The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-04-08
Big Ben Bolton.
By EUGENE j HALF.

remember big Ben Bolton. and the little
Leontine,
him like queen.
He stood seven feet in his stockings: she was
hardly three feethigh:
But she wound him round her finger, and she
ruled him with her eye.
The women used to smoker, and the hardy
miners smiled,
To see the brawny giant with the gentle little
And the gamblers, up from Frisco, when they
saw them, used to swear
bear.
He would drop his pick and shovel when she
came in working hours:
Iney would go among the gulches after gay
He would climb the dizzy lodges, he would
scale the monntain-side.
bearing her upon his shoulders, while he called
ner little BRIDE
He could bend an iron crowbar. he could lift a
half a ton,
He could twist wagon-tire, or the barrel of a
With his fingers; but it often used to make us
When we saw Leontine lead him as a butcher
leads calf.
Whom the hard days work was over, when the
crescent silver moon
Arose above the mountain pines, we met at
When Ben Bolton used to give US exhibitions
of his skill
In bending iron crowbars or in twisting of a
drill.
One day Ezekiel Parsons sent to Frisco on the
sly,
And bought bar of tempered steel. for brawny
Ben to try.
The boys who understood the game came down
to Bloods one night,
And stood serenely round the bar and waiting
for the sight.
Ben Bolton grasped the bar of steel, he brought
And like q locomotive pulled, the trick he
The sweat ran down his honest face upon his
hands he spit,
He tugged and worked with all his might, it
would not bulge a bit
Ezekiel Parsons shook his sides, the boys all
Ben lost his reputation and had to treat the
crowd.
1t cut him completely, and it made him feel
He quit the camp next morning with the little
Leontine.
A storm comes up tho valley, cloud bursts on
the hills,
The stream becomes river, that sweeps away
the mills.
And downward through the hollow the mad
dened torrent roars,
Ger rocks, through glens and gulches, and
mining camps 1t pours.
cry comes from the hollow. and rushing
down the ridge
The miners see Ben Bolton like giant at the
The water settles about him, the bridge rocks
to and fro;
He holds 1t with a crowbar-in q miuute il
must go.
Beneath the narrow ledge near BY with bright
disheveled hair,
They see the little Leontine-her hands are
claSped in prayer.
The structure Quakes. the strong man shakes
no fear is in his face;
"Ho! save the child" he shouts aloud, "Pll
hold the bridge in place."
Zeke Parsons bounds upon the bridge, the
women wall with fear;
He lifts the child in his strong arms, the miners
loudly cheer;
He leaps upon the trembling logs, the waters
round him roar;
He slips, he falls, he creeps, he crawls, he
springs upon the shore.
The child is saved, Ben Bolton, but who will
help you now?
The crowhar in your brawny hands breaks
like rotten bOugh.
And down the glen goes bridge and man, with
broken logs and stones
That rend and cash his stalwart form and crush
and break his bones.
Adown the hill the miners run, with outcries
of despair:
They find him wedged between the rocks and
hanging helpless there
They bear his mangled form away, without
the glen they pass
With words of pity and of love, and lay him on
the grass.
The crimson blood runs down his face, he
shoulders and he signs;
His pale lips move he means, he grOanS, then
to cOmrade cries:
i've saved the little Leontine, be kind to her,
dear Joe-
ready now to goF'
His head drops limp and hfeless down, his eye:
grow dull and DIM
His broad breast heaYes, a shiver runs tn rough
every broken limb.
Then, with n smile upon his lips, he sinks upon
the sol,
And the soul of brave Ben Bolton is at peace
with man and God.