The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-11-13

/ village did what they could for her. She
spoke no word when she recovered from
her swoon, but lay quietly, unmindful o.
i her life fast ebbing away.
During the day inquired of Broken
nosed Charley, who knew every body
and every thing about the farm, regard
ing the man Joe. Charley said that lit
tie was known of him, except that he
mined some, gambled some, drank like
mad, and altogether was a bad lot. he
| had killed two or three men, and had
been shot and cut himself several times.
He invariably preceded an invitation to
imbibe or the shooting of a man, by the
expression: "It's fourteen inches be-
tween my eyes, and smell like WOLF y
From this idiosyncrasy and his blood
thirsty disposition he was known and
dreaded as .. The Wolf; !" Prudent PEG
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 gomez"
He was told that she was sick and
could live but very short time A
great change came over his face; the
lard burrows of dissipation and crime
were transformed to the pitiable lines of
sorrow. Not noticing the dram prof
fered by the bar-keeper, he fastened to
the hotel and made his way to the bed
side of the dying woman. Abruptly he
questioned:
"Was yer follering him?"
"No, Joe; was hunting him.
"SureP' 81. .t .IFrt
" So help me God!" .... FL.
The poor, white face, SCARED and
deep-seamed by excuses and sin, grew
radiant with gladness as 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 enslrOuded the coffined
.outcast and himself.
The evening of the funeral the Wolf
called on me tiny ROOMS. Seating HIM
self, without preface he said:
" As a man of sense an no coward,
yer kin look at brave mans agony in
the right way. The past I've hidden for
twenty years, fur l amt the kind to car
ry my heart on my sleeve for Gaws to
peck at. But thar's feeling as though
Ill I all e.
The woman buried to-day war my wife.
Here's some letters the wimin foIrs
found on her an give to me. Yer look
them over while | 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 a 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 / war away. | war 4
likely young fellow then, but the blow
turned me into a devil. | went fur him,
but he heard of it an slid out for Cali
forny. | 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 she war drinking and
going to the dogs. I'd alus 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 a
few days previous to her death, showed
that to this poor, lost creature, with the
grasp of death upon her, there had come
back to her the glory OF her first and
only pure love, and the unconquerable
desire to die at his feet, freed from the
burden of his curse. Strangely enough,
another letter gave information of Bill
Armstrong, and stated that he was Gv-
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. l watched him mount his
horse and ride out into the black night.
The Wolf was again on the trail.
The circumstances | have related were
wildly recalled to my mind during my
present visit to Battle Mountain by casu-
ally Overhearing an account Of fatal
shooting affair between Bill Armstrong, !
a mining speculator, and Joe the Wolf, (
at Boise City, in 1873. The details of
the rencounter / give in the words of
the narrator, who was an eyewitness: Il
"Joe met Armstrong on the street, !
and with the single exclamation, Pm
Aggie's husband!' pulled and fired
From some unaccountable reason he
missed. Armstrong returned the fire,
shooting Joe plump through the heart, I
He fell ON one knee, and for second
swayed like reed before the storm.
Grand in his physical strength, in the
,,o1Ver of his hate hn 1,acpI-a,.a6 bin,-o I