Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-05-19

BUFT LER BES-A GENRE SKETCH FROM THE
CHICAGO TRIBUNE.

| lOur Qry-gO0dS CLERKS came IN IN a group anu
ordered some beer, the first dry-gOods clerk
said to the bar-keeper:
Say, John, who's that cuss over yond-
er?''
"That, " said the saloon-keeper, dropping
his voice to an awe-struck whisper "that Is
Buff Ter Ben, the Wild Trapper of the Great
Plains. Ask him to drink. Perhaps he
will"
The first dry-goods clerk did SO, and the
Wild trapper replied:
"Wal, stranger, seein' as it's you, |
will Just take some fre-water. As heerd
Old Red Tail say to Spotted Cloud, Its
mighty long time between drinks. Here's
to US, and he engulfed dose of whisky.
You are, said the first dry-goods clerk,
connected with the trapper business ?"
In the scalp and grizzly line," said the
second dry-goods clerk.
your "reminiscences of a personal charac-
ter, l doubt not, would be exciting and
interesting said the third dry-goods
/ clerk
Truth is stranger than fiction Take
something o. said the fourth dry-goods
/ clerk
oval, no, '' said the trapper, Il never drink
when n off the war-trail. 1t kinder makes
me ugly, yer see, and I'm apt to dror my
cutlery. | killed seven men up TO st. 10,
! Mezzouri, onst, seven men that | was talk
| ing to as friendly as | mout be to you, but
| sorter got riled-wall, gimme some more
Whiskey."
Your hand" said one of the dry-goods
/ clerks, "has often been stained with human
/ blood ?"
stranger she hav. The fust time you
come up and see me at my wickiup in Mon
tana second lodge on the right beyond the
/ Yellowstone River, and be sure YOU turn TO
the left up by tine big boulders 800 miles
| this sile-ask any lnjin, and tell him yer
want TO see Buf'ler Ben, and et he don't
scalp yer he'll show yer the road plum
straight. III show yer old Bull 's-Eye my rifle.
/ She : old Kaintuck stock (likewise the bar
rel) and Is l6 feet long, and whenever |
wipe out white man make a notch on the
/ barrel, and there Is notches all the way up
| one side and feet down the other. | went
| up to see your graveyards at Calyalry and
/ Greeceland. They're a good deal like my
private grayeyards, more posies and statues,
and 50 on, though they amt 50 spacious.
/ Now, iist about three months ago | turned
loose in a bar-room down to Lafayette,
I :
for three DAYS after attending to seven in
quests. And this was Just because a dnrn
skunk stood up at the bar and improved his
mind with my conversation, and never asked
me if would take
Here one Of the dry-gools clerks caught
/ Buff Ter Ben's eve, and he stammered out
an invitation to I'll her up again. Mr. Buff
Ter Ben irrigated himself, and in reply 10 q
question concerning his solution OF the In
dian question, said
"luiins Wall, no, | never keep count
Of the reds | wipe out. l used to when l
was Young and sort Of vain, but grew out
it. 1t looked too much ike vanity. |
suppose I've not taken,the trouble to lit the
har Of the last $50 OF 200 Indians We
killed. Before that ! was kinder particular
that way. and took 50 many scalQs that
bust the Frisco chignon market, and sew
enteen dealers in false hair went into bank
ruptcy. Injins is poor trash. Gimme a
whole tribe of EN- and I'll wipe EN- out as
fast as can load my revolver and put It to
my shoulder
Here lie paused again and was promptly
refreshed. Then he continued
Il tell you, boys, if You want to see the
choicest country On the lootstool, jest you %
to them ar Black Hills. The only thing
agin the country is the buflaloes. They
hatch there.a when they take to flight 1t :
awful to see them IN CLOUDS 50 thick you
can't see the sun, and when they light they
chaw up garden sass, aud sour apple-trees,
and corn. and railroad ties, and potatoes,
and telegraph poles. But thar's gold in the
Black Hills I've seen it myself When
Won get dowa to the bedrock you strike 500
and so pieces, and You wash out eagles
and dollars in the streams and upin the roots
of the grass YOU find small scrip and nickels.
No nuggets as know on, though | did
hear at Shyan of one worth Sl6j, ,OOO.'
Thus, with anecdote and information,
Buff Ter Ben whiled away the time. When
the four dry-goods clerks had settled for the
drinks. their bill amounting to S6.S5, he
bade them an affectionate farewell, and
made them promise to call at his tepee II
ever they were up in Montana. When they
had gone ont, the bar-keeper paid him his
% per cent commission on the drinks sold
through his instrumentality, and told him
10 recollect next time thatit was grasShop-
pers that flew, not bufaloes
DEVICE or A ST. LOUIS MAIDEN.
\ petite little miss called at the
Third District Station Thursday very
fall Of business and asked 10 see the
Captain. Captain lIuebler came for.
ward, fixed his savage and unsympath etit
eve on her and asked what was wanted.
The little miss blushed and trembled, and
said she wanted u have Mr.. -- arrest
ed
sBut what for?' asked the Captain.
.' Coz I'm afraid Of him. I'm afraid he l.
hurt me"
The Captain took on her diminutive pro-
portions deliberately and then asked. "N hat
should be want to hurt you for?'
"Wnv, lust coz and she began Il
, flget and hunt tor her handkerchief.
"Well, - said the Captain, you will have
to tel me all about if you want me to d'
anything for you
She got her handkerchief ready, stood OF
ore little foot, caught hold OF the railini
/ and began "Well, you see, Mr. - use'
to come to see me, and IL fell in low
e with him and then be went away. Then
loved him so much | wrote to him and toll
! him he had to come back again. And h
e wrote to me and said that he thought he Z
+ better not come back because he could neye
/ marry me for some reason or other, and a
: he didn't want to get very much in love witt
' me, which be would if he came back, h
: thought he oughtn't to come. Then | wrot
to him again and he agreed to come, sayini
= that knew what the result would be- III
!, came. and after he had been coming to Sc
4 me a while he told me that Something yer
f near a sob)-that he was married already
a Then | told him that he shouldn't call a
+ our house any more, but he wouldn't min
a me. lie said he would have me, dead o
alive, and that he was getting dlvorc
IS from his wife so that we could get married
r don't want him to come any more, Nj
d Captain, and | want to have him al
n rested
: The Captain looked very suspiciously lik
: smiling. what shall | arrest him for ?
= he asked. ''He hasn't violated any cit
= ordinance.
. This was a poser. She stared at tn
/, Captain awhile and then asked "Couldn
: | have him arrested for threatening to ki
d me? You know he said he'd have me dea
= or alive
= The Captain was evidently struck wit
2 the ingenuity of the proposition, but
/ told the sufferer that she had better 90 to
n magistrates office and swear out peaC
d warrant against Mr.. -.
le She turned around slowly, and, giving or
y beseeching look behind, went out ii
20 door-&. Louis Republican.
70 DETROIT ART CRITICISM.
aT A Detroit artist has for the past four or fly
n months been throwing his whole soul into
+ landscape which is now on exhibition in
Is Woodward avenue window. 1t is called
fine painting by art critics, yet what a
" art critics in number to the great public, I
lg two of whom see or criticise alike? The
Il was crowd around the picture yesterdi
IS and bootblack took square look at Il
III picture and said:
4 "Purty good picture he painted, but
n y runs uphill. Wonder if that artist didn
"a ever 90 fshing?"
1d Id There was pause. and an elderly gentl
n man with spectacles on remarked