The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1879-02-06
How the &c Hawkeye" Man Deceived
the Inquisitiye Man.


R. ]. Burdette thus writes to his
paper, the Haaokeye:
Do you remember some weeks since,
1 was greatly annoyed by an inquisitive
man down in Maine, and abruptly
closed my letter for the purpose of stuff
ing the aforesaid man. .-...fe,,..,l ..i-.
Well stuffed him.
"Much of place, your townT' he
asked. ,a4 90 g; So.
"Oh, yes," said, with the matter of
course carelessness of a citizen of the
great Western metropolis, +" about forty
five thousand, l guess" SO
The man eyed me with keen awaken
ing interest. essr.s
" So big as that?'' he said. '' %
1 nodded, and he presently said,
/" Well, I had no idea there was such
large city in Iowa. State must be
pretty well settled up, reckon?" Ga
L said, eyes, it was. Some portions
of it pretty wild, though"
Any large game in the Slater"
Herds of it," said. i killed deer
last winter not two miles from the Bur-
lington courthouse"
1 pacifed my conscience for this lie
by explaining to that rebellious and vo-
ciferous monitor that there was no Bur-
lington courthouse, that it was burned
down seven years ago, and the county
was waiting until it could buy second
hand courthouse for $l.75, before re-
placing it. Therefore, 1 could truth
fully say that [ killed all the deer that
came within two miles of our court
house.
"I want to know" the native ex-
claimed.
"Do you, though?'' thought I, "then
I'll tell you" And so went on, Why
the wolves only two years ago made a
raid right into Burlington and killed all
the chickens on South Hill"
Conscience raised terrible protest at
this, but l hushed it up too quick, by
citing the we'll known case of Meigs
Schenck's wolf that got loose and in one
single summer night ate up every thing
on South Hill that wore feathers. The
native looked astonished and doubly in
terested.
"Any Indiansp he said. $3.50
Gland, yes" 1 told him, yawning
wearily, as one who talks of old, stale
things. "Sitting Bull was educated at
the Baptist collegiate institute, in Bur-
lington, and was expelled for trying to
scalp Professor Workman with a horse
shoe magnet"
You don't tell mel' exclaimed the
native in wild amazement. By this
time 1 was perfectly reckless and told
conscience to keep its mouth shut and
give me chance.
"Oh, yes," 1 said, Yellow VOLTS
old medicine lodge is still standing,
right out on West Hill. The Indians
come into the city very frequently, tear
ing through the streets on their wiry
little ponies"
Ever have any trouble with them ?''
the man asked.
"Oh, no." I said carelessly; {" the citi-
zens seldom do. The cow boys, who
come up from Texas with cattle, hate
them terribly, and occasionally drop one
of them in the streets just for revolver
practice. But nobody else interferes in
their fights"
"I suppose" the man said, "you all
carry revolvers strapped around you,
out there?"
"Oh, yes" I replied, "of course.
We have to; man never knows when
he is going to have trouble with some.
body, and in case of any little misunder.
standing, it wouldn't do for fellow moi
to be heeled." 4a FH g II
| / think the man shuddered a little
Then fearing he might ask to look al
my revolver, I casually remarked that
1 never carried my barkers when came
East.
He said no. he supposed not. The1
he looked out of the window a long timt
and said nothing. Finally I asked hin
in what part of Maine he made his home
He looked up at me in surprise.
"Mep he said. "Lord, don't live
in this rock patch. Pm only on her,
visiting some relatives"
In feeble voice I asked him wher,
did he live then. ~
The man yawned, and again looked
listlessly out of the window.
"Oh," he said, 81 live ON farm jus
out by Letters, about six miles out O
Burlington. wish I was back ther
now"
So did I. So did 1. wish ne ha,
never left there.
We didn't talk together any longer
Shortly after that the weather changed
the car grew very cold, and 1 went int
the smoking-car to look for fire.