The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-08-13
goodness unexpectedly by being clean at
an unusual time. ~

an unusual time.
This day Jack Culp was out in all his
glory, with the reddest of kerchiefs at
his throat, and cataract Of chain tumb-
ling down his vest and into the ample
left-band pocket of the same article. The
village barber shaved, shampooed,
clipped and oiled him that morning, till
he emitted the odor of tancy-soap shop.
For the first time in six months he had
his boets blacked, and as he thought
they looked better than his pants, he
pushed the pants inside their ample tops.
Jack Culp's desire to he dandy, at
this harvest-home, extended so far that
he even cleaned, fresh-oiled and reloaded
his pistols, as we'll as polishing up the
knife to which he playfully applied the
stale name Of "toothpick."
Thus arrayed. nc was giant of beauty,
in his own eyes, and to be candid, he was
by no means a dwarf in the eyes of those
with whom he came in contact.
The place of the picnic was in one of
those park-like groves so peculiar to the
valleys about G lroy-splendid oaks, no
underground, grassy slopes, and stream
OF water near by that looked like con-
densed air. There was charming place
to eat, musicians from San Jose, and
splendid platform or dancing. OF course
the young people availed themselves of
these advantages, and after the dinner
was over the musicians had no rest; and
the leader-who, by the way, played
coronet-thought he never saw people SO
tireless, and he was particularly struck
WI fo tho oofSr;%1v &c 0,,l-
Mr.. Jack Culp laid claims to being a
dancer: Next thing to putting heads on
men, his forte was to dance women off
their feet, and this was an occasion he
could not slip. He had importuned Jen-
ME Roberts so often to dance, that to es-
cape him, she strolled up the stream,
glr-llke, thin ing the eyes OF the bully
OF Gllroy were not on her. She sat d,.wn
on the rock where she imagined she was
secluded, when heard step on the
grass, and, before she could rise, Jack
Culp was beside her, and his arm about
her waist.
Jennie sprang to her feet, and, with
flashing eyes, ordered him away; but he
rose with her, and said:
"Jennie, thar's no use in your irwin to
shake me. l love you and you've got to
be my wife, even if have to kill that
sneak, Frank Mason!"
Jennie Roberts was alarmed, and was
about to cry out, when suddenly a form
sprang between her and Jack Culp, and,
looking, she saw Frank Mason, v it'll tiery
eyes and snowy cheens, between her and
the bully.
II have lost my patience with you, you
d. g! Leave here!" cried the Infatuated
Mason.
Jack Culp, recovering himself, shouted
an oath and sent out his fist in reply.
Jennie screamed and begged Frank to
deslst; but the dam of his pent-up wrath
was down, and putting her gently back,
he buttoned up his coat with his left
hand, and leaped forward, with his right
extended.
The blow on the bully's face sounded
like pist"l-shot, and was so we'll plant
ed that Jack Culp fell i.e a log, Nth
his eyes blinded and his nose bleeding.
Your bully, if beaten IN skill and
strength, has ever the towards subter-
tuge-a concealed weapon. Jack Culp
had small arsenal, and, without rising,
he drew a pistol and fled The we'll
meant ball sped wide of it's mark.
Frank Mason was mad-so mad that
his impulse carried hlm in the same di-
rectlon had there been ten thousand Jack
Culps, with the triggers of ten thousand
pistols under their index fingers firing at
his.
Before Culp could fire again, his heavy
heels came down on his breast, an iron
grip was on his throat, and another grip
SO powerful on his right wrist, that it
weakened, and the pistol fell from it.
Frank Mason was lion with a mad
bull in his talons. He never lost his
presence of mind, but logged the bully
till he roared for mercy; and then TAX
ing Culp s knife and pistols, he threw
them into the stream, gave him a final
kick that sent him onall-fours. and, with
Jennie on his arm, returned to the dane
ing.
Jack Culp went home after that, and
the next day Frank Mason received,
through the medium of another bully,
challenge. Being a brave gentleman,
and brought up to look upon duelling as
barbarous of old, and the subterfuge of
murderer IN these days, tie declined very
properly to consider it.
Jack Culp hoped for this, and at once
published FRANK Mason as coward, and
gave it out that he would shoot him on
sight. His version Of the story was that
Mason had assaulted him, in cowardly
way. when he was not expecting the at
tack, and that, under the circumstances,
he could not resist the unmerited punish
ment he received.
Frank Mason's business did not take
him to town for ten days after the event
above narrated, and Jack Culp, who
spent his time foaming in the streets,
looked on this fact as an evidence of the
cowardice of the man he hated. He al
levlated his indignity, in the meantime,
by resorting to the cup, and 50 was drunk
two-thirds of the time he was awake, and
his sleep was filled with dreams of ven
geance. ...
Jack Culp was in the bar of the Alma
den Saloon, and was relating, for the
thousandth time, his version of the diff
Guilty with Frank Mason, and vowlng to
kill him the moment he saw him, when |
he vas startled by hearing the words:
"Mason is here, and now is your tlme!" |
Jack Culp dropped his glass on the |
An1r ,ov,I