News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-01-18
WILLIAM Trips MOTHER
William was wicked.


horse thieves and murderers and cal
him wicked, I mean for the reader tc
infer that he was right up and down
| bad.
Which was exactly the case with vii
liam Tripp.
Nobody seemed to know when or how
William settled himself down in Ou
midst. For all [ know he was the
founder of White Dog Diggings, and
perhaps it was the rest Of us who settled
down in his midst. Be that as it may,
he was there and there he remained,
Notwithstanding several broad hints tc
the effect that he would look handsome
at the end of rope.
Wicked Well, he was that
Such a swearer as William was He
would begin as soon as his eyes were
open in the morning and keep up a
steady fire until 10 o'clock at night. He
spent more time in inventing new oaths
than some of the men did in digging for
gold. He swore by every saint ever
heard of. He swore by the heavens and
earth-the angels whales - sharks -
wild-cats-pirates- preachers and even
pork and beans. [ think his greatest
anxiety was to find something new to
swear by, but he found enough to make
any mans flesh creep.
And he was a cheat and liar.
There wasn't man in camp who
would believe him under oath, and no
man ever played cards with him and es-
capped his knavish devices. He was
quarrelsome, over-bearing, hasty and in
clined to shed blood, and, although shot
at dozen different times, he always es-
capped without a scratch.
You wonder that we didn't run him out
or hang him.
Well, somehow we always intended to,
but always put it off to a more
convenient date. The success Of bounc-
ing a man depends good deal on who
the man is. On our first gentle hint to
William Trip that unless he was packed
up and out of camp inside of thirty min
utes his anatomy would be ridd!ed with
bullets, he produced couple of revolv-
ers, backed up against the Red Eye Sa-
loon and calmly observed that he was
aching for little excitement. l think
his action at that particular time had
something to do with our giving him rope
and seeking to get along with his eccen-
trio traits Of character
81 move" said Elder Beacon one night
when we were talking about William S
bad ways, ''that the committee get the
drop ON him and then run him into the
hills"
just so. but who were the committee
That was another point we could never
satisfactorily determine, and that was
! another rcns0n why William continued
to abide with us.
Shoot Well, you never saw such al
eye and such nerve. Just as far as he
could see the bowl of a pipe in mans
mouth he could smash it with a bullet
Almost every hat in camp had an alr-holt
| made by one of his bullets, and though
[ was prejudiced against William, L hac
to admit that he respected mems heads
in shooting at their hats. No doubt he
would have felt real bad had his bullet
carried too low.
One day when a sort of parson came
over from Turkey Creek to wrestle with
William and entreat him to turn from
the wrath to come, what happened
Why. William backed off fifteen PAGES
and cut every button off the parson
coat with bullets, and as grand wind
ND he made a long shot after the flying
victim and left his mark on the mans
ear in order to know him again.
But there came halt in William
Tripp's mad career, and it happened IL
a curious way. A fire in his tent one
NIGHT burned up lot of his traps, anc
he had to make ride of thirty miles OF
Col. Cooper's old mare to replace then
with new. The morning he rode out O
camp was the last time we saw hlm, bu
we heard from q dozen different ones JUS
what happened. About twelve miles
from our camp was the Overland Trail
and Just where our own trail struck II
was pretty little valley with plenty
Of water and wood. It was favOritt
camping spot with immigrants, and the
day William Trip reached it he tounC
half dozen wagons and as many families
halted for a breathing spell.
The deviltry in Williams nature bub
bIed over when he struck that valley ant
beheld such a scene of peace. Chlldrel
were playing around, women were wash
mo and mending, and the brawny mel
were repairing wagons and harness an(
whistIing over their work. William
drew rein and gazed upon the scene for
few minutes. Then he out with his re
volver. Seated before one of the fire
was an old woman with her knitting Il
hand and pipe in her mouth. 1t was
long shot, but the evil one urged William
to try it, and try it he did.
"What happened?"
Something even worse than murder
The bullet went straight for the oil
woman's head and crashed into her brain
Then something awful followed. Sh
rose to her feet, whirled around to fac
the shooter, and true as you live, sh
seemed to look at him for thirty second
before she tottered forward and shrleke
out:
"William Oh my son William p
Then she pitched forward on the gras
and WAS dead in a second. and the re
blood oozed out and made terrible stal
on the green grass.
And William-what did he do? I'll
was like one turned to stone. The woman
words plainly reached his ears, and b
must have recognized her face. In tn
one awful moment i'll which he sat gal
inc at the corpse on the grass it mus
have flashed across him that his poor oil
mother had made that long journey wit
neighbors for no other purpose than
hunt him up-he, the boy who had le
her years before and had been the sui
iect of her nightly prayers ever since
Wicked as he was, he must have felt ht
devotion and sacrifices.
And then?
He sat there in his saddle, his ey
, fastened on his mothers corpse, and IL
revolver still in his hand. The situate
, had petrified him. While he sat thu
, one of the immigrants, who believed th'
, the camp was to be attacked by
. r,oo IoxaIa1 his rifle over the wheel Of