF our possessions. I argued
that the two claims had nothing to do
with each other. Possession of any por-
ton OF the river-bed implied possession
only OF the gravel in it, and the discov-
erer OF any lode of ore in the underly-
ing rock, whether above or below water,
WAS as much entitled to it as though it
NeFe ten miles away.
Jack Myers was not an arguing man.
His first and last resort lay in his pistol.
He had always carried his points In this
way, and he had always found such pro-
GO quicker and cheaper than resort to
the. complicated and costly machinery
OF courts, law, and lawyers. He could
not live comfortably without q fight
every few months, and when he failed
to pick quarrel with any outsider he
would work of his combativeness one or
other OF his three associates, who were
completely under his control and influ-
ence, and who seemed to like him all
the better for an occasional beating.
Myers was . thoroughly bad man.
There seemed no soft spot, no relieving
quality in his nature. His speech to
others alternated between q sneer and a
growl. He went about always more or
less under the influence of iquor-de-
lighting in the dread his presence in
spired, for he was as dangerous as a
tiger turned loose. Respectable men
sipped quietly out Of the saloon when
be entered. People talked in low and
subdued tones while he was by, for be
frequently criticised chance remarks,
whether coming from . stranger or &C
quaintance, and made them the pre-
tense for quarrel. He shot Will LET
fngwell while eating his dinner in a
restaurant, having construed q few
words OF Wills, spoken that morning
md reported to him by one of his
olkcious toadies, into threat against
himself. He put ball through Sam
boynton's knee, and lamed him for life,
because Sam refused to drink with him.
He had knitted . man to death in Auro-
n, no one could tell why or wherefore
at the trial. These were but q moiety
Of his exploits; yet the law, or whatwas
called by that name, always cleared
him. He was as lucky at mining as he
was st shooting. He always could and
always did command the best legal tai
ent. Next to manning or killing fel-
low-being, be liked being on trialfo the
odense, ON account Of the notOriety il
gave him.
Myers and his gang came and took
posseseion Of their cabin In Nay. Il
Nas but few hundred yards from my
quarters. Their presence brought PAN
demonium to SWEETS Bar, hitherto so
quiet and lovely in the California spring.
There Is at that season of the year, be-
iete the grass and flowers become with
erelt and dried by the intense summer
aeae, balminess and freshness which
eredisposes the mind TO q soft waking
dream; and at night, with the full moon
over you, pouring down such . food Of
nivcr light that any ordinary print may
e clearly read, and in the distance the
aiver mountains seen quite as distinctly
= q TIE day time, yet entirely changed
g made and color-it seems not to be-
nae % this earth, but to some ideal en-.
ehnnfod rnUs0n pr,t MNora and his