Omaha daily bee., 1883-12-17
PIKE SMITH.

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Course that long.legged sneak" sale
old Tom Holden, grizzly, weather. heater
miner, ''there is always a storm when.
ever he turns up Tom was a well.
known pioneer, whose opinion carried
weight and went a long way with the
rough and ready de.i2ens of Coyote
Flat.
The subject of this uncomplimcntavy
remark was a tall, slab.sided fellow, with
a hang-dog countenance, who had been
the means of kicking up a big fuss in the
camp by charging a poor devil of a Mex.
lean with robbing %sluices. Now, if there
was anything that would stir up a miners
bile it was to rob his sluices. Such an
accusation-sw was like a charge of horse.
stealing ''out West" when they used to
hang q fellow first and try him after.
words.
That sluices had been robbed on Coyote
Flat there could be no question, and a
very bitter feeling existed in consequence.
Several of the best claims had lately been
visited in tho dead hour of night, Just be-
fore the company intended to clean up
and the sluices robbed of every II and
particle of the bright, shining dust, which
was to reward the miners for their hard
toll. Time and again had the boys stood
guard, but all in vain. The robbing still
continued. Once an Indian was discover
ed in the %sluices, industriously examin-
ing the rifles and scraping the bottom of
the boxes. Two siX.shooters were not
enough to prevent his escape, but he left
a bloody trail behind him. Again, u
couple of masked robbers, found under
like circumstances, and engaged in the
anne rascally work, returned the fire of
the men ON guard with such good effect
as to nearly kill one of them. No wonder
the eXasperated miners swore wrathfully
against the guilty perpetrators. Hence
it was that everybody felt that summary
Justice would be dealt out to the villains
in the event of their capture; and now
the whole Flat for a mile o rmore, up and
down the creek, turned out on hearing Of
the arrest of ''the greaser Pedro" as the
boys called the prisoner.
What do you know about Pike Smith,
who has made this charge against the
MeXican2' asked several of The miners,
appealing to old Tom.
"What do | know about him? / know
everything about him, and mighty little
that's good, / can tell you. We come to
Californy together, in the spring of go;
or, rather my train picked the ouss up
the plains, afoot and alone, when
He's the fellow that undertook to wheel
a w~heelbarrow, with grub, and blankets
and a rocker, from the Missouri river to
Sacramento. When we o%verhauled him
he was badly used up and awfully scared
about Indians; and yet, afore we reached
Salt Lake the pesky critter came mighty
nigh getting us all scalped by the red
devels. The internal fool through down
right meanness and pure ~cussedness, be-
cause there was no reason for it in the
went and shot a young chief who
had COME to our camp for tobacco and
whisky. That night it looked like the
whole tribe had swooped down on Is,
~whooping and yelling as though the lfwer
had broke loose. l can shut my
eyes now and see them dashing up 10 our
on their shaggy little ponis, blaz-
ing away. right and left, and thel scamp
ering off with the speed of ,he wind.
Well, to cut a long storp short, two of
our best men were badly wounded and
the reds succeeded in running off some of
cur stock and leaving us half stnrved for
the rest of our trip. AS i this was not
bad enough, I'll be hangea II that skunk
Smith didn't start to ~bacKoitting and
swapping lies from one to the other until
the whole train was ready to fight among
themselves. The fact is, he made such a
nuisance of himself, that we
called a halt away out there in the desert,
and held a council of war to consider his
case; and right then and there, though it
may not look Christian-like, we turned
him adrift, drove him out and left him,
wheelbarrow, rocker, grub and all, to live
or die, we didn't care which. How he got
through God only knows, for we had a
hard enough time of it, but the devel
takes care of his own, and he came out
all right.
THE next time i ran across Pike was
down at Sonora, where he had been
working all alone with that identical
rocker, on the creek below the town..
Mischief caied him into once
more. Tho whole country, for miles
around, was throws into a fearful excite
nlent over the myaterious murder OF Mr..
Heslep, the county treasurer. The crime
had been committed about Q o'clock at
night, i'll the %treasurer's office, near the
principal street, and under certain Cir.
cumstances of the most shocking, cold
blooded atrocity. While the unfortunate
official was sitting at his desk, after the
labors eff the day, examining some papers
contested with his duties, the assassin
had stolen up behind his back, and dealt
him several murderous blows with a
Ratchet. He had then deliberately washed
his blood stained hands, taken q large
amount of gold and silver coin from the
safe and made good his escape. An old
friend of the treasurer, named Thomas
Birney, went to the office an hour or two
later, and found Heslep lying dead on the
floor, cut and mangled in the manner de-
scribed. A gcene of wild excitement
followed. The whole town was aroused;
bells were rung, fires were lighted, and
searching parties formed to hunt for the
guilty perpetrators of the monstrous deed.
Among the most active leaders in this
movement was the mar with the rocker,
Pike Smith. He displayed wonderful
zeal and energy, ransaoking the 'Tigre,'
the Spanish quarter, from one end to the
other, allsavagely endsavoring toiniisme
the passioH of the people against the
Mexicans,FI remember the bloodthirsty
wretch co>lly proposing to put a torch to
the fandagoes OF dance-houses, and shoot
theinmaes while rushing from the flames.
Notwithstanding the passion of the hour,
Pike'sIfandish D~rODositiOn Was reiecte1