Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-11-17
Pooling the Cowboys.

Pooling the Cowboys.
Ben Carter had .'heaps of fun" a. he
expresses it. at Rock Greek, west Of
Laramie, the other day. Ben is a typi-
western cowboys w~hole-souled.
daredevil puncher Of steers, q fellow
who will divide his last dollar with =
friend, or ride anything that has NOT
more than four legs and wears a sad
Ole. Ben has n weak point, however.
q fondness for the sulphuric and ami
hilator which Wyoming barkeepers re-
tail as whisky, and when he Is .fuil',
mischief.
On the day referred to Ben was at
Rock Creek loading stock. A dozen or
more of his brother cowboys were in
town, n after the aTduous duties in
c'aent TO croWdlng twenty more steers
into a car than the builders intended
were over, the boys began to .boose
up" and by the time it got dark enough
to light the lamps the saloon-keeper
found that he hadn't any that were fit
to 40 duty as illuminators-the bows
a shot them to pieces. Every time a.
lamp would fall the marksman who
assisted at the post-mortem of said
lamp would cheerfully waltz to the bar
and pay for it, and then try again. The.
lamp market was active for o few min
utes, but the supply was limited. Ben
hadn't taken a hand in the shooting
match a yet, but had made it a point
to drink with the successful marksmen.
SO that strictly speaking he wasn't sober.
Finally he awoke to action.
Selling q revolver from q companion
and drawing his own. he sprang to the
center OF the room and delivered HIM
self of a speech. He told the bows that
they ought to be ashamed of themselves.
He was a perfect lady himself, and It
shocked him to witness such disprace-
tul proceedings. He had been. ap-
pointed as a deputy sheriff on his last
visit to Laramie, and had decided to. ar
rest every mothers son of them. The.
boys protested aga nst such a STRANGE
procedure, but Ben fourished his guns.
told them he had the whole United
States at his back, and i%mperiously or
dered them into an empty warehouse.
near, the door of which Stood omen.
The novelty of the thing somewhat
muddled the boys, and without a word
they filed into the temporary prison.
and Ben closed the door. He hen
rustled around and found several loo
chains, with which he. securely fastened
them, and, with the dignity of a hioh,
private in a State militia corps. mo,,nted
guard on the outside. The bows ven
tilated their prison cell as we'll as thew
could with what ammunition thew had,
and then dropped off to sleep. In the
morning Ben released them. after ex-
a solemn promise to behave,
like gentlemen and ladies.
The boys walked over to the hotel az
meek as lambs. When eating their
breakfast they noticed that an Unusual
amount OF hilarity seemed to prevail in
the dlningg-room. The head and only
waiter laughed boisterously while serv-
the soup, the cook poked his head
through the doorway leading to the,
kitchen and drew it back again quickly,
and a series of Comanche war-whoops
that were positively painful to their lis
tening ears gradually subsidized into a
low, mellow laugh, which made the
plates on the tables fairly jingle.
OF mirth also 1oated in,from the
office, until finally one of the boys went
out to inquire the cause. He came
back presently, and the most ignorant
Judge of the emotions as shown by the,
human features could have told that he
Was nadderanawethen. He consulted
moment with his companions. and
then called the waiter and ordered a
box of ''forty-fours." These were
served cold, and the command loaded
their weapons and marched down tothe.
saloon, where they found Ben Carter.
spokesman. Broncho Bill, then and
there told Ben that he was no, gentle
man. He had taken advantage of his
friends and made them the laughing
OF the community. He had pre-
tended that he was an authorized Depu-
ty Sheriff, when the fact was that he
had not a shadow of claim to the title
Of Deputy Sheriff, Believing that he.
represented the majesty OF the law.
they had given him the respect he de-
He had insulted them by put
ting them in the ''jug" over night, and
could only wipe out that insult by
creating a vacancy in the atmosphere.
thereabouts of about the size Of his
body. He'must go, and go quick.
Ben is brave enough. but afterh he had
looked over" the crowd and saw that
each man had his hand on his per-
he concluded that perhaps,
Broncho' Bill was right. He got, and
when he had put several hundred yards
Of %sagebrush and sand between himself
and the station, the boys, having no.
further use of '4forty-fours," empt;ed
their revolvers. From the agile man
ner in which Ben was dancing around
he passed swiftly over the brow of
the hill toward Laramie, and the.amount.
of dust rising in little clouds all around
him, it is believed the, boys carelessly
their weapons his way while.
the loads out.-La7anae Bo0m-
~. -
1t Was Contempt,