The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1880-04-08
Saturday Night in Kansas Cattle Town.

The dullness which had so weighed
upon us through the long, uneventlul
afternoon was but a lull, we soon learned,
and not stagnqtion. Withthe first ap-
proach of darkness, the letharH town
rubbed its eyes, so to speak, ant ieaped
to its feet-and in twinkling Gt seemed
like an incantation, Eastman said,
Grand avenue was carnival of light
and motion and music. The broad
board sidewalks were crowded with
promenaders; smiling groups passed in
and out Of the drinking saloons and
gamblingplaces; in every quarter glasses
clinked and dice ratified lis there another
sound in the world like that of shaken
diceO; violins, flutes and comets sent
out eager, inviting strains of waltz and
polka from a score or more establish
ments, and brass band was playing
patriotic airs in front of the theater,
where, oddly enough, the crude moral
ity of "Ten Nights in a Bar-room -
was about to be presented, with
the full strength of the company in
the cast" Everywhere the cowboys
made themselves manifest, clad no in
the soiled and dingy jeans of the trail,
then in a suit of many buttOned cordu-
roy, and again in afllucnce of broadcloth,
silk hat, gloves, cane, and sometimes a
clerical white necktie. And everywhere
also stared and shone the Lone Star Of
Texas-for the cowboy, wherever he
may wander, never forgets TO be
a Texan, and never spends his money
or lends his presence to concern
that does not in some way recognize
the emblem OF his native State; so
you will see in towns like New Sharon
a general pandCring to this sentiment.
and lone stars abound of all sizes
ana hues, from the big disfguring white
one painted on the hotel front down to
the little pink one stitched in silk on
the cowboys shilling handkerchief.
Barring these numerous stars, the rich
lights, and the music, we missed sight
of any special efforts to beguile or entraD
passers-by-perhaps because we were not
looking for them; nor was there for some
hours a sound to reveal the spirit of
coiled and utter vileness which the
cheerful outside 50 well belicd. 1t was
in the main, much the kind of scene one
would be apt to conjecture for an
Oriental holiday. But as the night
sped on the festivities deepened, and
the jovial aspect of the picture
began to be touched and tinted
with a subtle, rebuking something.
which gradually disclosed the passion,
the crime, the depravity, that really
vivified and swayed it all and made il
Internal. The saloons became clamorous
with profanity and ribald songs and
laughter. There were no longer any
promenaders on the sidewalks, save once
in while single bleared and stagger-
ing fellow, with difficulty in his clumsy
lips over some such thing rs "The Grill
Left Behind Me-" Doors were stealthily
closed, window shutters slammed to with
angry creaks. And at length, as we looked
and listened, the sharp, significant re-
port of a pistol, with a shrek behind il.
was borne toward us from turbulent
dancing hall TO certify its tale of COM
bat and probable homicide, and to be
succeeded by a close but brief halt in
the noisy quadrille presumably for the
removal of the victim. Henry King, in
ScT10neT.