Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-11-22

imhibe or the shooting OF a man. by the
expression: ats fourteen inches be-
tween my eyes. and l smell like a wolf"
From this idiosyncrasy and his blood
thirsty disposition he was known and
dreaded as 1.-THE Wolf Prudent peO-
pie, however, addressed him as Joe.
The Wolf returned to town the next
day. and on entering the saloon from
which he had made his hurried exit
quietly asked:
Has that ar woman goneg'
He was told that she was sick and
could live but IA very short time. A
great change came over his face; the
hard burrows of dissipation and crime
were transformed to the pitiable lines of
sorrow. Not noticing the dram prof
fered by the bar-keeper, he hastened to
the hotel and made his way TO the bed
side of the dying woman. Abruptly he
questioned:
"Was yer follering him?n
"No, Joe; was hunting him."
"Sure?''
$50 help me Cod"
The poor, white face, SCARED and
deep-seamed by excuses and sin, grew
radiant with gladness rs Joe kneeled
down and kissed her. With a seal of
forgiveness, with the pressure of his lips
but half returned, she sank back dead.
Through the service at the simple
burial the following day Joe stood with
uncovered head, but his bronzed and
immovable features betrayed no emo
ton, nor vouchsafed any clew to the
mystery that enshrouded the cOffined
outcast and himself.
The evening of the funeral the Wolf
called on me at my rooms. Seating HIM
self, without preface he said:
GAS man of sense an no coward,
yer kin look AT a brave mans agony in
the right way. The past I've hidden for
twenty years, fur amt the kind to car
~ my heart on my sleeve for DAVIS to
peck at. But thar's feeling rs though
I'd choke if | didn't talk to some one.
The woman buried to-day war my wife.
Here's some letters the wimin folks
found on her an give TO me. Yer look
them over while l chin, fur I'm slow on
the read. We war married in the States
when she war sixteen an just come of
age. A bit after it | got the gold fever
an went to Californy. In couple of
years l made quite pile, an went home
fur her. She war changed, an it warn't
long before heard the stories, an found
the truth, that she had gone wrong. He
war fine-haired chap who had come
into town while l war away. war a
likely young fellow then, but the blow
turned me into devil. | went fur him,
but he heard Of it an slid out for Cali
fornv. l followed him, an fur twenty
years I've bin hunting him all over this
coast. A voice of he'll has urged me on,
an I've killed men that the taste of
blood might keep fierce my hope Of re-
venge. I've never found him. During
these years I've heard about her once
in while, an how size war drinking and
going to the dogs. I'd allus meant TO
see her when I'd settled with him. His
name war Bill Armstrong
The letters taken from the dead
woman, which had been looking over,
Were mostly answers to inquiries re-
garding the whereabouts of her hus-
band. An unfinished letter of her own
to some friend in the East, and dated
few days previous to her death, showed
that To this poor, lost creature, with the
grasp of death upon her, there had come
back 10 her the glory of her first and
""'v nure love, and the unconquerable !
desire 20 die ut his feet, freed from the |
burIen OF his curse. Strangely enough, |
an ,ther letter gave information of Bill |
Armstrong, and stated that he was liv-
ing near Boise City. in Idaho. These
two | read to the desperate man who sat |
before me, his burning eyes cleaning
with pain and his lips mute with anguish. |
When | ceased, he grasped my hand |
with, THANK yer, stranger" and left /
the room. i watched him mount his
horse and ride out into the black night. |
The Wolf was again on the trail.
IL.