Mexico weekly ledger., 1877-03-15
A PETE.
How Two Old TraDpers and Indian-
Fighters Talked Each Other to Death.

Two Old Trappers and Indian
Fighters Talked Each Other to Death
@ fFrom the Salt Lake Herald.l
When Idaho Pete made his appear
ance in camp the other day, there was
quite an excitement among the
81 sports.'' Pete was a talkist. 1t was
said of him that he had depopulated a
camps in Nevada, and started the
graveyard in Treasure Hill. Hav-
ing talked increasingly night and day
for two weeks in Owens Valley, the
boys put a leather muzzle on him. A
was appointed to see him
from the country, and he was unmuzzled
and turned loose on the borders of Arr
IONA. How he managed to find us out
is a mystery, but here he was, and
made himself heard, too. Bingham
could always boast of q few takers
and perhaps on state occasions we
could raise one good one. Men OF q
speculative turn who had heard of Pete,
thought this a good chance to try his
powers or kill him, and they went to
the Upper Camp for the Highland
Chief, better known as the Scatterer.
They were introduced in the Griffin
House parlor, and eyed each other for
a while. .
"Nearly thirty years now, boys, since
l first struck the Coast, and I'll be te-
totally broom-handled if this isn't the
dogonest Territory out of -" This
was Pete's first put, and Scatterer felt
it his duty to remark that "Thar warn't
a pile of bones on top Of ground that
ratified over more square acres OF un-
surveyed land than yours truly. Jist
SIGH lookin' individuals like my humble
self made toe-paths for SIGH cowhides
as YOUR to find yer way to this
try, an I'll be painted with sorghum
an stood up again a stump for hy-bait
in July, if I'll sit still an hear a left
handed miner criticise these valleys of
the mountains. I'm a straight out an
outer, l am. Ken strike in a hole either
hand afore side, winder or upper, with
any slab-sided, prickly-pear-eating ga
loot that ever straddled the backbone
of the Rockies, an as good a judge of
a country as ever chawed tobaccor, an
I'll take Utah in mine, every time,
stranger" Here Scatterer stopped to
spit, and before the ~tobacco-juice had
got into position on the floor, Pete had
settled down to his work like a profess
sional, and by the time poor Scatterer
realized that he had met his match,
Pete had ratified off twenty-five years
of his experience on the Western slope.
Continued Pete:
"I do not boast much. I've got over
the time when the sight of a piece of
quartz or a nugget made my heels itch.
I've travelled too much to be taken by
surprise. [ have years ago settled
down to an unprecedented observation
of the various sections Of the West. u
have made the customs of those whom
l met in my wanderings a special study,
and nature, together with a fair liberal
education, has endowed me with quail
ties eminently suited to the study OF
mankind. After years of patient, per-
sistent toll in my peculiar ~avocation,
the sum total is: What the Digger is
to the Caucasian in literature, science
and art; what the Chinaman is to the
American in modern civilization and
culture; what the c~hicken-hawk is to
the dove; what the skunk is to the
fawn, so is an average polygamist to
the buzzard!"
The betting up to this was in favor OF
the Scatterer; but Pete had the floor,
and things looked blue for Bingham's
favorite. Some one, who had a few
twenties bet on him, proposed to gel
off a bunch of fre-crackers under Pete's
chair, so as to give Scatterer a show to
slip in a word. After a stormy discus.
sion, the motion was overruled, IS the
referees said it looked too much like
intimidation, and any party guilty OF
bulldozing would forfeit the stakes-ir
fact, be counted out. The lamps were
now trimmed, yet Pete had the floor
Ten O'Clock came, and poor Scatterel
could not get in a word with a thir
case knife.
Pete had been following up the vigi
lantes in San Francisco, and at l:
O'Clock had got as far as the hanging
of Cortez. Pete was not "law anC
order man, and he dwelt with Patio.
on the killing of William King, com
pairing his fate with the killing of DIR
Robinson. He described the fatal due
word he uttered sinking deep into Scat
terer's soul, as he himself was in Cali
fornia during that stormy-almost rev
olutionary-period. This was just wha
Pete wanted, and one could see by tn,
glitter OF his eyes that he felt conhden
of victory.
A wild shout from a hundred throat:
broke the stiffness of the night. "Scat
terer cheped in, and is just hoeing i
down." yelled M of his hackers
Pete's hackers claimed a foul. Som,
one dropped red pepper on his mus
tache-nothing else, they said, coult
make him sneeZe. Anyhow he lost hi
grip, for Scatterer just then was shoe
ing it down "in earnest. His friend
had nearly all gone to bed" where
the use" said they, "Scatterer ha
him now, and Pete's goose is cooked.
We placed our a to the key-hole
for they were locked up in the room
and the key deposited in Phelan 4
Hays's safe. Scatterer's voice was {
little husky, but he was up to his chil
GIVE mined fourteen years an neve,
had a dry tack on my back, ave, an